Monday, December 28, 2015
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Preventive Care, Doctor Access Improving for Women Veterans
Published: October 3, 2012
For a lot of years, women veterans felt unwelcome in Department of Veteran Affairs hospitals and clinics as if they weren't real veterans, they complained. Reinforcing that impression was routine referrals to multiple health care providers, in or out of VA, to get comprehensive primary care.
That is changing rapidly, thanks to VA’s commitment to improve women health services, to hire more gynecologists and other female health specialists, and to close a “gender gap” in preventive health services and screenings, says Dr. Patricia Hayes, chief consultant for Women Health Services for Veterans Health Administration.
Hayes and her staff have studies and data to show recent gains. They range from patient satisfaction surveys to numbers of staff physicians newly trained to provide for female health needs, and to a new report showing a narrowing of gender disparities in preventive health care screening.
In a 45-minute interview, Hayes and Dr. Sally Haskell, her acting director for comprehensive women’s health, conceded that challenges remain to reach full equality of access and services for women vets, particularly in VA community-based outpatient clinics. But the recent gains have been in impressive and will continue, they say.
“Women have told us that VA has not been welcoming, [of] walking a gauntlet to get into VA with a lot of men around…that ‘I walked up to the clerk and the clerk asks ‘Are you here with your husband?’ Hayes said. “They felt unwelcomed and invisible. We are changing that culture.”
In 2008, only 33 percent of VA health care facilities offered comprehensive primary care to women. Today, women can get full primary care services at 90 percent of VA’s larger hospitals and medical centers and at almost 75 percent of its community-base outpatient clinics, Haskell said.
Four years ago, many female veterans visited VA clinics and were referred to larger hospitals, having then to travel “hours and hours to get basic primary care for things like birth control and [vaginal] infections and getting their mammograms arranged,” said Hayes. Areas of the country where that’s still true have fallen sharply.
From 2000 to 2009, the number of women veterans using VA health services almost doubled, to 293,000. Over the next two years it rose by another 44,000 to reach 337,000 by last October. VA still needs to attract more staff gynecologists and other female health specialists. But it has closed much of its previous gender gap for delivering primary care by improving capabilities of current staff.
“Since 2008 we have trained over 1500 primary care providers in this intensive training on comprehensive women’s health,” Hayes said. “We designed what we call a mini-residency in women’s health, a 40-hour program, training 35 to 40 providers at a time…They learn things like birth control, abnormal bleeding but also mental health issues and PTSD in women and an overview of maternity care.
“These are folks were trained in medical school or nurse practitioner school. But they have been seeing men for so long they felt rusty in their proficiency with women,” Hayes said.
Despite the gains, Hayes and Haskell said many women veterans still have misconceptions about the quality of VA health care and stay away. Many still believe, for example, that only combat vets can gain access.
Yet women veterans who use VA care decide to stay with it, even if they have other health insurance. Like male veterans, females are rating VA health care as being better than care in the private sector.
READ MORE HERE: Preventive care, doctor access improving for women veterans - U.S. - Stripes
Joining Forces to Train Teachers to Serve Military Children
Dr. Jill Biden
October 3, 2012
October 3, 2012
5:23 pm
This afternoon, I was so honored to meet two of our nation’s youngest heroes – 11-year-old twin sisters Felicity and Abigail. The 7th graders love to read and play sports, and, like many of our nation’s 1.3 million school-age military children, their current school is not their first school. Felicity and Abigail have attended five different schools in four states in the past seven years. They have left old friends and met new ones, transferred school records, left old soccer fields to join new teammates and coaches, and weathered their father’s many deployments. Their dad missed birthdays four, seven, eight, nine and 10.
But they are resilient and strong young ladies who are fiercely proud to be Army kids. am proud of them, too.
I am also proud that today, more than 100 colleges of teacher education have signed on to Operation Educate the Educators, a partnership between the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Military Child Education Coalition. Last year, the partners set a Joining Forces goal of getting 100 colleges of education to commit to raising awareness on their campuses about military children in their classrooms, and to help better prepare teachers to support them.
Today, I joined Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno, Felicity and Abigail, and military families to celebrate this milestone. As an educator and a military mom, today was personal to me. I know how much it means to a family when a teacher makes a special effort to support a military child in school.
When my son Beau was deployed to Iraq, my granddaughter Natalie’s teacher hung a photo of Beau’s unit to Natalie’s classroom door. This simple gesture reminded the school staff and Natalie’s classmates that her dad was at war. It meant so much to her to know that she didn’t have to go through that year alone, and that her teachers and friends were looking out for her. It meant so much to Joe and me, too.
When a teacher arranges a parent-teacher conference by Skype for a deployed mom or dad, or when a principal celebrates the Marine Corps birthday in the school cafeteria with the entire school, it helps a military family stay connected.
Our military families sacrifice so much, and we owe it to them to support them in every way possible. That is why the First Lady and I started Joining Forces, a national effort to encourage all Americans to support military families. Today, I was honored to celebrate a very meaningful Joining Forces commitment that will make a difference in the lives of our military children.
Dr. Jill Biden is the Second Lady of the United States
The White House: An International Approach to Military Mental Health
Posted by on October 03, 2012 at 10:24 AM EDT
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has been one of the most significant issues our military has faced --- and we are not alone. Last week, the United States came together with representatives from Canada and the United Kingdom to address military mental health. Ensuring the mental health and wellness of our servicemembers, veterans and their families is a cause that unites all of us.
The event sends a strong message to our military, our veterans and all Americans, that we as a nation, and our partners around the world, are serious about addressing these concerns. This event brought together leaders from the government, non-profit, and private sectors, all committed to the same goal --- tending to the invisible wounds that many service members too often endure in silence.
Many of the best thinkers from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom came together, not simply to discuss “what’s wrong” but also to share best practices and to chart a course for addressing these shared issues.The symposium included academics, clinicians, researchers, policy makers, foundations, veteran service organizations, national leaders and, of course, servicemembers, veterans and family members.
As leaders and experts took the stage to address a host of issues and convey a variety of perspectives, common themes and challenges emerged. Chief among them was the need to enhance access to quality mental health services. There was common agreement that we must expand the capacity of those services so all who need care can get it in a timely manner, and in a setting that is relevant to their individual needs. Continued work is needed to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health issues in general, and strong efforts are needed to eliminate false perceptions that seeking treatment will cast a shadow on the military member or their family. Additionally, thorough research continues to be conducted, and we must leverage that research into methods of treatment that have a lasting impact. Addressing these important issues will benefit not only the military but, as is often the case, the entire country.
It’s all hands on deck. We must continue to work together to address faulty perceptions surrounding military mental health. Many myths become barriers to care. For example, surveys discussed indicated that the public believes there is a very high rate of mental health issues for those who have deployed. In fact, about 4 in 5 service members do not experience serious mental health issues --- and of those who do, 88% can continue their duties with no alteration, even while in treatment.
The resilience the vast majority of military members display is remarkable. Their ability to contribute to the workforce, their communities and their families is indeed strong.
In August, President Obama signed an Executive Order that strengthens our ongoing commitment to military mental health, "I know that you join me in saying to everyone who’s ever worn the uniform—if you’re hurting, it’s not a sign of weakness to seek help, it’s a sign of strength." That theme is not only resonant in the United States, it is embraced by our allies as well.
By collaborating with our international partners, we will continue to strengthen the advancements we have already made, and new treatments will come to fruition as we continue to address military mental health as a collective body.
Rosye Cloud is the Director of Policy for Veterans, Wounded Warriors and Military Families
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