Pittsburgh Women to Continue Making History with VA

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This Women’s History Month, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System invites women veterans to continue making history with the department. VA Pittsburgh on March 25 will host Female Veterans Day in the atrium of our University Drive campus in Oakland and honor four Pittsburgh women veterans who advocate for their sister veterans throughout western Pennsylvania. The event includes a display of Pittsburgh-area women veterans’ personal military memorabilia and resource tables staffed by women’s health, behavioral health and VA Vet Center professionals. The recognition ceremony begins at 11 a.m. Memorabilia will be on display from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.   

“For the Department of Veterans Affairs, Women’s History Month means more than just celebrating our women veterans – it means making sure they’re proud of the role we play in the remaining chapters of their story,” said VA’s national chief of staff, Pam Powers. “We will continue to build on the legacy that America’s women veterans have carved out by listening to them, respecting them, and serving them with the dignity this country owes them.”

VA Pittsburgh learns what our women patients want and need through veteran town halls throughout our area of responsibility, outreach events, patient-to-provider suggestions, post-appointment surveys, stakeholder interactions and evidence-based research.

New VA Pittsburgh services for women:

• Battlefield acupuncture on Fridays – University Drive.
• Smoking cessation on Thursdays beginning March 5 – University Drive.
• Art therapy on Sundays beginning in May – H.J. Heinz III campus, O’Hara Township.
• Tele-gynecology beginning late March – VA outpatient clinics in Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania, and Belmont County, Ohio. These clinics are scheduled to begin in late March, with plans to extend to our spoke hospitals in Altoona, Butler and Erie.

Women comprise about 10 percent of the veterans VA serves nationwide. That number is set to increase, as about 20 percent of our current active military forces are women.

For decades, VA’s principal patient base was men. But today’s VA facilities provide comprehensive primary care for women, as well as gynecology, maternity, specialty care and mental health services. In the last fiscal year, 41 percent of all women veterans were enrolled in VA, and we expect that number to keep climbing as customer service and patient experiences for women veterans continue to improve.

Since VA started tracking outpatient satisfaction in 2017, we’ve seen women’s trust in VA climb progressively higher. In 2019, 83.8 percent of female veterans trusted the care they received at VA, and initial data in 2020 is on pace to see that trust score rise to nearly 85 percent.

Media who wish to attend the March 25 event or who want to schedule an interview with a VAPHS expert on women veterans health care services can call 412-360-1479 or email VAPHSMediaRelations@va.gov.

About VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System

VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) is one of the largest and most progressive VA health care systems in the nation. More than 4,000 employees serve nearly 80,000 veterans every year, providing a range of services from complex transplant medicine to routine primary care. VAPHS is a leader in virtual care delivery through telehealth technology; a center of research and learning with 116 research investigators and $17 million in funding; and a provider of state-of-the-art health care training to some 1,500 student trainees annually. VAPHS provides care at medical centers in Oakland and O’Hara Township in Pennsylvania and five outpatient clinics in Belmont County, Ohio, and Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania. Veterans can call 412-360-6993 or 412-822-2040 to check eligibility or enrollment. Stay up to date at pittsburgh.va.gov and facebook.com/VAPHS