Vet to Vet Tennessee

In case you missed it, last quarter’s issue featured some of VA’s efforts to provide innovative health care technology options for Veterans, especially in the area of transportation.

In this issue: 

• VA Provides Free Mental Health Training to Community Clergy to Support Rural Veterans
• Telehealth Care for Rural Veterans with PTSD
• Veterans Rural Health Resource Center in Iowa City Wins Dr. Linda K. Hall Innovation Award for Home-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Program
• VA Mobile Technologies Support Emergent Acute Stroke Care in Puerto Rico
• Meet the New Rural Scholars Fellows
• Three Steps to Access ‘Community Care’
• The 2018-2019 Flu Season is Here; Are You Ready?

As you will read throughout these articles, ORH and its partners are committed to make a healthy difference in the communities in which Veterans work and live. Our ultimate goal remains the improvement of access and quality of care for Veterans residing in rural and highly rural communities.

Thomas Klobucar, Ph.D.  Acting Executive Director, Office of Rural Health 

Tonya’s team has selected Vet to Vet Tennessee (VTVT) as the veteran advocacy partner and will donate all of the proceeds from the show to VTVT.  VTVT will support the show by providing QPR Suicide Prevention Gatekeepers and Instructors, Veteran Court Mentors, Celebrate Recovery facilitators and recovery specialist.  TSPN and VA suicide prevention material will be distributed after the show.

Please consider attending this show; a Sunday evening filled with laughter, support and camaraderie.  We hope the 1,000 seats are filled with Veterans and their families. All donations will be used in one of VTVT’s 14 current program.

We encourage you to identify a isolated veteran and bring them to the show.

Click here to view the Coming Home Poster 

Fortunately, the key organizers for VMFC were both present, Ed Junod, the president of Vet to Vet Tennessee, and Everett Price, the VP/Military Outreach, of BSA. As well as presenting information on the VMFC program, I was also able to learn about new initiatives the VA is taking to support women veterans. I was surprised to hear that the VA has had a Women’s’ Call Center operational- since 2012. Remarkably, some of those in attendance from the VA were not aware of this until they heard about it at the conference.

This call center had more than one million calls this past year, and actively reach out to women service members as they transition from active or reserve component duty, calling them to ask why they had not enrolled in the VA if the VA does not have an enrollment form. This is a remarkable initiative for the VA, and one they are taking very seriously. I was very impressed by what I heard and saw, and in the realm of women veterans’ healthcare, the VA is moving out smartly to contact and provide services in a very intentional manner.

With the same intentionality, I trust that you will join us for our National Institute from 5 to 7 November at the Sheraton Arlington Hotel.  I am working today on finalizing my presentation for those of you who may want to attend the VMFC workshop and will certainly enjoy helping to provide you with the tools you need to see if your local congregation would like to be a member of this remarkable outreach program.

And with that said, I will now get back to finishing my work to so that I can present it to you in a cogent and organized fashion!

Fr. Razz Waff, DMin, BCC, RazzW@aol.com  Cell: 847-269-9066

Click here to view summit photos.