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Stories

Minneapolis VA Health Care System top stories.

  • Imagine, if you will, being in a large convention center where Veterans are playing basketball in one corner, softball and pickleball in another, shooting air pistols and throwing cornhole bags all at the same time.

    Veterans from the Minnesota wheelchair team taking aim with their bows.

  • He kissed her in a way she didn’t think would be possible again; he kissed her standing up.

    Charlie Kriesel standing and kissing his wife with the assistance of the mobile manual wheelchair.

  • The Minneapolis VA Health Care System (MVAHCS) offers a comprehensive Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency program.

    The nurse practitioner team stands with three Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency program graduates.

  • While stashing his carryon bag under the seat, Dan Lovnaria, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, accidentally brushed the leg of a man in his 70’s who had just taken the middle seat next to him on a flight to Minneapolis. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.”

    Certified registered nurse anesthetist Dan Lovnaria poses with John McPhillips after a successful hip surgery

  • For Mark Stulz, a Marine, it was his recreational therapist Janelle Gustafson who convinced him to get on a plane and go to the National Veteran Wheelchair Games in New Orleans.

    Picture on the left shows Veteran in a wheelchair holding a pistol at the firing range; picture on the right shows the team from the wheelchair games

  • The Minneapolis VA is committed to ensuring a safe environment. Last month, missing patient simulation drills occurred at various times to reach each shift of duty at the medical center.

    Simulation learning team poses with a practice dummy

  • Lisa Haake, a retired special education teacher, is originally from Texas. It was her children that originally got her involved with the Minneapolis VA, where she has been selected as Volunteer of the Month.

    Lisa Haake, a volunteer at Minneapolis VA Medical Center stands in the Atrium with a wheelchair.

  • What is a TeleCompanion? By definition, a companion is a partner in something, and tele means at a distance. That is exactly what the new Minneapolis VA Medical Center TeleCompanions are. They are partners to the Veteran patient and the entire care team, even though it is a camera at the bedside..

    Camera near the side of a hospital bed and telehealth staff monitoring the video feed

  • This time of year, Joe Mauricio might get mistaken for Santa.

    Joe Mauricio sitting in front of a banner for the Wheelchair Games

  • Congratulations to our latest Minneapolis VA Volunteer of the month, “Big Don,” as he is known by his peers and VA staff.

    Big Don - Our Latest Volunteer of the month