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Report on Outreach
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11/1/2013 4:01 PM
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2013
DEC REPORT FOR NOVEMBER 2013
Since I was appointed as the Chair of the Women Veterans’ Committee, we held our second meeting after the
September DEC. We have held long discussions on what we feel the DAV needs to do to reach out to our
women members and women veterans in general. There were a lot of areas discussed from visiting Chapters to
inform their members on how to receive and invite the women; to possibly offering babysitting during meetings;
to personal invitations to come join us at a meeting; to participating with the Service and Charitable events; to
participating at job and college fairs; to holding informational luncheons and so on.
Even though we are not ruling out participating in having booths, in the end we decided that these activities
could be extended into future terms. The primary concern was to let the women know that there are active
women veterans in the DAV and are willing to help them in anyway we can. So, this is our one and only goal
this year: to let them know the DAV has a place for them and we are available to them.
I have been working on an email address list of all the women members that are available to us from a list that
we received from National. I have gone through the 750 names. I will be making up a contact list in email. I
hope to figure out how to forward this list to the Department, the Department Membership Committee, and the
members of the Women Veterans Liaison Committee. (Not very computer savvy.)
The Committee’s idea is to use this as a form of resource for women veterans and their families. We will be
getting information such as on the Food Banks that are giving out 20 pounds of food; information from the
Governor’s Women Veterans’ Advisory Committee; the Women Veteran’s Network; etc. We plan to let them
know what the DAV has available and how to apply or to get information on their benefits, etc. We want to
educate ourselves so that anytime a woman veteran or her family contacts us, we will be able to answer her
question, help her with a solution or know where to refer her.
I have updated a contact list of women veterans who are active in the Chapters. This list will be available for
any one or any Chapter who wishes to use it as a resource in your efforts to help those veterans you may come in
contact. I will be bringing up the idea to possibly forward this to the Governor’s Women Veterans’ Advisory
Committee, VAMC’s (perhaps through the HSCs), local VSOs, Chapter and Department Service Officers and
other areas where it may be of use.
As you can see, we are planning to set the STANDARDS for the future success of this committee as a valuable
asset to the Department. This year, get the program up and running; next year, we hope to be able to start to
reach out to them in a more personal way.
I ask for your full support on this timely and important adventure. Thank you and God bless all the DAV’s
efforts to help fulfill the Country’s promises to our fellow veterans and their families.
Anita M. Reed, PDC, Chair, Dept Women Veterans’ Liaison Committee |
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Women Vets 01 11 2013
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1/11/2013 11:43 AM
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In October, women veterans of every branch of the armed forces and every era of service had tremendous reason to celebrate their legacy. The Women in Military Service for America Memorial marked its 15th anniversary of honoring women veterans, and hundreds poured in from around the country to help celebrate the dedication of this beautiful memorial to our servicewomen.
From the earliest days of women's service in the military, their contributions have been invaluable. The same is true within our own organization, and as I watch our membership grow, I hope to see continued increases in the number of women veterans who choose to make DAV a part of their post-military lives.
Increasingly, DAV has moved in a direction that includes our women veterans and that can only bring great things to our community. We need to be ever expanding our focus to include the service and sacrifices of the women who have stood alongside our men -in-arms throughout the years.
So many women, especially those who served during World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam, have had their service go unrecognized for many years. Oftentimes they are not asked about their military service, but they are nonetheless a vital part of our nation's history and a key part of the DAV mission for the future.
One of the biggest challenges we face in this arena is identifying women who may be eligible for membership. Too often, we look past them in the crowd and forget to ask women if they may be veterans of our armed forces. We should no longer be surprised to hear that a young mother of two is a Marine war veteran, that our neighbor served as an Army nurse in Vietnam or that the woman who sits next to us at worship services is a fighter pilot in the Air Force. Today, the roles women fill have expanded to every corner of the military. This year has brought tremendous changes to the types of career fields and training programs that are open to our servicewomen. It is an exciting time for women, and it is an especially important time for DAV to welcome the brave women who have sacrificed so much for this nation.
Building a strong presence of our sisters-in-arms is one of the most important facets of our membership mission. DAV has always been out front on women veterans' issues, and the huge influx of women currently filtering into the veterans' community presents us the chance to bring untold experience, expertise and enthusiasm into our fold. If we show women veterans we are here for them, that they don't have to go it alone, and that they have a home and a family with DAV, our mission to fulfill promises to veterans will only grow stronger. |
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Women Veterans Tak Force
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5/16/2012 11:55 AM
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Women Veterans Task Force Draft Plan Released
VA Seeks Public Comment on Strategies
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs is releasing for public comment a draft of its strategic report to address key issues facing women Veterans. The plan outlines steps for improvements to care and services for women Veterans that are sustainable, accountable and a part of the department’s culture and operations.
“Expanding care and services to women Veterans is too important to limit ourselves solely to the views within the department, so we are seeking feedback from all stakeholders, most importantly women Veterans themselves,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “The VA must be visionary and agile enough to anticipate and adjust not only to the coming increase in women Veterans, but also to the complexity and longevity of treatment needs.”
Shinseki formed a task force to develop an action plan to address women Veterans’ issues. Since then, the group has conducted a broad survey of department experts to identify those issues and organize them by priority. The draft report is an interim step prior to VA finalizing its overall plan.
The report comes at an important juncture in VA’s history that demands a review of the quality, quantity, and types of services and programs it provides to women Veterans. The number of women Veterans using VA has increased 83 percent in the past decade, from about 160,000 to over 292,000 between fiscal years 2000 and 2009, compared with a 50 percent increase in men.
Women are now the fastest growing cohort within the Veteran community. In 2011, about 1.8 million or 8 percent of the 22.2 million Veterans were women. The male Veteran population is projected to decrease from 20.2 million men in 2010 to 16.7 million by 2020. In contrast, the number of women Veterans will increase from 1.8 million in 2011 to 2 million in 2020, at which time women will make up 10.7 percent of the total Veteran population.
VA is training providers in basic and advanced topics in women’s health through mini-residencies, and over 1200 providers have currently received training. Comprehensive women’s health care can be provided within three different models of care, including comprehensive women’s clinics; separate, but shared, space women’s clinics; or integrated primary care clinics. All of these clinic models ensure that women receive all of their primary health care (prevention, medical, and routine gynecologic care) by a single primary care provider. A network of medical directors and program managers who coordinate care for women Veterans now encompasses all 153 medical centers in the VA Health Care System.
The public notice and instructions for how to submit comments will be posted at www.regulations.gov. The draft written report will be open for comment for 30 days, and responders will have a number of options to provide both electronic and written feedback. Readers will also be able to participate in a public discussion board on the Internet at: http://vawomenvetstratplan.uservoice.com/forums/159415-general.
To view the report without making recommendations, please visit VA’s website at: http://www.va.gov/opa/publications/Draft_2012_Women-Veterans_StrategicPlan.pdf.
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April 2, 2012
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4/3/2012 2:31 PM
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From: VA Public Affairs [mailto:VAPublicAffairs@va.gov]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 11:05 AM
Subject:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 2, 2012
Research Roundtable Caps VA Celebration of Women’s History Month
WASHINGTON — Improving the health and health care of women Veterans is a high priority within the Department of Veterans Affairs, said a panel of leading researchers on March 27.
“VA is committed to serving women Veterans and it is our privilege to do so,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We are honored to sponsor research that supports the outstanding care our women Veterans have earned and deserve.”
VA’s research commitment is multidisciplinary, covering the areas of biomedical, clinical, health services, and rehabilitation. To meet the needs of a growing, diverse demographic that spans all generations of women Veterans — from an aging population of WWII Veterans to those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan—the pace of research activity in recent years has greatly accelerated.
“From building an extensive research network that supports top notch investigators to providing a strong foundation of knowledge for quality care, VA is addressing the diverse health care needs of this fastest growing segment of the Veteran population,” said Dr. Joel Kupersmith, VA chief research and development officer, who was the opening speaker.
Between 2004 and 2008, more research on the health of women Veterans was published than in the previous 25 years combined. Today, VA supports a significant amount of research on a wide variety of health issues faced by women. In fiscal year 2011, the agency funded 60 studies for a total investment of more than $12 million.
VA women Veteran’s health research focuses on:
· Returning combat women Veterans – gender differences with regard to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), post-deployment behaviors, and reintegration;
· Understanding barriers and improving access to VA health care for women Veterans;
· Long-term health outcomes of women who served during the Vietnam era;
· Expanding mental health research including PTSD, substance abuse, and sexual trauma; and
· Basic research (biomedical) on breast cancer including hormones, regulation, genetic factors, as well as autoimmune diseases.
To bolster support for investigators conducting women’s health services research, as well as recruitment and inclusion of women Veterans in a wider array of studies, VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) launched the Women’s Health Research Network (WHRN).
The WHRN includes two partnered components: the Women’s Health Research Consortium providing training and mentorship to researchers focusing on women’s health research, and the Women’s Health Practice-based Research Network supporting clinical research networks that test VA-based women’s health-related interventions and studies requiring recruitment of women Veterans at multiple sites. The former is headed by Elizabeth Yano, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.; the latter by Dr. Susan Frayne, M.P.H.
“Excellence in health care begins with excellence in research” said Dr. Robert A. Petzel, VA’s under secretary for health. “VA research has put together a solid infrastructure that supports quality health care for women Veterans.”
Joining Kupersmith to discuss the ways VA research improves the health of women Veterans were Dr. Sally Haskell, acting director of Comprehensive Women's Health for the Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group, and three leading researchers: Elizabeth Yano, co-director of the VA Health Services Research and Development Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System; Susan Frayne, associate director for development and staff physician at the Women’s Health Center of Excellence, VA Palo Alto Healthcare System; and Dr. Donna Washington, M.P.H., program area lead, Women’s Health and Equity Strategic Program, HSR&D Center of Excellence for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior and staff physician at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
The media roundtable culminated a month of activities sponsored by VA to recognize Women’s History Month. It is the third in a series of media roundtables sponsored by VA’s Office of Research and Development. For more information about other roundtables, see www.research.va.gov/media_roundtable. For more information on VA Research, visit www.research.va.gov.
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VA News
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1/30/2012 1:33 PM
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2012
VA Publishes Regulation on Newborn Care
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs has published a regulation officially amending VA’s medical benefits package to include up to seven days of medical care for newborns delivered by women Veterans who are receiving VA maternity care benefits.
“The regulation change makes formal the commitment VA made to women Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Erik K. Shinseki. “This falls in line with the broad range of services VA is proud to offer women Veterans who have served this nation.”
Newborn care includes routine post-delivery care and all other medically necessary services that are in accord with generally accepted standards of medical practice.
The effective date of the rule is Dec. 19, 2011, but the regulation applies retroactively to newborn care provided to eligible women Veterans on or after May 5, 2011.
VA has women Veterans program managers at every VA medical center to help women Veterans learn more about the health care benefits they have earned with their service. For more information about VA healthcare for women Veterans, visit http://www.womenshealth.va.gov.
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Lady Vets 01-09-2012
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1/30/2012 1:33 PM
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Lady Vets Front and Center!
The purpose of this information is to better inform you of what benefits and resources, which are available to you as a woman due to your service and sacrifice in the Armed Forces of our Country.
One of the most important things to me being a woman veteran is my membership in the Disabled American Veterans. This organization works solely to make the lives of veterans, their spouses and children better. I urge you if not already a member to become one. We are national and can be found at www.dav.org --check it out! In my opinion, it is the best veterans’ organization to be involved in. By becoming a chapter member you will find common ground, camaraderie and the fact that you are not alone in the disabilities you suffer from.
This brings us to the Veterans Administration. Don’t cringe. This organization, however slow to change, is doing its best to do just that….change. We are not men although many of our comrades think of us as “one of the guys”. Let’s face it, even change for the better takes time.
There is a Women Veterans’ Network in Massachusetts. To try to explain all they can do would be hard, so I leave you with contact information. On the Internet simply visit www.mass.gov/veterans or dvswomen@vet.stats.ma.us. This network is designed and was formed in Congress in 1994 to reach women vets and their unique needs. Then the Commonwealth of Massachusetts followed the example and created the Women Veterans’ Network. They collaborate with the VA to make our care better. To be placed on a confidential database for women veterans where you can discover what is going on around the state for women vets please call 1-617-210-5781 or email dvswomen@vet.state.ma.us.
Every town has a veterans’ service agent and it is their job to help you and inform you of your benefits and direct you to others you may need to contact. They are usually located in the town hall.
All of the VA hospitals have a women vet program manager. Simply ask at the VA you visit.
In closing, make your primary care physician aware of your gender-specific needs. You are entitled to mammography, pap smears, and travel pay if your disability is rated 30% or higher, even 7 days of care for your newborn! Until next time…..
Thank you for your service!
Yours in Comradeship
Lori Santy
Department Service Officer
State of Massachusetts |
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