Veterans Administration (VA)

Veterans Administration (VA) / en Mon, 28 Apr 2025 01:38:46 -0500 Tue, 04 Feb 25 15:16:32 -0600 Doug Collins confirmed as new VA secretary /news/headline/2025-02-04-doug-collins-confirmed-new-va-secretary The Senate Feb. 4 <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_119_1.htm" title="Collins is in ">confirmed</a> Doug Collins as the new Department of Veterans Affairs secretary by a 77-23 vote. Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:16:32 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) AHA podcast: Caring for the Aging Veteran — Age-Friendly Health Systems at the VHA /news/headline/2024-11-13-aha-podcast-caring-aging-veteran-age-friendly-health-systems-vha In this conversation, Kimberly Wozneak, national lead for age-friendly health systems at the Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses how the Veterans Health Administration is weaving four foundational age-friendly principles into its care to support the growing number of aging veterans. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-12-caring-aging-veteran-age-friendly-health-systems-veterans-health-administration-vha">LISTEN NOW</a><div></div> Wed, 13 Nov 2024 15:32:26 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) AHA podcast: The Value of Veterans in the Health Care Workforce /news/headline/2024-11-11-aha-podcast-value-veterans-health-care-workforce In this special Veterans Day conversation, Anne Mork, R.N., vice president/chief nursing officer of ambulatory and nursing support services at UW Health, and Luke Sticht, former vice president and chief nursing officer of American Family Children's Hospital, discuss the wealth of knowledge that military health care professionals can bring to organizations and how their service experience keeps them focused on the mission to care for others. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-11-value-veterans-health-care-workforce?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=aha-today">LISTEN NOW</a><div></div> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:23:02 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) HSR journal special edition highlights VHA learning health system /news/headline/2024-11-11-hsr-journal-special-edition-highlights-vha-learning-health-system Health Services Research, the flagship publication of AHA’s Health Research &amp; Educational Trust, has released a special edition marking the 25th anniversary of the Veterans Health Administration’s Quality Enhancement Research Initiative. This issue, titled “Evolution of the Veterans Health Administration Learning Health System: 25 years of QUERI,” was released with support from the VHA and highlights scientific contributions and real-world impacts emanating from QUERI’s 25 years of helping initiatives translate research into practice. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14756773/2024/59/S2">READ MORE</a> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:16:20 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) Case study highlights UW Health shift from ‘military friendly’ to ‘military ready’ /news/headline/2024-11-11-case-study-highlights-uw-health-shift-military-friendly-military-ready A new AHA case study examines how UW Health in Madison, Wis., collaborated with several partners to move from “military friendly” to “military ready,” bringing aboard military-connected employees to help bolster their workforce. <a href="/moving-military-friendly-military-ready?utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=aha-today">READ MORE</a> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:12:07 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) The Value of Veterans in the Health Care Workforce /advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-11-value-veterans-health-care-workforce With ongoing workforce challenges, the health care industry is in desperate need of skilled and experienced workers. Military health care veterans, such as medics and corpsmen, are&nbsp;one solution to potentially easing the shortage. In this special Veterans Day conversation, Anne Mork, R.N., vice president/chief nursing officer of ambulatory and nursing support services at UW Health, and Luke Sticht, former vice president and chief nursing officer of American Family Children's Hospital, discuss the wealth of knowledge that military health care professionals can bring to organizations, and how their service experience keeps them focused on the mission to care for others.<hr><div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"><details class="transcript"><summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript.">View Transcript &nbsp;</h2> </summary> 00:00:00:15 - 00:00:28:15 Tom Haederle Health care providers nationwide need more trained, skilled, experienced people to help meet their needs for patient care. Military health care veterans such as medics and corpsmen offer these in-demand talents, but translating them into a comparable civilian setting where their training is valued and respected can be complicated. That's why the state of Wisconsin took action to ease the process, and so far it's working well. 00:00:28:17 - 00:00:34:16 Tom Haederle 00:00:34:18 - 00:01:04:12 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health, a podcast from the �� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA Communications. Today we hear from two chief nursing officers associated with the University of Wisconsin system about the steps they've taken to tap into the great resources that military health care professionals have to offer in nonmilitary settings. As we learn, cultural differences are something that civilian health care employers need to keep in mind as military service members are, quote, “Focused on completing their mission.” 00:01:04:15 - 00:01:06:01 Tom Haederle Let's listen in. 00:01:06:03 - 00:01:39:29 Elisa Arespacochaga Thanks, Tom. I’m Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of clinical affairs and workforce. I'm joined today by Anne Mork, CNO, ambulatory and nursing care services, UW Health, and Luke Sticht, former vice president and CNO, American Family Children's Hospital, UW Health Kids. And today we're going to talk about how UW Health really shifted from being military-friendly in their culture, to a culture that really is truly ready, willing and able to welcome and support military- trained team members in pursuing their health care careers. 00:01:40:01 - 00:01:48:21 Elisa Arespacochaga So to get started, I'm going to start with you, Anne, and then I'll turn it over to you Luke. Tell me a little bit about your organization and your role. 00:01:48:24 - 00:02:18:26 Anne Mork, R.N. Thank you Elisa. I'm thrilled to be here today to talk about this really exciting program. First off, UW Health is a large academic integrated health system affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The system is comprised of six main hospitals, 90 primary and specialty outpatient locations serving over 800,000 patients annually. UW Health holds Magnet status and has been re-certified in Magnet four consecutive times. 00:02:18:28 - 00:02:25:04 Elisa Arespacochaga Wow. Congratulations. I know that's no easy feat. Luke, just tell us a little bit about who you are. 00:02:25:06 - 00:02:45:26 Luke Sticht Sure. Thank you very much, Elisa. Luke Sticht, the former vice president and chief nursing officer for the American Family Children's Hospital. And I'm also a commission nurse corps officer in the U.S. Navy. I hold the rank of commander, been in the Navy for 15 years, both active duty and reserves, and continue on in that role presently. 00:02:45:28 - 00:03:16:28 Elisa Arespacochaga All right, well, let's get into the work that you both led together. And I know, as I have talked to you about this work, you were really focused on how you were going to grow your nursing workforce in the midst of the pandemic and all of the challenges that, you know, everyone faced at that time. You really wanted to find ways to connect with those who were separating from the military, who were looking for health care training, who had some health care training, but weren't necessarily in licensed roles. 00:03:17:01 - 00:03:25:12 Elisa Arespacochaga How did you start to find opportunities both at the state level within Wisconsin and then specifically at UW? 00:03:25:15 - 00:03:52:10 Anne Mork, R.N. It really, began in part to address the nursing workforce challenges that we have in the U.S. We are well familiar with the fact that the aging of our population is propelling with a significant increase of those aged 65 and older in Wisconsin. Positive relationship exists between these demographics and the need for health care services, chiefly due to the increase of chronic and complex conditions requiring care. 00:03:52:13 - 00:04:29:09 Anne Mork, R.N. The program really started with my CNE, Rudy Jackson was contacted by Ann Zenk, R.N., MHA, senior VP of workforce and clinical practice at the Wisconsin Hospital Association. She served as the head of the coalition that partnered with Heroes for Healthcare to pass legislation, Assembly Bill 720. Heroes for Healthcare is a nonprofit organization, administering to Wisconsin military medics and corpsmen WIS-MAC program for transitioning medically-trained veterans to work in civilian health care. 00:04:29:11 - 00:05:08:05 Anne Mork, R.N. They have an excellent vision, and that is simply to guide military members through a seamless transition from service member to civilian life to ensure that their skills, training and experience are translated, respected and accepted at educational institutions and health care facilities. When medically-trained service members and veterans transition to civilian life, their training and experiences, as many of us know, does not always translate into comparable jobs in health care, which in turn can lead to unemployment, underemployment, or complete abandonment of the health care field. 00:05:08:07 - 00:05:46:06 Anne Mork, R.N. So to talk a little bit about the Assembly Bill 720, was signed into law in Wisconsin in 2022 and gave us this huge opportunity. It was signed by Governor Evers. It allows certain persons who have recently served as an Army medic, a Navy or Coast Guard corpsman, or an Air Force aerospace medical technician in the U.S. Armed Forces, to provide certain skilled health services as part of a program facilitated by the Department of Safety and Professional Services, without having to obtain a license, so the licensure is temporarily waivered. 00:05:46:08 - 00:06:31:21 Anne Mork, R.N. We are the only state other than Maryland who has this law in place. The difference between Wisconsin and Maryland is that Maryland waivers the licensure forever, and we waiver it temporarily. So the bill directs the DSPS in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Medical Examining Board, and the Board of Nursing to establish a program in which military medical personnel, I'm going to call them MMP, may temporarily practice certain skilled health services in an inpatient and outpatient health care facility under the direction of a physician or physician assistant. Can be a podiatrist for certain roles, 00:06:31:21 - 00:06:40:15 Anne Mork, R.N. registered professional nurse or advanced practice nurse prescriber without having to obtain a license from the respective boards. 00:06:40:17 - 00:07:12:04 Elisa Arespacochaga That's amazing. It sounds like quite the complex program. Luke, let me ask you, as a military health care leader, you've literally run hospital services around the world. How did you transition and what are some of the things that really both surprised you and also that you then brought to your work with UW to say these are the things that, you know, we honestly don't think of that are so very different in military medicine versus in civilian medicine. 00:07:12:06 - 00:07:24:01 Elisa Arespacochaga I know the last time we talked, you had all of these things that just, I didn't even think of that were just commonplace for medicine and for military medicine. And then you got to civilian medicine and none of them existed. 00:07:24:03 - 00:07:43:22 Luke Sticht Yeah. I think if you are a service member and you are a part of a military treatment facility here in the United States, in my experience they are very similar, to practicing in a civilian hospital. I think the differences I saw were if you were deployed downrange to a role two or role three facility, there are many differences. 00:07:43:22 - 00:07:54:08 Luke Sticht And in my experience, the military does a great job focusing on their mission and especially, you know, deployed downrange, right. 00:07:54:13 - 00:08:00:24 Elisa Arespacochaga Let me interrupt you for those who don't know, including me, deployed downrange means in a foreign country or… 00:08:00:25 - 00:08:36:21 Luke Sticht Yes, thank you very much. So downrange for military language is, is you're deploying down to the fight, if you will. You know, really the mission of the military in those situations of military medicine is to preserve the warfighter, to save the warfighter. And so because of that, there's not a lot of room for office politics. There's not a lot of room for infighting between service lines, because we are all working for one common goal, which is to get that service member back out to the fight, to get them to a higher level of care, or to get them home. 00:08:36:23 - 00:09:02:23 Luke Sticht Those are really the differences when you transition to a civilian facility, in my opinion, where oftentimes there is fighting between service lines. So there's a lot of politics, especially in leadership positions, that you need to learn how to navigate. But I think, really for civilian facilities to become more military ready, they need to know this, and they need to understand that military service members, they are focused on completing their mission, whatever that mission is. 00:09:02:23 - 00:09:36:01 Luke Sticht They could be providing patient care in the ICU. They could be focused on fixing equipment and the biomedical engineering team. What have you. A lot of service members, they don't want to get involved in politics. They want to serve a higher purpose than themselves. And that's what their mission is. And so, if organizations can learn from those service members, it can oftentimes help teams in the civilian sector move beyond some of your bureaucratic challenges and just get the job done. 00:09:36:03 - 00:09:54:22 Elisa Arespacochaga And I know, when we had talked, there are, a lot of the bureaucracy is different in the military versus in civilian life. So I know, just how you even talk about the skills you have as a leader and a clinician vary. Can you talk just a little bit more about that? 00:09:54:25 - 00:10:21:15 Luke Sticht You put me on the spot here, Elisa. In the military, yes there is a strong chain of command. But we utilize concepts such as decentralized command where answers can be made in the moment by the right person at the right time. And so there is what we call the commander’s intent, which is also similar to a mission of an organization, if you will, as part of a command. 00:10:21:18 - 00:10:45:27 Luke Sticht And, a good commander will make sure that every individual in the command understands what the commander's intent is. And then that trickles down to levels of service members who can make decisions because they understand the commander's intent. And so it is not strictly hierarchical. It is very much team. It's one of the best teams I've ever worked for. 00:10:45:29 - 00:10:57:15 Luke Sticht And that includes not just the Navy, but joint service with all branches, including NATO branches that we served with overseas. All of us have the mindset of what do we need to do right now to complete our mission? 00:10:57:18 - 00:11:22:23 Elisa Arespacochaga Anne, let me go back to you. You started to describe a little bit, but, can you tell me for the typical trajectory for one of your former military trainees, so someone who comes in and say, a Navy corpsman who comes in, can you talk a little bit about sort of what their opportunities are and how they can then advance their career without having to go back to, you know, Infection Prevention 101. 00:11:22:23 - 00:11:51:11 Anne Mork, R.N. Thank you, that is such an excellent question. And I think Luke's comments and experiences really underscore the need for us to move that culture. It's not just about recruitment, it's about that retention and making sure that we understand the military life, as much as we expect military life to be seamlessly integrated into a civilian life. So it's really moving from a military-friendly to a military-ready organization. 00:11:51:11 - 00:12:18:16 Anne Mork, R.N. And we've done a ton of work to move towards the latter, and we'll never be there. But it's a constant movement. So the typical trajectory from one of our hires, we have hired a medic recently. We hired a corpsman. Our medic has six years of invaluable health care experiences. Due to the active engagement and support from Heroes for Healthcare, who bring these candidates to our us with their résumés. 00:12:18:16 - 00:12:44:14 Anne Mork, R.N. And we take them through the interview process. And I have partnered with all of the ones we've hired, especially in the beginning, because it's all about building a strong basic foundational program so that our MMPs will talk to each other and say, you know, in Wisconsin, we have a great opportunity to be given credit for the work that we have done. 00:12:44:16 - 00:13:13:15 Anne Mork, R.N. We're starting to partner with colleges to look at, you know, giving credits as well. But even for us, I do an open house to look at the resume and give them recognition for the background that they have. We navigate the Memorandum of Understanding with them. That can be a little bureaucratic, and we try to make it a very seamless process from identification of a candidate to the interview process, to the hire, connecting them with our talent acquisition team. 00:13:13:17 - 00:13:44:15 Anne Mork, R.N. And Heroes for Healthcare is there throughout the path. We then have to submit officially our license, your timeline. Again, Heroes for Healthcare will help track that. So if the MMP doesn't meet that goal, like, I'm going to finish nursing school in three years, and they need three and a half years, they need to formally reapply. So there are some stringent criteria that we must adhere to and be very sure for high fidelity to those programmatic elements. 00:13:44:18 - 00:14:19:13 Anne Mork, R.N. But the process has been seamless. The average civilian health care professional is unaware of level and scope of medical education and training in the military. Prior to founding of the Heroes for Healthcare, the veterans had nowhere to go and struggled to find civilian jobs. So the trajectory is really successful in large part due to the Heroes for Healthcare support, and also the significant work that we have done with our talent acquisition partners at UW Health to build that culture. 00:14:19:15 - 00:14:46:08 Elisa Arespacochaga No, this is definitely a partnership. And one that starts with you, but then really spreads across the organization. So, Luke, hopefully an easier question. What can hospitals and health systems do to really more proactively, both reach out to these team members and, you know, the partnership with Heroes for Healthcare is an example, to encourage them to come to the organization. 00:14:46:12 - 00:14:53:01 Elisa Arespacochaga How do you help them once they get there, stay and feel connected to the organization once they start? 00:14:53:03 - 00:15:17:29 Luke Sticht I think it starts with the organizations just recognizing the value that the individual’s military training provides. I've had multiple conversations with service members over the years who share with me that organizations oftentimes will look right past their military experience, and when they do that, I believe that it's a real detriment to that organization. As I said earlier, I think many military service members are there to serve something greater than themselves. 00:15:17:29 - 00:15:40:19 Luke Sticht And when they get out of the military or they transition from active duty to reserve status, they don't want to lose that. They don't want to lose service and they don't want to lose camaraderie. So I think once an organization can acknowledge the training and the value that that training brings to their organization, I think the next step is really supporting the service members who are still part of the military or still hold onto that piece of that. 00:15:40:20 - 00:16:02:09 Luke Sticht And most all of us do. Our organization at UW Health created a military service group member organization. It's a group of service members, both, you know, currently serving as well as, those who have retired or separated. And this group is robust. I think the last count was 35 members who meet together monthly, share stories, share challenges. 00:16:02:16 - 00:16:22:03 Luke Sticht And it brings that camaraderie that they had in the military right back to the civilian sector. And it offers the support that our many military members are looking for during that transition. The support from the organization, right, legally, all organizations have to support Guard and reserve and reserve members. That's a real basic way to look at it. 00:16:22:04 - 00:16:41:08 Luke Sticht Legally, I have to allow you to go on a two-week reserve duty. I think successful organizations are those organizations that go out of their way to support the service member in scheduling those two weeks, in scheduling those weekends off when they have to drill with their Guard or reserve units, helping those service members fill out leave of absence paperwork. 00:16:41:08 - 00:17:02:16 Luke Sticht I know a lot of this sounds very basic, but when all of that falls on this service member and the organization treats it as a legal obligation as opposed to something that is benefiting the organization, the service member, and our country, the mentality can really flip to be much more of a positive experience for the organization and the service member, particularly with deployments. 00:17:02:16 - 00:17:32:21 Luke Sticht If a service member gets orders to deploy somewhere for eight months to a year, yes, it's concerning for the organization, but it's very concerning for the service member and his or her family as well. So having a civilian organization that can support that service member during a deployment, ensuring that the family is taken care of through health insurance benefits or, you know, continuing to be able to use resources from the organization like counseling resources, daycare resources that were in place before the member had to leave. 00:17:32:23 - 00:17:56:21 Luke Sticht Those are real things that can really set that service member up for success. And when they deploy, a lot of those challenges and anxieties that they have can go away. That type of action from the civilian organization, that's going to keep that service member there. He or she's going to feel like my family is taking care of while I'm gone, and I'm going back to that organization when I'm done with these orders because they took care of me. 00:17:56:23 - 00:18:20:15 Elisa Arespacochaga Those are great examples. Thank you so much. And I think you've both highlighted great ways for the organization to think of this as just a huge value, and the various ways you can reach out and be proactive to support them in their journeys. Sounds like, UW really is on that path and continuing to be an example for others. 00:18:20:18 - 00:18:22:21 Elisa Arespacochaga So, thank you very much. 00:18:22:24 - 00:18:31:05 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. </details></div> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 02:18:48 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) AHA podcast: Military-Informed Care — What it Means for Veterans and Their Families /news/headline/2024-11-08-aha-podcast-military-informed-care-what-it-means-veterans-and-their-families In observation of Veterans Day, Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and Kara Walker, M.D., executive vice president and chief population health officer at Nemours Children’s Health, discuss how hospitals and health systems can meet the special health care needs of families who sacrifice the most. <a href="/advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-08-military-informed-care-what-it-means-veterans-and-their-families">LISTEN NOW</a><div></div> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 15:02:04 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) Military-Informed Care: What it Means for Veterans and Their Families /advancing-health-podcast/2024-11-08-military-informed-care-what-it-means-veterans-and-their-families The care needs of military-connected families can look different from those of other patients. Higher&nbsp;emotional or mental stress, and longer rehabilitation, are just&nbsp;a&nbsp;few of the challenges that these families can face. In observation of Veterans Day, Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and Kara Walker, M.D., executive vice president and chief population health officer at Nemours Children’s Health, discuss how hospitals and health systems can meet the special health care needs for families who sacrifice the most.<hr><div></div><div class="raw-html-embed"><details class="transcript"><summary> <h2 title="Click here to open/close the transcript.">View Transcript &nbsp;</h2> </summary> 00:00:00:14 - 00:00:20:16 Tom Haederle The care needs of military-connected families can be different from those of many other patients who seek care from hospitals and health systems. Often, they're dealing with higher rates of emotional or mental stress. Rehabilitation and recovery efforts take longer on average, and it's not unusual for military families to be providing long-term in-home care to their veteran members. 00:00:20:19 - 00:00:36:18 Tom Haederle Experts say these unique circumstances matter, and that many caregivers need to be more mindful that they exist. 00:00:36:20 - 00:01:02:07 Tom Haederle Welcome to Advancing Health, a podcast from the �� Association. I'm Tom Haederle with AHA Communications. As we observe Veterans Day this week, today's podcast takes a look at how hospitals and health systems, not to mention society at large, can do a better job of meeting the special health care needs of military-connected families. Our host is Nancy Myers, vice president of leadership and system innovation with AHA’s Center for Health Innovation. 00:01:02:12 - 00:01:14:17 Tom Haederle She is joined by Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and Dr. Kara Walker, executive vice president and chief population health officer, Nemours Children's Health. Here's Nancy. 00:01:14:20 - 00:01:36:05 Nancy Myers I'd like to welcome everyone to our discussion today, and I'm so honored to be here with both of you to talk about this really cool and important topic. So, Steve, I want to start with you. Big picture. Why should it be important to hospitals and health systems to increase their use of military-informed care? What is the need in this space? 00:01:36:08 - 00:02:19:01 Steve Schwab Well, that's such a great question to start off. And it's so good to join you both and talk about a topic that's really important, to our country. If you step back and think about the fact that there is less than one half of 1% of our population serving to protect our freedom and security, and it's easy to take that for granted and to lose the fact that our neighbors and our friends and our church members and our colleagues might be somehow military- connected, because it seems like such a small amount of folks, but actually, when you add in the layers of veterans and military-connected families and kids and folks who work in a 00:02:19:01 - 00:02:44:02 Steve Schwab civilian setting and military-connected care, it actually adds up to a lot of Americans. And so when we talk about military-informed care, we talk about the unique ways that health care systems and health care practitioners can make military-connected populations feel special from the minute they walk in the door. But care needs for military-connected communities is really different and unique. 00:02:44:04 - 00:03:18:26 Steve Schwab Military-connected patients tend to have increasing rates of mental and emotional stress, PTSD. Many of our military-connected patients have traumatic brain injuries or behavioral health issues. That doesn't mean everybody, but it means that practitioners and systems need to be acutely aware of the kinds of distinct conditions, mental and emotional, that are unique to the military population. And so when health systems think about when those folks come into, like Nemours, for instance, who's ahead of the game on military-connected care. 00:03:18:28 - 00:03:46:06 Steve Schwab Because when folks come in, we want to ask patients, are you military-connected? We want to ask if children are inside military families. We want to ask spouses if they're caregivers or military or veteran-connected caregivers, because all of those characteristics, all of those roles, all of those conditions come with unique needs. And what it can provide practitioners and systems are a set of protocols that they can use clinically. 00:03:46:08 - 00:04:11:06 Steve Schwab They can use administratively to have a special touch, and to take those families or those patients through a continuum of care that doesn't just recognize that they're military-connected, but actually embraces it and builds it into the practice from the front desk to the doctor's room, through to the way that practitioners and clinicians follow up with family members. 00:04:11:13 - 00:04:38:08 Steve Schwab The other thing that I'll say, that’s unique to military-informed care is that rehabilitation and recovery within military and veteran families usually does really include the entire family — so the spouse and the children, as is the case in our work with Nemours. Military children tend to be more aware of what's going on with mom and dad if they have military service-connected wounds, injuries, or illnesses. 00:04:38:11 - 00:04:43:10 Steve Schwab There's millions of kids across this country who are serving as primary and secondary caregivers. 00:04:43:13 - 00:05:12:09 Nancy Myers Thanks for that background and Kara, &nbsp;I want to turn to you. You know, you're a physician. You're a leader at Nemours Children's, which is really in the business of supporting kids and their entire family. Can you talk about what are the examples of the impact on kids and families when providers aren't providing military-informed care? Or conversely, you know, what are the winds that can happen when they are aware of that background in a child's life? 00:05:12:11 - 00:05:40:11 Kara Walker, M.D. Thank you so much, Nancy. It is truly an honor to serve so many kids across our geographies. And we know that children in military-connected families serve our country too. And so I'm a family physician. I know that the context of which a family is in, at home, at school, in our communities, matters so much to the health that they have personally, but also to the health of their entire family unit. 00:05:40:11 - 00:06:15:16 Kara Walker, M.D. And so we know that each encounter with a military-connected child or youth provides us an opportunity to recognize their service. And we know how important trust is and trust building and seeing the whole person is in creating health in our nation. This enhances the care that we provide as physicians, as caregivers, as health systems. And we also know that in conversations we have with military families, we get to hear the stories of what it looks like when it's done right. 00:06:15:18 - 00:06:42:12 Kara Walker, M.D. We know that that means we acknowledge military connections. It means we're checking in with our patients and parents in a way that shows we understand how being part of a military-connected family impacts so much of what it means to thrive. It means it impacts their social supports, their health care needs, but also their mental health needs. So we also know what it feels like when it's done well. 00:06:42:14 - 00:07:12:13 Kara Walker, M.D. Unfortunately, we also hear stories of frustration when it's not done well. We hear of families who have to be that bridge and have even more burden to act as educators and then orient the entire health system to what it means to have challenges and stressors that can be caused by deployments and relocations, or what it means to be a young person who's also caring for a parent with PTSD or other types of service-related injuries or illness. 00:07:12:16 - 00:07:43:27 Kara Walker, M.D. So we know both sides of that coin. I think that's where being military-informed can help all of us do more for the patients we serve and our communities. There's a saying that when you know better, you do better. And through our Hidden Helpers Coalition and other work, the Elizabeth Dole Foundation does an incredible job of raising the collective awareness of needs of military-connected spouses and children, particularly for those who are caregivers for injured veterans or service members. 00:07:44:00 - 00:07:51:06 Kara Walker, M.D. We are so fortunate to participate in this Coalition. It has been part of our journey to know better. 00:07:51:09 - 00:08:13:10 Nancy Myers So I want to come back to you in a moment to talk to you about how Nemours got involved with the Hidden Helpers Coalition, but Steve, wanted to turn back to you to tell us a little bit about that Coalition. Why was it needed? What types of organizations are you working with and how you feel that hospitals and health care can really contribute to the work? 00:08:13:13 - 00:08:42:21 Steve Schwab Yeah, well, I think you can tell by Kara's answer that Nemours gets it, and military families notice that. Military-connected patients notice when they walk into a clinical setting or a hospital or a doctor's office, if that physician, if that office has a culture of military-connected care because their experiences serving this country are so unique. And that's really what's been beautiful about the partnership between Nemours and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. 00:08:42:24 - 00:09:19:15 Steve Schwab Let me tell you about the work that we're doing around Hidden Helpers. In 2014, we did a groundbreaking study with RAND and really put the military and veteran caregiving issue on the map. We stood in the East Room of the White House with then President Obama, Mrs. Obama, and Dr. Biden. And we said this country has a crisis occurring in military and veteran families, 5.5 million families across the country who are providing long-term, in-home care for wounded, ill and injured veterans in a way our country had never seen before because so many veterans were coming home with injuries that they had sustained in war and that they were surviving in rates they hadn't in 00:09:19:15 - 00:09:45:17 Steve Schwab prior war eras, because of advancements in battlefield medicine, which means the family model of care in this country for military and veteran families has totally changed. Families are now engaged in home health care in a way that they hadn't been. So multiple generations are being impacted, including kids. And so part of what that RAND study told us was there wasn't enough research on the implications of this new caregiving situation in America. 00:09:45:20 - 00:10:14:15 Steve Schwab Nemours and others joined us as we unveiled an update to that 2014 study 10 years later, that tells us that that number has gone from 5.5 million to 14.3 million families. So in 10 years, we've seen an almost threefold increase in the amount of families across this country. And they're in all 50 states. They're inside military health institutions and VA facilities, but they're also going into places like Nemours and clinical health facilities all across this country. 00:10:14:18 - 00:10:51:19 Steve Schwab And so we did a research blueprint, and that blueprint from RAND told us that we needed to understand more what was happening with kids and the implications of this caregiving situation on children. And so we did a study, went back to the White House. Dr. Biden helped us launch an initiative called Hidden Helpers three years ago, and we challenged American childcare organizations and health care organizations to come together with government in the private sector in a coalition approach to think about how we can bring special, tailored care and support to these kids. 00:10:51:20 - 00:11:25:18 Steve Schwab Nemours was one of the first institutions to raise its hand. It has been remarkably leading the front as it relates to innovating care, both technology approaches and clinical approaches, training approaches that are becoming the model for the nation. And that's the whole idea behind this Coalition, bringing these partners together to create programs and innovation and educational interventions to change these kids’ lives and to help them in the school setting, in the health care setting, in their home and to create stronger, healthier families. 00:11:25:21 - 00:11:32:05 Nancy Myers Thanks. So, Kara, talk a little bit about what are some of the initiatives to improve military-informed care? 00:11:32:07 - 00:12:00:10 Kara Walker, M.D. Well, I'm so thrilled that when we raised our hand, Steve said, “Yes, let's go and let's run.” Before I summarize our current work, I want to say that the Coalition's focus is on children who have a parent with service-related injuries. The work we're doing at Nemours Children's takes a “yes and” approach. It's really focused that our efforts are designed to benefit caregiving children, plus any and all military-connected children. 00:12:00:12 - 00:12:22:11 Kara Walker, M.D. So one of the commitments when we joined the Hidden Helpers Coalition was to create this introductory professional development course for providers and others who are in the health care sector. Now, I know as a doc, sometimes we have to sign up for these courses to make sure we're current and we have the best evidence and the best tools. 00:12:22:14 - 00:12:52:12 Kara Walker, M.D. This education opportunity was developed in partnership with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. It merged our expertise on, you know, the technical health care medical side, but then we combined it with extensive knowledge of military culture. It created a course that's publicly available on our Nemours continuing education platform at no cost. But I will say that there are very few educational courses that I personally have taken where I teared up. 00:12:52:15 - 00:13:23:17 Kara Walker, M.D. I got emotional and I walked away with true skills. This course is compelling. It features young adults who are part of military caregiving homes, spouses of injured veterans, as well as physicians, nurses, behavioral health care providers from Nemours Children's. It really is a robust opportunity, and if you want some more resources who want to learn more, dive deep into the course, such as learning more about trauma-informed care, what secondary PTSD is, and many others, 00:13:23:17 - 00:13:52:16 Kara Walker, M.D. check it out. It really is an incredible course. I'll also say we're very proud of the work that's happening around creating new tools in our electronic medical record. So this summer we added an identifier to our EMR that allows us to document if a child is part of a military-connected home. So, you know, the doc pulls up the electronic screen, you check into your visit and it says maybe your address, your age, maybe what meds you're on. 00:13:52:18 - 00:14:24:18 Kara Walker, M.D. Now, you can see as a snapshot whether a child is also military-connected. That just gives you a quick prompt to make sure we know the information is flowing. The identifier is there. This is truly unique. Once we have a few months of the data, our team is going to create some sense out of this. We're going to meet to review the data, understand what procedures and trainings need to be in place so that the entire care team knows what to do when they're connecting and interacting with a military-connected patient. 00:14:24:20 - 00:14:31:23 Kara Walker, M.D. It'll make sure that we adapt, how we interact, how we ask questions, how we ask the right questions at the right moment. 00:14:31:25 - 00:14:50:04 Nancy Myers I always like to end with, what are a couple of things you can do today as you go back to your own organization, for our listeners. So for AHA members and other health care organizations that want to expand and increase their use of military-informed care, what are the concrete actions you recommend? Where should they start? 00:14:50:06 - 00:15:15:27 Kara Walker, M.D. Easy. There are two things I would underscore. One, I want to encourage providers, care team members, health professionals who are listening to take this professional development course. It is an incredible opportunity to learn from both our experience at Nemours and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation's expertise, to understand the ability to respond to the unique strengths and stressors of military-connected children and families. 00:15:16:02 - 00:15:48:21 Kara Walker, M.D. We'll share the course link in the show notes. Check it out. It is no cost, CME, all the good things and lots of incredible patient stories and kids who are doing tremendous work. Second, I want to encourage others who are listening across AHA’s membership to join Nemours Children's Health and being part of the national Hidden Helpers Coalition. There are already a hundred members from a broad range of sectors, but like CHA, I know there are health system leaders who want to be part of this Coalition membership. 00:15:48:24 - 00:16:06:10 Kara Walker, M.D. It brings you an invaluable opportunity to learn and bring those lessons back to your organization. More than anything, Hidden Helpers Coalition is action focused, so this is a real chance to collaborate on joint initiatives that go beyond the scope of what one organization alone can do. 00:16:06:12 - 00:16:08:19 Nancy Myers Steve, anything that you'd like to add? 00:16:08:21 - 00:16:30:15 Steve Schwab Can't beat what Kara just said. We take a more than the merrier approach in this Coalition. If you work with kids, if you work with families, if you work in the health care sector, in the education sector, there's room for you at this table. I think you'll find a really innovative group of folks who are mission oriented, and want to make a difference in the lives of military families. 00:16:30:15 - 00:16:40:02 Steve Schwab So we really appreciate this opportunity to spread the word and how important it is for all of us to be military-informed, especially as it relates to what we're doing in the health care setting. 00:16:40:05 - 00:17:03:09 Nancy Myers Well, I would like to thank you both for this important conversation and for reminding us that as we honor the service of our active military members and our veterans, we also recognize the support that we can provide to their families in our hospitals and health systems. And make sure to check out the resources available through Nemours Children's and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. 00:17:03:11 - 00:17:11:22 Tom Haederle Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. </details></div> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 07:48:00 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA) House subcommittee holds hearing on strengthening VA law enforcement safety /news/headline/2024-05-17-house-subcommittee-holds-hearing-strengthening-va-law-enforcement-safety The House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations May 16 held a <a href="https://veterans.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=6448">hearing</a> on ways to further support and protect law enforcement and others within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Testifying were Kirkpatrick “Kapua” Conley, regional president, central region, of Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton, Va., along with members of the VA police force and other private sector representatives.&nbsp; "From my perspective, security is both a feeling and a reality," Conley said. "And they are not the same. Making our employees and patients feel safe is just as important as keeping them safe... We know that health care workers are five times more likely to experience violence compared to those in any other private profession."&nbsp; American Organization for Nursing Leadership CEO Robyn Begley, AHA’s chief nursing officer and senior vice president of workforce, <a href="/testimony/2023-05-17-aha-house-testimony-vha-recruitment-and-retention-bureaucracy-holding-back-quality-workforce">testified</a> last year before the House VA subcommittees on Oversight &amp; Investigations and Health on workforce issues, including workplace safety.&nbsp; Fri, 17 May 2024 16:02:25 -0500 Veterans Administration (VA) A Salute to Those Who Have Kept America Safe /news/perspective/2023-11-10-salute-those-who-have-kept-america-safe Elmer Davis — journalist, author and director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II — once said, “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” The bravery and dedication to protecting our nation of the individuals who wear the military uniform of the United States of America has never been a question. For nearly 250 years, our courageous and selfless veterans have stood up for the nation’s defense, protecting their countrymen and America’s founding ideals at great personal cost. They have left their loved ones behind, many have served in war zones for months or years and — tragically — many have suffered serious injuries and lasting wounds, both physical and mental. In this tense time with conflict around the globe, we appreciate anew the resilience, readiness and willingness to stand firm of America’s armed forces. We owe a great debt to all who have served and who are serving today. That debt has been recognized from the start. The Revolutionary War saw the first pensions granted to some veterans, and the first federal hospital dedicated to the care of disabled and elderly soldiers was established in 1811. Likewise, America’s hospitals and health systems have long supported our troops and our veterans. The AHA believes a strong partnership between hospitals and health systems and the Department of Veterans Affairs is essential to ensure our nation’s veterans receive the health care they need and deserve. And we continue to work with the VA to ensure veterans have access to the care they need, when they need it. For example, we have made it a priority to spread the word among hospitals and health systems of available VA resources, especially in the area of mental health, such as free online training to help community health care providers counsel veterans at risk for suicide about secure storage of firearms and other lethal means, which can help save lives. And we continue to share insights and ideas with our federal colleagues about potential solutions to challenges common to all care providers, including workforce shortages and retention. In addition, veterans are a great fit for the health care field, and many hospitals and health systems go to special lengths to hire veterans, putting their skills and mission-driven leadership qualities into the service of healing. For example, Arizona-based HonorHealth and Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic are among the increasing number of care providers that have adopted the <a href="https://skillbridge.osd.mil/" target="_blank">Department of Defense’s Skillbridge Program</a>&nbsp;to offer service members valuable civilian work experience and the opportunity gain employment skills, knowledge and abilities that open doors to job opportunities in the civilian sector. In addition, AHA is urging potential health care employers to capitalize on the unique strengths of veterans. This week we released updates to our Workforce Strategies Guide, which includes a <a href="/workforce-strategies/recruitment-an-opportunity-to-hire-veterans" target="_blank">new chapter</a>&nbsp;specifically focused on hiring and supporting veterans. Music also is a meaningful way to express AHA’s commitment to honoring and supporting our military members, veterans and their families. One again, we have partnered with Musicians on Call to give AHA member hospitals early access to a <a href="https://connect.musiciansoncall.org/programs/ahaveterans23" target="_blank">virtual concert honoring veterans</a>. The concert features well-known artists, and hospitals can share it with the veterans who work at their organizations. Fewer than 10% of Americans can claim the title “veteran.” But that special group of our fellow citizens has served and sacrificed in ways that most of us are never asked to, and we can all offer thanks and gratitude to the sentinels who have stood watch to keep our nation safe and continue to protect us each and every day. From all of us here at the AHA, thank you to every veteran who has defended our country … and our freedom. Fri, 10 Nov 2023 08:33:05 -0600 Veterans Administration (VA)