The team of Veterans improving life at Omaha VA
By Janelle Beswick, Public affairs officer
An old adage at VA echoes through the halls and clinics across the country: “We can’t do this alone.”
That holds true at that Omaha VA Medical Center, where each month a small group of Veterans partners with leadership, staff, and fellow volunteers to help make the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System the destination for quality and comfort that Veterans have come to know and trust. This group of dedicated volunteers, the Veteran Advisory Group, has worked for more than a decade to improve Veterans’ experience at the Omaha VA, collecting feedback from other Veterans, meeting with hospital leaders, and identifying opportunities to make improvements.
Strong advocates
Together with a few staff members, Chair Dick Harrington helped launch the group in 2011 to help improve care for Veterans. The advisory group maintains around 12 members and they have representation of genders, ages, races, military branches, and eras of service.
“We’ve always tried to make sure the group reflects the people who use the hospital,” Harrington explained. “It’s not just one generation or one group of Veterans.”
Those diverse perspectives provide valuable feedback that help guide the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System leaders and staff.
“They share their experience and vital information about what's really important to Veterans,” said Lori Jensen, VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System’s Patient Experience Officer. “They are very strong advocates for Veterans on issues that otherwise might get lost in the system.”
Listening to Veterans
One of the group’s first initiatives was gathering patient feedback. Members designed comment cards and placed wooden collection boxes around the hospital so Veterans could easily share thoughts, concerns, or suggestions about their visit or their care. The team collects the cards and sends them out to the relevant services for follow-up.
“About 65% are positive comments and 35% are suggestions or concerns,” Harrington said. “Almost all the suggestions have to do with things other than care, and that says something about the hospital.”
Louis Warren, a Vietnam Veteran and former Patient Advocate at VA, has been in the Veteran Advisory Group since 2019. He helps to pick up the cards and ensure they are seen by leadership. He believes the cards have helped with communication.
“We’re trying to let staff know what Veterans like and don’t like, and then if we hear concerns from Veterans, we’re able to say that staff knows about that issue and is working on it,” said Warren.
Turning ideas into action
Over the years, the Veteran Advisory Group has helped drive a wide range of improvements across the facility.
Harrington’s proudest accomplishment is the addition of mobility scooters available to Veterans at the Omaha VA Medical Center. Members noticed Veterans struggling to move through the building with walkers or manual wheelchairs. The group worked with Hy-Vee to acquire a donation of $5,400 to purchase the first three scooters. Today, the program has grown to roughly 20 scooters, which are used daily by Veterans visiting the hospital.
“It started with three,” he said. “Now they’re almost all in use every day.”
Improving Veteran experience
Other projects have focused on making the hospital environment more accessible and comfortable: advocating for more handicap parking near the hospital entrance, providing tablet devices for patients receiving infusion treatments, and having computers available for Veterans to use in the hospital.
The group has also provided input on larger initiatives like the Ambulatory Care Center, ensuring that veterans’ perspectives were included during design conversations.
“The reason we’re here is very simple,” Harrington said. “To do what we can to provide the best care possible for veterans at this hospital.”
Supporting human connection
One of its newest initiatives is called “Your Story,” which highlights the experiences of Veterans and staff. The goal is to make the hospital feel less transactional and more human.
“Hospitals can sometimes feel impersonal, but the VA is different,” Harrington said. “It already has a little bit of a fraternal feeling because everyone getting care here is a Veteran. We want to build on that and show the human side of the people who work and receive care here.”
By sharing personal stories, the Veteran Advisory Group hopes to strengthen the sense of community that already exists within the VA. The stories will be displayed on a digital monitor by the Patriot Café coffee shop.
Trusted advisors
Throughout the years, the Veteran Advisory Group has become a trusted group of advisors for the leaders of the health care system.
“Our Executive Team has met with the Veteran Advisory group on a monthly basis for years,” said Dr. Eileen Kingston, Director of the VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System. “Since they are Veterans themselves, volunteer to help other Veterans and use our health system, their invaluable input is used to continually enhance services to carry out our mission.”
For the group members, that partnership really makes a difference.
“There’s a mutual respect between the group and the leadership of the hospital, because we all have the same vested interest,” said Warren. “How can we ensure that we provide the best service and care?”