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VA New England Healthcare System

 

Veterans' Healthy Living, Fall 2014

How is White River Junction VAMC increasing access to quality care for Veterans?

Here are examples of the outstanding work being conducted at White River Junction VAMC:

The doctors, nurses, support staff, and medical center leadership at White River Junction VA Medical Center are committed to ensuring that all the Veterans we serve receive care that is not only excellent in quality, but also is timely.

WRJ has recently brought on a number of new clinical and scheduling staff to ensure the best access to care for our Veterans and provide additional clinics and enhanced efficiencies. Here are a few of the changes we have implemented at WRJ to ensure our Veterans receive timely access to quality care:

  • Radiology Service has expanded weekday MRI appointments to 8:00 p.m., and 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays.
  • Audiology is now available six days per week.
  • Mental Health Service has added a weekend open access clinic for its Primary Mental Health Clinic from 8:00 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
  • The Medical Center’s Physical Therapy Department has increased hours of operation to seven days per week.
  • We expanded Physical/Occupational/Speech Therapy service to each of the seven CBOCs and into Veterans’ homes via TeleHealth.
  • Audiology has expanded to the southern tier of Vermont at the Brattleboro CBOC.
  • We have increased utilization of TeleHealth for psychotherapy and psychopharmacology at CBOCs.

White River Junction VAMC is proud of the health care services that we provide for northern New England Veterans. We provide Veteran centered health care services tailored to the specific needs of the Veteran population. White River Junction VA has a number of services we would like to highlight:

  • White River Junction’s Residential Recovery Center (RRC) Substance Abuse Residential Rehab Treatment Program is a six-week treatment program focused on recovery from substance abuse and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Many Veterans see the RRC as a ‘lifesaver’. It has proven to be a regional VA referral center, and plans are to expand the center to 28 beds.
  • White River Junction has provided TeleMentalHealth services to rural Veterans for over five years. The program has developed into a robust system of TeleHealth services that now includes Speech Therapy, group MOVE (exercise and weight control) classes, and post-surgical Physical Therapy visits directly in the Veteran’s home.
  • Network executive leadership board members have recently praised White River Junction’s Rehabilitation program as a benchmark program for the use of technology. The Chief of the Physical and Occupational Therapy clinic has developed a walk-in clinic through the deployment of a specialized Outlook scheduling package used by all providers.
  • White River Junction developed and instituted the Primary Mental Health Clinic (PMHC) model that has been extended to all VA Medical Centers. Mental Health providers are embedded directly in primary care clinics and are active members of
    Patient Aligned Care Teams. Efficiencies inherent in the system provide patient’s access to a Mental Health provider within 30 minutes or less.

At White River Junction, we utilize the current climate as an opportunity to continue to improve the care and access we provide to Veterans we have the privilege of serving.

Assisting patient in a MRI