Military Vet Turned Nurse: “I Made the Right Decision”

Military Vet Turned Nurse: “I Made the Right Decision”

Are you a “Class of Covid-19” nursing student or grad?  Share your experience with your peers, and tell us what it was like to be a student at your school during a global pandemic. Did the experience affect your career goals? Has it changed or reinforced your ideas about what it means to be a nurse? Did it change your life? To share your story with other nurses, students, and prospective nursing students, submit a 400-800 word post to [email protected]. 


Walking into my first day of Widener University ’s accelerated second-degree nursing program, I had zero idea what to expect. Here I was, a 29-year-old military veteran, returning to academia for a 15-month program, in a field that I felt I did not belong. My first degree in political science quickly proved to be unhelpful for the type of career advancement I envisioned. After working as a political staff member for my state representative for several months, I realized it was not for me. I desired to help people. Bring them solace from their pain and to truly impact someone’s life; not shake hands and make inconsequential small talk.  

Adapting to a nursing program as a second-degree student was more difficult than I expected, and I learned the hard way in my first semester that I needed to prioritize my studying. It took nights of repetition, a math tutor, and the support of my professor, but I was able to not only stay in the program but succeed academically. When it came time for in-person clinicals in summer 2021, I continued to grow my confidence and skill set. Getting out there in the hospital setting and viewing firsthand what a powerful role we serve, reinforced my drive to go into the nursing profession, and reassured me that I had made the right decision.  

I will never forget a particular patient that I cared for during one of my first Med-Surgical rotations at Hershey Medical Center. She was in her 50s, presenting in the hospital with rib pain related to stage IV lung cancer. Just by looking at her, I could tell that she had been through a lot in her life, aside from her diagnosis, and was struggling to hold it together. With years of enduring my own personal trauma paired with military intelligence and corrections training, I have become very good at reading people and their body language; I knew there was something more to this woman.  

Though our time together was brief, I was able to quickly build a rapport with her and comfort her for the duration of a routine blood draw. What may have been a simple procedure for most people quickly turned into a physical and emotional struggle for her. In between squeezing my hand and sobbing loudly, she shared with me her years of domestic abuse that left both physical scars and irreversible emotional trauma.   

When it was all over, she thanked me for listening and apologized profusely for her behavior. I reassured her that it is my job to be here and listen. She seemed so grateful that someone would take the time out of their day to simply care. Hearing her testimony and bearing witness to her scars made me take a moment to appreciate where I have been. My past was nothing compared to what this woman had gone through and I was inspired by her story.  

Throughout the morning, I was sure to be attentive to her needs. She felt nauseated from her chemotherapy medicine and ran the call bell often. Sometimes it was for the emesis basin to throw up in, pain medication, or to get cleaned up from voiding on herself. I did not look at her as a chore or just another patient, I just did my best to make her as comfortable as possible.  

I went home that day a better person because I met her. I will never forget what she taught me and although she will never know, her memory will follow me throughout the rest of my nursing career. I never want to look at my patients as their diagnosis or just another body, because each one of them has a story to tell, just like her. I am thankful I was led to this opportunity for a new career and although I might struggle and the process is strenuous, the lives I can impact will always make it more than worth it.   

VA Health Facilities are Seeking Transitioning Service Women and Health Providers

VA Health Facilities are Seeking Transitioning Service Women and Health Providers

Every VAMC has a designated women Veterans program manager to help women Veterans access VA benefits and health services

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. Veteran population, and we’re ready to provide them with high-quality health care delivered by dedicated women’s health providers.

To encourage servicewomen who are transitioning out of the military or are new Veterans to enroll in VA health care, we’ve kicked off a new, online women’s health transition training program. The training provides a detailed look at all of the VA health services and programs available to women Veterans. The program also covers information about eligibility, how to enroll in VA health care, and how to connect with other women Veterans.

The training is designed to complement VA’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP)  and is based on an in-person and virtual program started as a joint effort between VA and the Department of Defense.

Some of the health services available to women Veterans include reproductive care, maternity care, cancer screenings, whole health and mental health services for issues including military sexual trauma, domestic violence, post-deployment adjustment and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Every VA medical center (VAMC) has a designated women Veterans program manager to help women Veterans access VA benefits and health care services. Each VAMC also has a health care professional available by phone 24/7 to answer health-related questions and offer advice.

Advancing women’s health

A lot has been happening on the women’s health front at VA, which increases our need for professionals in this field. For instance, we’re partnering with other federal agencies, academic institutions and private health care companies to improve prevention, treatment and outcomes for women Veterans with cancer. We created the Women’s Health Mini-Residency for Primary Care Rural Providers and Nurses. The program aims to increase skills related to women’s health among nurses and providers serving rural communities. Research on women Veterans’ health is expanding, and deployment and post-deployment health research is now a major part of the VA women’s health research portfolio.

We’re also actively recruiting more health care providers with expertise in women’s health to participate in these initiatives and help serve the growing number of women Veterans seeking care.

Dual mission

If you want to serve Veterans and are interested in promoting and protecting women’s health, VA is the place for you! Not only will you get to fulfill a rewarding dual mission and win the gratitude of Veterans you care for, you will:

  • Receive excellent benefits, including a generous health care and retirement plan.
  • Have opportunities to advance your education and career with financial support from VA.
  • Be able to contribute to innovations and research that improve the health and quality of life for all Veterans.
  • Work for one of the nation’s top large employers.

Work at VA

We need top-notch health care providers to care for our women Veterans’ health needs. If this describes you:

 

VA Workers Traverse Mountains, Plains, Tundra to Vaccinate Rural Vets

VA Workers Traverse Mountains, Plains, Tundra to Vaccinate Rural Vets

A Learjet 31 took off before daybreak from Helena Regional Airport in Montana, carrying six Veterans Affairs medical providers and 250 doses of historic cargo cradled in a plug-in cooler designed to minimize breakage.

Even in a state where 80-mph speed limits are normal, ground transportation across long distances is risky for the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine, which must be used within 12 hours of thawing.

The group’s destination was Havre, Montana, 30 miles from the Canadian border. About 500 military veterans live in and around this small town of roughly 9,800, and millions more reside in similarly rural, hard-to-reach areas across the United States.

About 2.7 million veterans who use the VA health system are classified as “rural” or “highly rural” patients, residing in communities or on land with fewer services and less access to health care than those in densely populated towns and cities. An additional 2 million veterans live in remote areas who do not receive their health care from VA, according to the department. To ensure these rural vets have access to the covid vaccines, the VA is relying on a mix of tools, like charter and commercial aircraft and partnerships with civilian health organizations.

The challenges of vaccinating veterans in rural areas — which the VA considers anything outside an urban population center — and “highly rural” areas — defined as having fewer than 10% of the workforce commuting to an urban hub and with a population no greater than 2,500 — extend beyond geography, as more than 55% of them are 65 or older and at risk for serious cases of covid and just 65% are reachable via the internet.

For the Havre event, VA clinic workers called each patient served by the Merril Lundman VA Outpatient Clinic in a vast region made up of small farming and ranching communities and two Native American reservations. And for those hesitant to get the vaccine, a nurse called them back to answer questions.

“At least 10 additional veterans elected to be vaccinated once we answered their questions,” said Judy Hayman, executive director of the Montana VA Health Care System, serving all 147,000 square miles of the state.

The Havre mission was a test flight for similar efforts in other rural locations. Thirteen days later, another aircraft took off for Kalispell, Montana, carrying vaccines for 400 veterans.

In Alaska, another rural state, Anchorage Veterans Affairs Medical Center administrators finalized plans for providers to hop a commercial Alaska Airlines flight on Thursday to Kodiak Island. There, VA workers expected to administer 100 to 150 doses at a vaccine clinic conducted in partnership with the Kodiak Area Native Association.

“Our goal is to vaccinate all veterans who have not been vaccinated in and around the Kodiak community,” said Tom Steinbrunner, acting director of the Alaska VA Healthcare System.

VA began its outreach to rural veterans for the vaccine program late last year, as the Food and Drug Administration approached the dates for issuing emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, according to Dr. Richard Stone, the Veterans Health Administration’s acting undersecretary. It made sense to look to aircraft to deliver vaccines. “It just seemed logical that we would reach into rural areas that, [like] up in Montana, we had a contract with, a company that had small propeller-driven aircraft and short runway capability,” said Stone, a retired Army Reserve major general.

Veterans have responded, Stone added, with more than 50% of veterans in rural areas making appointments.

As of Wednesday, the VA had tallied 220,992 confirmed cases of covid among veterans and VA employees and 10,065 known deaths, including 128 employees. VA had administered 1,344,210 doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, including 329,685 second vaccines, to veterans as of Wednesday. According to the VA, roughly 25% of those veterans live in rural areas, 2.81% live in highly rural areas and 1.13% live on remote islands.

For rural areas, the VA has primarily relied on the Moderna vaccine, which requires cold storage between minus 25 degrees Centigrade (minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit) and minus 15 degrees C (5 degrees F) but not the deep freeze needed to store the Pfizer vaccine (minus 70 degrees C, or minus 94 degrees F). That, according to the VA, makes it more “transportable to rural locations.”

The VA anticipates that the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, if it receives an emergency use authorization from the FDA, will make it even easier to reach remote veterans. The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech both require two shots, spaced a few weeks apart. “One dose will make it easier for veterans in rural locations, who often have to travel long distances, to get their full vaccination coverage,” said VA spokesperson Gina Jackson. The FDA’s vaccine advisory committee is set to meet on Feb. 26 to review J&J’s application for authorization.

Meanwhile, in places like Alaska, where hundreds of veterans live off the grid, VA officials have had to be creative. Flying out to serve individual veterans would be too costly, so the Anchorage VA Medical Center has partnered with tribal health care organizations to ensure veterans have access to a vaccine. Under these agreements, all veterans, including non-Native veterans, can be seen at tribal facilities.

“That is our primary outreach in much of Alaska because the tribal health system is the only health system in these communities,” Steinbrunner said.

In some rural areas, however, the process has proved frustrating. Army veteran John Hoefen, 73, served in Vietnam and has a 100% disability rating from the VA for Parkinson’s disease related to Agent Orange exposure. He gets his medical care from a VA location in Canandaigua, New York, 20 miles from his home, but the facility hasn’t made clear what phase of the vaccine rollout it’s in, Hoefen said.

The hospital’s website simply says a staff member will contact veterans when they become eligible — a “don’t call us, we’ll call you,” situation, he said. “I know a lot of veterans like me, 100% disabled and no word,” Hoefen said. “I went there for audiology a few weeks ago and my tech hadn’t even gotten her vaccine yet.”

VA Canandaigua referred questions about the facility’s current phase back to its website: “If you’re eligible to get a vaccine, your VA health care team will contact you by phone, text message or Secure Message (through MyHealtheVet) to schedule an appointment,” it states. A call to the special covid-19 phone number established for the Canandaigua VA, which falls under the department’s Finger Lakes Healthcare System, puts the caller into the main menu for hospital services, with no information specifically on vaccine distribution.

For the most part, the VA is using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to determine priority groups for vaccines. Having vaccinated the bulk of its health care workers and first responders, as well as residents of VA nursing homes, it has been vaccinating those 75 and older, as well as those with chronic conditions that place them at risk for severe cases of covid. In some locations, like Anchorage and across Montana, clinics are vaccinating those 65 and older and walk-ins when extra doses are available.

According to Lori FitzGerald, chief of pharmacy at the VA hospital in Fort Harrison, Montana, providers have ended up with extra doses that went to hospitalized patients or veterans being seen at the facility. Only one dose has gone to waste in Montana, she said.

To determine eligibility for the vaccine, facilities are using the Veterans Health Administration Support Service Center databases and algorithms to help with the decision-making process. Facilities then notify veterans by mail, email or phone or through VA portals of their eligibility and when they can expect to get a shot, according to the department.

Air Force veteran Theresa Petersen, 83, was thrilled that she and her husband, an 89-year-old U.S. Navy veteran, were able to get vaccinated at the Kalispell event. She said they were notified by their primary care provider of the opportunity and jumped at the chance.

“I would do anything to give as many kudos as I can to the Veterans Affairs medical system,” Petersen said. “I’m so enamored with the concept that ‘Yes, there are people who live in rural America and they have health issues too.’”

The VA is allowed to provide vaccines only to veterans currently enrolled in VA health care. About 9 million U.S. veterans are not enrolled at the VA, including 2 million rural veterans.

After veterans were turned away from a VA clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida, in January, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) wrote to Acting VA Secretary Dat Tran, urging him to include these veterans in their covid vaccination program.

Stone said the agency does not have the authorization to provide services to these veterans. “We have been talking to Capitol Hill about how to reconcile that,” he said. “Some of these are very elderly veterans and we don’t want to turn anybody away.”

  • KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nonprofit news service covering health issues. It is an editorially independent program of KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
Biden’s Acting Surgeon General Pick is Nurse of the Week RADM Susan Orsega

Biden’s Acting Surgeon General Pick is Nurse of the Week RADM Susan Orsega

More nurses will not only sit at the table; they will also be gripping the national policy podium in 2021. As President Biden’s Acting Surgeon General, Nurse of the Week Rear Admiral (RADM) Susan Orsega, MSN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN is going to be one of the key US health officials—and Orsega is ready for duty. She’s spent much of her career handling health emergencies and disasters ranging from AIDS to 9/11 to the 2015 Ebola outbreak. The Rear Admiral and infectious disease specialist has been Director of Commissioned Corps Headquarters (CCHQ) at the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) since 2019.

RADM Orsega’s areas of expertise seem almost to be designed for the tumults of the Covid era. After receiving a BSN at Towson University, she began her career at the US Public Health Service (USPHS) in 1989, while the world was coming to grips with the AIDS pandemic. Orsega plunged into HIV/AIDS nursing practice, international operations, health diplomacy, epidemics, and disaster response, while fitting in an MSN in 2001 at the Uniformed Services University (USU) Graduate School of Nursing Nurse Practitioner program. She has been deployed on 15 national and international disaster/humanitarian deployments, including the elite USPHS medical team after 9/11.

In 2016, when she was named Chief Nurse of the US Public Health Service, Orsega addressed nursing students at her alma mater. According to the Towson news post, she told students to “think about how their passions, interests and strengths and their work experiences intersect to find their career focus, an area she called ‘the sweet spot.’ She also challenged them to think beyond direct patient care to what their vision is for their career, how they can grow into leaders on the local, state, national and international levels…”

Prior to joining the Surgeon General’s office, she worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the height of the devastating 2015 Ebola epidemic, Orsega was appointed to the NIH/NIAID Ebola trial operations team and helped lead the first human vaccine and treatment Ebola trials in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Orsega served as the Chief Nurse Officer of the USPHS from May 2016 to March 2019. As CNO, she advised the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on everything from recruitment and assignment to retention and career development of nurse professionals and 4,500 Commissioned Corps and civilian nurses. Orsega has been a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners since 2013, and in 2016, she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing.

Previous nurse Surgeon Generals have included Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, PhD, RN (appointed in 2017), and Richard Henry Carmona (appointed 2002). The White House is expected to announce Orsega’s appointment next week.

Picture a Bright Future as a VA Diagnostic Radiologic Technician

Picture a Bright Future as a VA Diagnostic Radiologic Technician

There are more than 9 million Veterans being cared for by VA. That adds up to a lot of X-rays, ultrasounds, CAT scans, and MRIs performed each year at more than 1,200 facilities across the nation.

None of these vital tests would be possible without our hardworking diagnostic radiologic technicians. With the assistance of these important members of the VA team, we’re able to diagnose disease in its earliest stages, monitor the progress of treatment, and help Veterans lead longer, healthier lives.

Help Care for Veterans

If you have experience in health care imaging, consider bringing your skills to VA, the nation’s largest integrated health care system.

We employ diagnostic radiologic technicians all over the country – from the sandy beaches of Hawaii to the rural fields of the Midwest to the bustling city of New York – so there’s sure to be a job opening near where you live or where you’d like to go.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the radiologic technician field is projected to grow faster than the average occupation, increasing by about 7% over the next decade as the population ages and demand for testing rises.

At VA, you’ll be able to work on the forefront of your field, alongside colleagues who share your commitment to excellence and your dedication to serving Veterans.

We are always looking for new and innovative ways to bring the best care to those who have bravely served our country. At our first 5G enabled medical center in Palo Alto, we’re now able to turn CT and MRI scans into 3D images that can be projected on the patient’s body to improve precision and speed of surgeries.

Enjoy excellent benefits

When it comes to benefits, VA’s offerings far outpace the private sector. They include:

  • A competitive starting salary. You’ll enjoy a strong initial salary based on education, training and experience. At VA, you can count on steady growth with periodic pay raises and other rewards for all your hard work and dedication.
  • A commitment to work/life balance. From offering flexible scheduling to generous leave plans, we want to make sure our employees are happy and fulfilled.
  • Continuing education support. We offer a broad range of scholarships, tuition reimbursement and loan repayment programs, and other educational opportunities to help you in your lifelong quest for learning.
  • Robust health insurance and retirement plans. Take care of your health and your family with a range of health insurance plans, including vision and dental. Protect your future with our three-tier retirement plan, life insurance and long-term care insurance.

Work at VA

Ready to pursue a career in radiology at VA? Discover a rewarding new opportunity and apply today.

  • EXPLORE diagnostic radiologic technician openings.
  • READ about the benefits of a VA career.
  • LEARN more about how to apply for a VA position.
4 Ways the VA is Improving Access to Care

4 Ways the VA is Improving Access to Care

The VA focuses on making it easier for veterans to see their doctors and get to their medical appointments year after year. Not only does this result in better health for millions of America’s heroes, but it improves the working environment for employees across the nation.

Here are four ways that VA has been working to improve access to care in 2020:

 1. Expanding and investing in telehealth

The VA is on track to set an agency record for telehealth  care this year. Prior to COVID-19, VA had a robust telehealth system in place. Nearly two-thirds of our primary care and mental health providers had seen patients over video. Because of this, we were able to quickly ramp up our telehealth capabilities to meet increased demand.

In the first half of 2020, Veterans attended about 25,000 telehealth video appointments each day, a 1,000% increase from the previous year. As of July, we had already surpassed the number of telehealth encounters in 2019 by 7 million.

Telehealth is especially beneficial for Veterans who find it difficult to travel or those who live in rural areas far from care centers.

“VA is committed to offering Veterans the health care they deserve, whenever and wherever they need it,” said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie in November 2019.

2. Tracking access to care data

We’re keeping an eye on the numbers all the time, including maintaining a website that shows how quickly Veterans can expect to be seen, satisfaction with care, comparisons between facilities and more.

Our data-driven approach first started out by looking at wait times, but we’ve cast a wider net.

In a recent roundtable discussion, participants agreed that other important metrics to focus on include coordination and continuity of care, quality of care, compassion of care, and whether their needs were met in a timely manner.

“It’s fair to say that VHA is a leader in assuring timely access to care through a coordinated combination of virtual and in-person care,” said roundtable participant Susan Kirsh, M.D., VA’s acting assistant deputy under secretary for health for access to care.

3. Offering transportation to VA facilities

It can be hard for some Veterans to travel to their appointments due to age, illness, disability or location.

The Veterans Transportation Service (VTS) can provide transportation at little to no cost to many Veterans who cannot get to their appointments on their own.

VTS has established a network of transportation options in 47 states and Puerto Rico through joint efforts with VA’s Office of Rural Health and other organizations.

4. Focusing on groups with increased access to care issues

Veterans are a diverse group, and some have a harder time accessing care than others. We are working to meet the unique health care needs of several groups of Veterans through specific programs aimed at studying, understanding and improving their care.

Since women are the fastest growing Veteran group, we have created the Women Veterans Health Program that focuses on issues like comprehensive primary care, reproductive health and women’s health education. Designated women’s health providers coordinate care for female Veterans to ensure they receive equitable, timely care from a single primary care provider.

Other specialized programs have been developed for caregivers, combat Veterans, homeless Veterans, returning service members, rural Veterans, and seniors and aging Veterans.

Work at VA

Consider a career at a health care system that’s committed to providing easy access to patients.