Standing up for WOMEN VETERANS DAV report recommends improvements for growing demographic By Ashleigh Byrnes rmy veteran Shaelynn Casserly spent four and a half years recovering after an improvised explosive device blast in Afghanistan, undergoing more than 60 surgeries. But from the moment she arrived at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, she found that the majority of people around her failed to make the connection between her injuries and her wartime experience. “Instead of asking what happened or how I got hurt, people would ask if I fell—like I was a 10-year-old that fell off my bike,” said Casserly. “From the beginning, no one would assume I was a combat veteran.” Casserly said she still finds herself experiencing those same feelings: overlooked and underestimated. Experiences like hers are why DAV introduced its new report Women Veterans: The Journey Ahead. The publication spotlights how the expanding role of women in our armed forces necessitates policy and program changes in the VA and other federal agencies. It includes 45 key recommendations covering a broad range of issues affecting women veterans, including primary and gender-specific health care, mental health and readjustment services, and disability and employment benefits. “With major reforms underway to modernize VA’s health care and benefits processing systems, it is imperative that Congress and the VA focus on fully addressing the unique needs of the more than half-million women veterans using VA services,” said National Legislative Director Joy Ilem. “Although progress has been made in recent years, there remain long-standing, systemic barriers preventing many women from accessing the health care and benefits 10 A Read the full report at www.davwomenveterans.org. they have earned through their military service.” At a Capitol Hill launch event, a panel of women’s health experts—including Dr. Elizabeth Yano, a research career scientist with the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System; Dr. Susan McCutcheon, VA national mental health director for family services, women’s mental health and military sexual trauma (MST); Dr. Sally Haskell, deputy chief consultant for VA Women’s Health Services; Dr. Sherrie Hans, of Sigma Health Consulting and co-author of The Journey Ahead; and Dr. Keita Franklin, VA national director of suicide prevention—discussed the report’s findings as well as some areas where the VA has made significant improvements. McCutcheon commented that there are more “touch points” in the VA for women veterans than within the private sector—or more opportunities to help ensure they are getting the full range of care, benefits and services they need and earned. She said this is especially true among clinically complex women veterans, or those who have a variety of health concerns. “Private-sector providers know how to take care of women, but our women veterans are quite different and have special needs,” said McCutcheon, noting the VA system advantages such as the universal screening program. “[Screening] allows us to proactively identify DAV MAGAZINE NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2018
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Standing up for WOMEN VETERANS
Ashleigh Byrnes
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