VA: Health and Benefits

I have been under the care of Dr. Moynahan as my primary care physician (PCP) for over 3 years now and I have to say that he is an outstanding PCP. Dr. Moynahan listens carefully, asks insightful questions and helps to pursue soonest possible remedies to my medical issues. I am super grateful to have had him as my PCP and will miss him now that he has moved to the Auburn Clinic. Additionally- almost more importantly- I have been under the mental heath care of Dr. Jennifer King, PhD for PTSD therapy for over 2.5 years. How I ever lucked out/deserved to receive care from the absolute best PTSD therapist in the VA healthcare system, I will never know. Dr. King comes from the highest tradition of care with compassion and professionalism and has literally changed my life. I was suffering from Iraq-related nightmares terrors that were causing my blood pressure to rise up to levels that put me in danger of having a stroke in my deepest sleep. I was also being triggered into panic attacks more frequently and increasingly anxious. My quality of life was seriously impacted and I was suffering such that I had begun to spiral down into darkness. Together, we worked through some very difficult therapy sessions that ultimately led to my being prescribed medication that stopped my night terrors as we continued on with intensive therapy. I may very well owe my life to Dr. King for the outstanding, thoughtful, very individual care and therapy that she provided. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. King and to the VA for helping me to heal.

The days of medical care being so difficult to access before, and after treatment are going by the wayside due to apps like these that are allowing me to monitor my health progress, convey messages to my healthcare providers that are getting through to them, and our answered in a very timely fashion. Additionally, the ability to look at past records, check and recheck both future and past appointments, check into the appointments I have in my medical history , future care, and medication refills have improved my overall health immensely. This app has significantly reduced the mistakes I’ve made by missing an appointment or not knowing exactly what direction I’m going with my healthcare, and helps me refill my medication’s so much easier than 10 years ago. I can speak to this with relatively good understanding of the implications of the service due to my transition from a 20 year Warfighter to a 25 year healthcare provider and can personally see the giant differences it’s made in my access to medical care on par with anything else I’ve seen with any other institution. Great tool- and it reflects my knowledge that the most effective tool on the battlefield is communication devices.

I have been using the app since the beginning of 2021. They have continually improved and updated since then and the updates have been helpful and the additional resources included in the app, such as messaging your actual, personal, local, medical providers and getting real-time responses in my experience on average 10 minutes or less. This is huge in helping veterans with social isolation or suicidal ideations and PTSD and other disabilities schedule appointments and reach out for care without physically talking to someone on the phone, but still being able to reach a VA employee who can schedule all the care needed on a case by case basis and tailor it to your personal needs. Since the amount of time a claim requires for processing from beginning to end is average 3-6 months they should consider upgrading to an even more in-depth system to show the veteran where they are in the process exactly without any assuming involved, the veterans next actions/steps to be done exactly, and a ballpark/estimated completion date would go a long way in improving the attitude of veterans towards the VA claims process. I believe it would eliminate some if not all of the uncertainty around the length of time the claim will be, and the feeling that the claim is not being handled or being given the attention it deserves, both would considerably reduce the amount of phone calls received daily pertaining to claims and status. 🇺🇸FYea