VA-DoD Recovery Coordinators Aid

[admin]

VA-DoD Program Serves Severely Disabled Combat Veterans

WASHINGTON (May 7, 2008) - Bolstering its commitment to improve services
to those seriously injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA) and its federal partners have marked a milestone
with establishment of a promised new office and deployment of workers to
key military treatment facilities.

"The President vowed action on this key recommendation from his advisory
commission on war veterans' needs, and today our new Federal Recovery
Coordinator Program office is actively at work with dozens of severely
injured patients around the country," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Dr. James B. Peake.

In coordination with the Department of Defense and the Department of
Health and Human Services, the joint Federal Recovery Coordinator
Program is designed to cut across bureaucratic lines and reach into the
private sector as necessary to identify services needed for seriously
wounded and ill service members, veterans and their families.

A key recommendation of a presidential commission chaired by former Sen.
Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala,
the recovery coordinators do not directly provide care, but coordinates
federal health care teams and private community resources to achieve the
personal and professional goals of an individualized "life map" or
recovery plan developed with the service members or veterans who qualify
for the federal recovery coordinator program.

At VA, which is coordinating the recovery coordinators' office, a
director has been appointed, Ginnean Quisenberry, and six field staff
members are actively working with 85 patients at three major military
treatment facilities, with four additional coordinators expected to be
appointed soon.

Currently the federal recovery coordinators are based at three military
hospitals most likely to receive severely wounded service members
evacuated from the combat theater: Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Washington, National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and Brooke
Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

A fourth site, Naval Medical Center San Diego, will receive two of the
additional four field staff expected to be appointed soon.

Though initially based in military facilities, their work seamlessly
extends into the patient's civilian life after discharge. Heeding
President Bush's charge to ensure these severely injured persons do not
get lost in the system, the coordinators actively link the veteran with
public and private resources that will meet their rehabilitation needs.

Participating patients will include those with seriously debilitating
burns, spinal cord injuries, amputations, visual impairments, traumatic
brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

While initially focused in early stages for current military hospital
inpatients, the FRCP involvement is expected to be a lifetime commitment
to veterans and their families. The coordinators will maintain contacts
by phone, visits and e-mail.

When a veteran settles in a remote area, VA will be able to use
multimedia systems that integrate video and audio teleconferencing so
that veterans may visit a federal clinic or private center near their
homes to link up with their case coordinator for a meeting.

The federal agencies are actively discussing ideas for ongoing
improvements to the process, including monitoring demand patterns for
possible adjustments to staffing as well as improved Web-based
information for the service member adjusting to civilian life, such as
links to a comprehensive guide to governmental and private-sector
services integrated with their individual recovery plan and their own
health records.