What's New at Your VA?
VA is constantly working to provide more excellent service and care for Veterans. This includes new programs and initiatives, advanced training, and renovations and improvements to enhance health care facilities. Each VA project is an opportunity to improve the delivery of services to America's heroes. Featured below are some of the exciting improvements in quality of care taking place around the country: Click on the region below to find out what's new in that area.
Northeast | Southeast | Midwest | Northwest | Southwest
Northeast
Awildina “Figgy” Figueroa MSN, RN, CDE, a Certified Diabetes Educator, counsels Veterans on managing diabetes.Controlling Diabetes
There are 30.3 million people in the United States who have diabetes, that’s one in 10 individuals. But for the Veteran population that number is even higher. According to the Veterans Health Administration, one in four Veterans receiving VA health care has diabetes. Considering how diabetes pervades most every organ in the body and demands constant monitoring and care, the impact on Veterans’ health and quality of life is major. Read more...
Southeast
Meet the Orlando VAMC Team who made this possible!Orlando VAMC Breaks Records
Making the impossible possible is one of many reasons Veterans choose VA.
Records have recently broken at the Orlando VA Medical Center. As of September 2018, 90% of OVAMC Veterans with Hepatitis C are cured!
Let’s start at the beginning, when The Orlando VA Medical Center had one of the nation’s highest number of Veterans with active Hepatitis C.
The incredible feat was made possible by the Orlando VA Infectious Disease team who worked together to knock down every hurdle that stood in their way.
Dr. Karen Slazinski, Pharm.D., Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, explains how the record was broken. “We developed an efficient treatment plan. As a team, we worked together to create a process to streamline care which ultimately resulted in us placing our own consults to be able to bring in patients quicker and more efficiently. We defeated the barrier of burdening primary care providers and pulled Veterans in ourselves.” Read more...
Midwest
VA Telehealth Services uses telehealth technologies, health informatics, and disease management to expand Veterans’ access to VA quality care.VA Telehealth Services
VA Telehealth Services uses telehealth technologies, health informatics, and disease management to expand Veterans’ access to VA quality care. This technology helps ensure Veterans get the right care, in the right place, at the right time. VA Telehealth Services enable Veterans to access VA care at the time and place more convenient for the Veteran. VA employs telehealth two different ways:
• Synchronous Real-Time Telehealth - providing real-time videoconferencing between VA care team and their patients, increasingly from the Veteran’s home or mobile device
• Asynchronous or Store-and-Forward Telehealth - for remote monitoring of patients at home with chronic conditions, or allowing clinicians to capture and share images, sounds, or data with other specialists for help in diagnosis and delivery of care. (Telehealth Definitions, 2017) Read more...
Northwest
Registered Nurse Mary Anderson receives DAISY Award.Montana VA Nurse Honored with Daisy Award
Registered Nurse (RN) Mary Anderson with Montana VA Health Care System’s Anaconda Community Based Outpatient Clinic has been honored with a DAISY Award for extraodinary nursing. Her award comes after being nominated by Navy Veteran Thomas Straugh who was suffering severe pain when he walked due to a toe nail issue and experienced challenges treating it before encountering Ms. Anderson.
“[Nurse Anderson] asked if I had a black dog when she brushed off my toe … most would not have even noticed [the hair],” described Mr. Straugh. “She was careful, tactful, gentle, and effective. She listened to me describe the stress that I had accumulated over the last year. She was supportive of me and my family—two legged and four. When I cried, she comforted me.” Read more...
Southwest
Frank Vazquez, Medical Center Director, and leaders from the Houston VA Surgery Department cut the ribbon to officially open two additional new Hybrid Operating Rooms.Telehealth COPD Pilot Program Changes Lives
Medical Center Director Frank Vazquez and leaders from the Houston VA Surgery Department cut the ribbon to officially open two additional new Hybrid Operating Rooms on the 5th floor of the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. The new ORs are equipped with advanced medical imaging devices and other high tech surgical equipment that will enable MEDVAMC’s surgeons to perform minimally-invasive surgeries. The two new ORs will be used for vascular, cardiac, orthopedic spine and neurosurgery cases.
The combination of a traditional operating room with an image guided interventional suite will allow Houston VA surgeons to perform highly complex, advanced surgical procedures. The new state-of-the-art space will allow for the combination of image guided surgery with open procedures. Read more...
