What to expect as we move forward

As we move forward in providing care, please understand that we have made changes to promote safety in our facilities. We continue to implement and practice enhanced safety measures, including physical distancing, masking and limiting the number of patients utilizing waiting room space to keep you and our staff safe.

If you plan on coming to our medical center or CBOCs, please help us protect our Veterans and staff by following the requirement of anyone entering must wear a face covering or mask. Please call ahead to notify us of your health care needs at 1-800-461-8262, select Option 2. During this time, we want to discourage “walks-ins” and prefer that all care be scheduled during Phase 1 of our Moving Forward Plan.

Virtual Care
During this pandemic, we have relied more on virtual care than ever before. Feedback has been very positive, and we encourage you to continue to utilize virtual care as necessary to continue to receive health care. Please call 1-800-461-8262, select Option 2, to make virtual appointments. We also encourage you to contact us using secure messaging through MyHealtheVet. More details on how you can coordinate care through safe, secure web-based messaging can be found on the next page.

Scheduling Appointments
Please schedule all your appointments including blood work and x-rays prior to coming to any of our facilities. To promote safety, we continue to discourage walk ins and ask that you please contact us via phone at 1-800-461-8262, select Option 2, so we can better coordinate your care. We will gradually increase service capacity during each phase as we move forward.

If you need appointments in more than one clinical area, we will try to schedule them on the same day in order to prevent multiple trips to our facilities. Please contact the facility at the above number to consolidate your all your appointments.

Hours of Operation
Our main medical facility remains open for routine, outpatient services Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Our emergency department, inpatient care and Community Living Center remain open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and fully ready to meet your emergent health care needs.

If you need to access emergent care at any time call 911. If you have questions about your care outside of normal business hours, call 1-800-461-8262 and press 0 to speak with the Wilmington VA Medical Center night operator, who will be able to assist you Monday – Friday after 4:30 p.m., weekends and holidays. 

CBOC Operations
As we move through our phased moving forward plan, our CBOCs will gradually and safely increase face-to-face care. Virtual care will remain a preferred method to address routine care needs and follow-up care. We also continue to encourage you to use secure messaging to communicate with your care team.

For the most up-to-date information, including hours of operation and , please check the Operating Status of individual CBOCs at www.wilmington.va.gov/emergency. As with the main medical facility and to avoid “walk-ins,” please call ahead to schedule all appointments.

Visitation
To ensure the health and safety of our Veterans, staff and visitors, we’re currently following CDC guidelines and limiting visitors for patients receiving care at Wilmington VA Medical Center. Limiting outside visitors helps us protect older Veterans and those who already have health issues.

If you want or need a family member or friend to be a part of a scheduled health care visit, please let us know ahead of time so we can safely prepare for their participation. We do make an exception for Veterans who qualify as an end-of-life "compassionate case."

Secure Messaging/MyHealtheVet 
Secure Messaging is a safe and secure web-based messaging service. Secure Messaging allows you to:

• Ask non-urgent, non-emergency health related questions.
• Update your VA health care team on your health condition.
• Request VA referrals and medication renewals.
• Manage your VA appointments.
• Ask routine administrative questions.
• More information can be found at www.myhealthevet.va.gov.

Rx Refills 
There are several ways you can request refills your prescriptions without having to come into one of our facilities.

• Online: You can use My HealtheVet at www.myhealthevet.va.gov to refill your VA prescriptions and view your VA prescription history online. 
• Mail Order: Medication refills can be requested by mailing the refill notice provided to you at the time of your original fill.
• Telephone: Call our Automated Refill Line at 302-633-5484.

More information about or pharmacy services can be found on our website at www.wilmington.va.gov/services/pharmacy.

Future Communications
Effective communication will be critical as we move forward. We will provide routine announcements to our Veteran community through:

• Our website at www.wilmington.va.gov;
• Email campaigns – sign up at www.wilmington.va.gov/features/index.asp;
• Social media – Follow @WilmingtonVAMC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram;
• MyHealteVet/Secure Messaging – Learn more at www.myhealthevet.va.gov.

Thank you, for your understanding as we navigate COVID-19 together. Our priority is to keep our Veterans and staff safe in our facilities.