MAY 18, 2012 HEALTH CARE Legion issues report on VA rural health care


The Legion’s System Worth Saving Task Force evaluated the quality of VA rural health care in 13 states. T e American Legion released its fi nal report on


the quality of rural health care being provided by the Department of Veterans Aff airs on May 9. T e report is based on information collected by the


Legion’s System Worth Saving (SWS) Task Force, which evaluated VA medical centers across the country from last November to February. Verna Jones, director of the Legion’s Veterans


Aff airs & Rehabilitation Division, said the Legion wanted to take a close look at VA health care in more remote locations because the number of veterans living in rural areas continues to grow. “Our rural veterans have fewer primary-care and


specialty-care services provided by VA,” Jones said. “It also takes a lot longer for them to cover all those extra miles to health-care facilities. If you live in Gallup, N.M., but need treatment at the VA hospital in Albuquerque, that means a three-hour drive along Interstate 40.” Task force staff interviewed a variety of


administrators, staff and patients at VA medical centers, community-based outpatient clinics, rural health resource centers and sites for Project ARCH (Access Received Closer to Home). T ey conducted several focus groups with rural veterans to discuss the quality of VA health care, and also visited the Navajo and Pueblo nations to get a better understanding of health-care challenges faced by American Indian veterans. Jacob Gadd, deputy director of health in the VA&R


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servicemembers for civilian careers at the same time they undergo their military training. “We have been calling for this since 1996, when our


Economic staff fi rst started meeting with the Department of Labor to discuss this issue,” Wong said. “It makes no sense for someone serving as an air traffi c controller, combat medic, military police offi cer or in any of the hundreds of other diverse jobs off ered by the military, to be told that they don’t have the credentials to be performing in these fi elds in civilian society. We have a magnifi cent military because of these people. We can all benefi t from their skills. Let’s remove the red tape.” If there are any doubts what the organization has


accomplished, Wong said, one needs to simply pick up a copy of the Legion’s National Consolidated Report “and read over some of the amazing things this great organization has accomplished over the last year,” he said. “More accurately, we’ve been doing these things – living up to our Four Pillars – for 93 years now, but it’s only recently that we tried to list these accomplishments in a single, easy-to-read report. T is report makes it very easy for us to all answer the question.


“Unlike some other veterans groups, we do


more than just lobby. We are out there in the communities across this country. Everybody in this room is an ambassador for T e American Legion.” Wong also called for support for the fl ag


amendment and protecting TRICARE benefi ts for future military retirees, as well as making sure these and similar issues are on the front burner this fall. “T is is an election year,” he said. “It is up to us to ensure that the candidates for the White House, Congress and local offi ces in your states address these issues in their upcoming campaigns.”


On T e Membership Front. Denise Rohan, chairman of the National Membership & Post Activities Committee, reported that while traditional membership gains were solid, the 2012 membership total likely would be less than the goal for the year. Renewals are up, due to the debut of online renewals, but new memberships are down. “We must continue to incorporate innovative new ways to improve membership, like online renewal,” Rohan said. “At the same time, we cannot aff ord to abandon the practices which have guided us for over 93 years – personal contact. T is part of interacting with veterans has become a lost art form. We need to get back to the basics.” Wong said there is a deep well of Vietnam and


Gulf War veterans that the Legion should be drawing from, and that when going aſt er younger members, Legionnaires need to point to the work the organization is doing on a daily basis. “Frankly, if you say you are service-fi rst and you


North Carolina NECman Jerry Hedrick delivers a eulogy for PNC Ray Smith, who passed away in October. Eldon Lindsay


hand a young soldier a membership application, it rings a little hollow,” Wong said. “T e only applications most of these young people want are job applications, and maybe some assistance with college or their VA paperwork. Once they see that T e American Legion sponsors more than 100 job


Denise Rohan discusses membership strategies. Eldon Lindsay


fairs a year and played a pivotal role in the passage of their GI Bill, they will join – as long as we remain relevant to them and their brothers- and sisters- in-arms.” Once a new member is signed up, Wong said, it


shouldn’t be his or her last contact with the Legion until the fi rst renewal notice. “A key part of recruiting is engagement,” he said. “Don’t just sign them up and forget about them. Serve with pride. It’s contagious.”


In Other Business: • T e NEC approved Resolution 35, which calls


for any reference to T e American Legion to include “wartime veterans organization.” • Per recommendation of the 100th Anniversary


Observance Committee, the NEC approved “Veterans Still Serving America” as the slogan for the Legion’s 100th anniversary. T e NEC also approved Resolution 26, which urges the organization to consider conducting a special event in St. Louis in May 2019 to commemorate the Legion’s founding caucus. • More than $15,000 was donated to various Legion


charitable funds.


Division, said that several concerns were raised in the report, such as VA’s defi nition of veterans who live in rural and highly rural areas. “Veterans tell us they aren’t really concerned whether they are classifi ed as rural or highly rural,” he said. “T ey only care about how far away primary care or specialty care is from their front door.” According to statistics published in 2010, the


Veterans Health Administration (VHA) classifi ed 36.4 percent of its enrolled veterans as “rural” and 1.5 percent as “highly rural.” T e 2010 Journal of Rural Health said that VHA’s rural category “is very large and broadly dispersed; policymakers should supplement analyses of rural veterans’ health-care needs with more detailed breakdowns. Most of VHA’s highly rural enrollees live in the western United States, where distances to care are great and alternative delivery systems may be needed.” T e Legion’s report made several recommendations


to VA on how to improve the delivery of medical care to rural veterans, including: • Improve incentive programs to recruit and retain


top talent in rural health-care facilities. • Implement a Veterans Transportation Service


Department for each of the 152 VA medical centers. • Create new criteria for defi ning “rural” and “highly


rural” veterans, rather than using the Census Bureau’s defi nition. • Continue the expansion of community-based outpatient clinics and mobile clinics.


• Identify


successful ARCH locations and continue services in these areas aſt er completion of the pilot program. • Expand


telehealth capabilities for veterans without phone lines or Internet access in their homes. Printed copies


of the report are being delivered


to members of the Appropriations and Veterans Aff airs committees in the House and Senate. Copies will also be delivered to President Barack Obama, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and other VA offi cials. SWS Task Force members evaluated VA facilities


in 13 states: Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.


www.legion.org/sites/legion.org/fi les/legion/publications/ sws-rural-healthcare-report-2012-web.pdf


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