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Caring for Veterans: End of Life Care for Individuals Who Risk Their Lives to Serve

Caring for Veterans: End of Life Care for Individuals Who Risk Their Lives to Serve. Ryan Weller, LCSW Palliative Care Program Manager VISN 20 VA Northwest Network. Veterans. Over 600,000 veterans will die this year Over 1600 veterans will die today

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Caring for Veterans: End of Life Care for Individuals Who Risk Their Lives to Serve

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  1. Caring for Veterans: End of Life Care for Individuals Who Risk Their Lives to Serve Ryan Weller, LCSW Palliative Care Program Manager VISN 20 VA Northwest Network

  2. Veterans • Over 600,000 veterans will die this year • Over 1600 veterans will die today • Percentage of Americans who die who are veterans: 25% • 352,000 Oregonians are veterans (2007) • 15% of veterans access the VA for health care • 4% of veterans will die in a VA facility

  3. What is Unique About Veterans? • Chemical Exposure and Disease: • Agent Orange exposure: Cancer (lung, prostate, multiple myeloma, etc.); Ischemic Heart Disease; Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis • Trauma: • PTSD • Sexual harassment or assault • Loss of limb • Head injuries

  4. What is Unique About Veterans? • Social Issues: • VA Patients: • 25% not Medicare eligible • 2/3 not married • Multiple diagnoses • Chronic Mental Illness • Resources: • Compensation for service-related illness/injury • Pension for low income and unable to work • Burial and Survivor Benefits

  5. Hospice & Palliative Care & the VA • 1992: Policy for access to hospice care • 2002: VA Directive mandating Palliative Care Consult Teams at every VA • 2002: VA Interprofessional Fellowship Training begun at 6 VAs, including Portland • 2004: National VA HPC Program Office formalized • 2004: Revised Hospice Handbook, more closely mirroring Medicare hospice benefit • 2008: VA Directive mandating regional (VISN) palliative care leadership

  6. Veteran Integrated Service Networks (VISN)

  7. VISN 20 Size/Scope • Sq. Miles: 805,126.22 • States: 6 (135 counties) • Senators: 8 • Congressional Districts: 17 • VSOs: 32 • VBA Regional Offices: 4 • VA Cemeteries: 6 • State Cemeteries: 3 • Vet Centers: 16

  8. VISN 20 and Oregon HPC • VISN 20 Palliative Care Leadership • Physician Leader: Nora Tobin, MD • Program Manager: Ryan Weller, LCSW • (503) 220-8262 x56938 • Oregon Facilities • Portland/North Coast/Bend/Salem • Karen McWhorter, RN (503) 220-8262 x31829 • Roseburg/South Coast/Eugene • Fran Smith, RN (541) 440-1000 x44495 • White City/Klamath Falls/Grants Pass • Jan Vaughn, LCSW (541) 826-2111 x3630

  9. VISN 20 and Oregon HPC • VA facilities outside of Oregon • Walla Walla/La Grande/Northeast Oregon • Catherine Zimmerman, LCSW (509) 525-5200 x26270 • Boise/Counties: Baker, Grant, Malheur, Harney • Illaria Moore, RN (208) 422-1000 x7224

  10. Resources • Enrolling Veterans in VA Health Care: • Terminal Illness can justify expedited enrollment • Call 1-877-222-VETS to begin process of “Catastrophic Disability” Enrollment • VA Benefits: • VA Regional Office: 1 (800) 827-1000 • Veterans Service Officers (check with county) • VA Forms: • www4.va.gov/vaforms and search by topic

  11. We Stand Together "When I say take care of them, I really mean take care of them for the rest of their lives. These are young people who've gone out, done what our country has asked them to do, and they should be well taken care of, not just by the Department of Defense or the VA, but by America." --Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

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