Vets entitled to comprehensive care in VA system.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its Veterans Health Administration are geared to handle the medical, mental health and social service needs of the estimated 112,000 veterans of military service living in Northeast Ohio.

The bulk of that care is provided by the Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System at its Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center in Cleveland as well as multispecialty outpatient clinics in Painesville, Lorain, Sandusky and 10 other locations.

Nationally, with over 1,700 sites and nearly nine million veterans as clients, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs operates the country’s largest integrated health-care system.

“We focus on providing foundation health-care services to our veterans, including primary care, mental-health care, specialty care, urgent care, preventive care and pain management, “said Patricia Hall, program manager for the Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System’s Transition and Care Management Team.

The team managed by Hall focuses mainly on veterans of the post-9/11 military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Younger veterans may not feel they need the services of the VA now, but we are here to help them when they do,” Hall said. “Our quality of care and outcomes are every bit as good as if not better than private health-care providers.”

Kristen Parker, the chief of External Affairs for the Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System, said the system handles an average of 7,900 outpatient appointments every day.

The system reaches out to veterans of all ages to make sure they are aware of the benefits and services to which they are entitled, Parker added. That outreach is further enabled by interactions between the Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System and Veterans Service Commissions in the 24 Ohio counties in the system’s service area.

Lines of communication are maintained with the Ohio National Guard and its reserve units, veterans centers at area colleges and universities as well as veterans fraternal organizations such as the American Legion, Amvets and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“We work closely with all those stakeholders,” Parker said.

The Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System has collaborative relationships with Northeast Ohio’s major medical centers and the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.