A new partnership aims to improve healthcare services for those who served. The Alabama Department of Veteran Affairs has teamed up with Emory Healthcare out of Atlanta to provide a new program for post-9/11 service members and vets.
The Emory Healthcare Veterans Program brings participants from Alabama and across the country to Atlanta for two weeks of treatment and housing free of charge. Discharge status, deployment history or length of service do not matter. The healthcare services are confidential.
Brandon Miller is the public information manager for the ADVA. He said the program treats conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), military sexual trauma (MST), anxiety and depression related to military service.
“We need to have that same respect and acknowledgement that there are going to be some unique situations," he explained. "And we need to provide that treatment and that care after the sacrifice and the care for this country came from the service members, now veterans, after service.”
Emory Healthcare says of the more than 2.7 million Americans deployed since 9/11, an estimated one in three return with either PTSD, TBI or other conditions brought on by things they experienced during service.
Veterans can opt-in for a “two-week Intensive Outpatient Program” in person at Emory’s clinic or via telehealth.
Miller said the ADVA met with Emory Healthcare leaders last month to make the partnership official.
“We spent hours there, just talking with their staff about what it is they’re doing, learning more about it, having a tour of their facility," he said. "That day, we knew this was an innovative program, and it was obviously very effective. And it was something that we wanted to get involved with how we could, and that was kind of the beginning of the partnership that was made official.”
Miller said current data shows the program has a 90% completion rate and 96% satisfaction rate with participants.
For more information about the program, click here.
