There was a day when a woman would walk into a VA medical center and be mistakenly taken for a military spouse or a caregiver. That day is gone.
Women warriors are coming into their own, and it’s about time.
Women Veterans are the fastest growing group using VA services. And the VA is expanding care to better serve their needs – from primary care to specialized care, including mental health, chronic conditions and reproductive health.
While women have served in the military since the American Revolution, around 75% of active-duty service members are men. But as more women serve across all military branches the VA is evolving its care to meet women’s needs.
In the early 2000s, there was a marked effort in developing new specialty clinics centered on women’s reproductive health, military sexual trauma, and mental health. Today, as more women than ever transition from military service to civilian life, the VA is busy making the needed adjustments.
Women have been receiving care at the VA since the World War Veterans Act of 1924, which ensured that VA care was extended to more women in more places. Veterans Bureau hospitals and campuses have been accepting women Veteran patients ever since.
Today, every VA has a Women Veteran Program Manager to advise female Veterans and help coordinate the services they may need. Every eligible woman Veteran has access to the VA health system, which provides care at 1,293 health care facilities, including 171 VA medical centers and 1,112 outpatient sites of care.
If you’re an eligible veteran, give it try. There’s a world of difference between the VA care, and the care coming out of the community – which has dollar signs written all over it.
The VA Under Secretary of Health, Dr. Shereef Elnahal sums it up nicely: “The VA is here to serve women Veterans as well as they have served us.”
