Veterans Hospital offers primary care, specialty care, social support services

COLUMBIA — During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln made clear the nation’s responsibility to war veterans when he pledged “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.”

Since 1972, Truman Veterans Hospital has maintained Lincoln’s commitment by meeting the health care needs of eligible veterans throughout Missouri. The veterans hospital has provided veterans with primary care, specialty care and even social support services.

Joseph Camire, a retired Air Force captain and family practice doctor, said he has experienced both sides of the medical system and sees the importance of veterans hospitals.

“For some of my patients, (the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) is the only way they could ever get certain medical treatments,” Camire said. “They can’t afford it without the VA’s help.”

Truman Veterans Hospital is one of seven VA medical facilities in the VA Heartland Network, which includes Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Indiana and Kentucky.

The veterans hospital has opened community-based outpatient clinics at Fort Leonard Wood, Kirksville, Camdenton, St. James and Mexico, Mo. The clinics are part of a partnership between the VA and the state of Missouri in which the state constructs clinical space and the VA agrees to staff and operate the clinics. The veterans hospital is still expanding its outpatient care.

Stephen Gaither, public affairs officer for the hospital, said it plans to add a sixth clinic in Jefferson City in the fall.

Gaither said the addition of the community clinics is a result of a VA philosophy change in 1995. The VA wanted to prevent veterans from having long hospital stays for injuries and illnesses that could be treated at an outpatient clinic.

“We closed many of our hospital beds and devoted the resources to outpatient care,” Gaither said.

The hospital’s community clinics have helped improve access to primary care and behavioral health care for veterans. The clinics provide basic screening and routine follow-up services. Specialty care, such as surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology and rheumatology, is only provided at the hospital.

Truman Veterans Hospital, in its annual report, said it employs 989 people at a cost of $75.7 million in salary and benefits. In 2007, it had 31,305 unique patients and 283,751 outpatient visits. It received $153,632 in gifts and donations.

This past year, 505 volunteers, many of them veterans or spouses of veterans, put in 51,602 hours.

Besides veterans, the hospital also serves medical students from the MU School of Medicine. Gaither said one-half of medical students and one-third of physician residents in the U.S. will rotate through a veterans hospital.

The veterans hospital is also affiliated with other programs, such as nursing, allied health and health services management. It not only provides education by providing training opportunities for health professionals, but it also is dedicated to medical research.

On a national level, VA has provided research on post-traumatic stress disorder and has helped improve prosthetic appliances.

The opening of the veterans hospital in 1972 marked the end of a lobbying battle between cities to get the hospital. Despite the lobbying effort of several other cities, Columbia won with the support of MU, which donated land for the building of the veterans hospital.

Gaither said when the hospital was built, there was not much development in the area, other than the football stadium and University Hospital.

“The VA hospital opened around the same time as the Hearnes Center,” Gaither said. “All of a sudden, you had a lot more activity on this side of the university’s campus.”

Camire said veterans hospitals will continue to be important.

“There are an awful lot of veterans coming back with post-traumatic stress disorder,” Camire said. “We need to invest in the VA so that they can get the psychiatric help that they need.”

In order to meet the mental health needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, VA has expanded its training programs for psychologists, hiring more than 800 in the past three years. It has also created the Seamless Transition program for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The goal is to provide veterans with sexual trauma counseling, specialized health care for women veterans, outreach programs for homeless veterans, re-adjustment counseling and alcohol- and drug-dependency treatment.

The veterans hospital has hired a suicide prevention coordinator and several other positions in behavioral health. Gaither said the new hires are part of the hospital’s focus on meeting the needs of returning veterans.