| Veterans
News Flash 
VA
Medical Centers Extending Hours
Change Will Benefit New Combat Veterans, Older
Vets
WASHINGTON -- In order to provide more health
care for more veterans, especially mental health
services, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
has directed the 153 medical centers of the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) to keep their doors open
longer.
“Illness doesn’t follow a 9-to-5 schedule,” Nicholson
said. “I’m directing our medical centers
to provide extended hours to ensure we’re
there for the veterans who have earned our care.”
Although the extra hours
apply to many hospital-based programs and services,
Nicholson said his latest decision was based
upon a desire to ensure VA’s
more than 9,000 mental health professionals are
available when veterans need them.
VA operates the largest
integrated health care system in the country
and the nation’s largest
mental health program. About 5.5 million veterans
are expected to seek health care from VA’s
nationwide system this year, accounting for about
800,000 hospitalizations and 60 million outpatient
visits.
In recent months, Nicholson
has announced a number of initiatives to improve
mental health care for returning combat veterans,
including the hiring of suicide prevention coordinators
for each medical center, 100 new adjustment counselors
for VA’s
207 Vet Centers, and 100 new medical center employees
to serve as advocates for the severely wounded.
VA’s mental health experts will gather in
Washington in July for a four-day conference reassessing
the Department’s programs for veterans, especially
veterans from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
SOURCE:
US Department of Veterans Affair
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