VA Healthcare-VISN 4
New Services and Staff
New Services and Staff
New Services
VA Butler's Center for Behavioral Health started a weekly, women Veterans' Military Sexual Trauma support group in the spring of 2015. This new group is geared towards support (it is not a trauma processing group). Topics discussed in the group include: increasing a sense of safety, learning to trust others, shame and guilt, recognizing possibly unsafe situations, and the cyclical nature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A new acupuncture clinic for Veterans at VA Butler Healthcare started in 2015. VA Butler Chiropractors, Zachary Cupler and Michael Anderson, both licensed acupuncturists, provide this new service to eligible Veterans.
Nurses in Philadelphia VA's Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary program now call all patients about a week after their initial intake appointment to improve their ongoing access and to follow up on their experience with their intake. This initiative helps staff in measuring care, addressing side effects of medications and promoting return to care for Veterans. Since its implementation, staff has noticed an increase in clinic attendance after intake appointments.
New Staff
Altoona VA Medical Center hired five new specialists to provide additional access to health care for Veterans. Access to specialty care services has improved greatly as a result of the additional staff. In September 2015, the average wait time for completed appointments for specialty care was only 4.88 days, compared to 5.63 days in that same period in 2014.
Erie VA Medical Center hired a total of 34 additional staff – 22 in primary care, nine in specialty care, and three in mental health care – to further enhance patient access as part of the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014. With the additional staff, Erie VA added a pain clinic and increased a number of specialty care services, specifically in home-based primary care, optometry, on-site chiropractic care and non-VA care consult management.