WOMEN MILITARY VETERANS
The top three diagnoses for women treated by the Veterans Health Administration were post-traumatic stress disorder, high blood pressure and depression.
By the Numbers
8: Percentage of all veterans who are women.
11.5 : Percentage of veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq who are women.
6: Percentage of Veterans Health Administration clients who are women.
48: Average age of women veterans in FY 2009
63: Average age of male veterans in FY 2009
1 in 5: Proportion of women veterans who report suffering military sexual trauma
SOURCE: Women’s Health Services, Veterans Health Administration
Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s new space
The Dayton VAMC moved into a newly expanded Prime Care Clinic and a new Women Veterans Health & Wellness Center.
By the Numbers
5,000: Square footage of the new women's center, which features aentrance, five exam rooms and conference room.
17,000: Square footage of the Prime Care Clinic addition
$4.3 million: Combined cost for the new additions.
$3.5 million: Cost for a new 6,500-square foot MRI center Dayton VA Medical Center officals broke ground on at Friday's celebration.
The Dayton Veterans Affairs Medical Center officially opened its new Women Veterans Health & Wellness Center Friday to better meet the needs of the nation’s fastest-growing veteran population.
VA officials and veterans toured the new center — along with the expansion of its Prime Care Clinic — that will increase access to health care services for its men and women in larger facilities. The $4.3 million investment expands services for female veterans, whose numbers have doubled nationally since 2000, and provides them with an all-female care team in their own facility.
“The VA for years has been viewed as a male-dominated organization,” said Glenn Costie, director of the Dayton VA Medical Center. “This facility is visibly showing that we’ve made a change. We’re seeing a lot of female veterans now. This is a space that’s really designed for women veterans and their needs.”
In 2000, the U.S. had fewer than 160,000 female veterans; today that number stands at more than 337,000, and they make up about 6 percent of VA health care users. Overall, more than 8 percent of veterans are women, and 11.6 percent of veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are women, according to the Veterans Administration.
The Dayton center serves about 2,000 women veterans, Costie said, but he estimated that 4,000 to 5,000 women veterans in the region are eligible for services. In all, about 40,000 veterans receive services through the center, but the director and his staff are trying to grow enrollment to 60,000.
The women’s health center houses primary care and behavioral and mental health services for women veterans, said Maritha Trass women veterans program manager for the Dayton VA. The center has one all-woman patient care team; a second physician will join the center in December or January, Trass said.
So far, just over 1,000 women veterans have registered to receive care through the new center, Trass said. Some women veterans still receive care through the main center. “We do have some women veterans who prefer for a woman to see them,” Trass said, just as civilian women might prefer to have female physicians.
Women’s health services were previously located in the main hospital, Costie said, and there was not much privacy.
The new center demonstrates the VA is prioritizing women veterans’ needs, he said.
Nationally, the top medical diagnoses for women veterans are post-traumatic stress disorder, high blood pressure and depression, and one in five women veterans screened reported they had suffered military sexual trauma, including sexual assault or harassment, while serving.
Maria Kruse, who served in the Air Forces Nursing Corps at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and in Iran, was among several veterans who were invited to participate in Friday’s ceremony.
“Women have served in the military for eons, but they never got the recognition,” said Kruse, 69, of Huber Heights. “Now they’re getting that recognition.”
Air Force veteran Heather Heath, 39, of Enon, now receives her care through the women’s health center. “It’s much more comfortable, especially compared to the rest of the VA, which is a lot of male doctors,” she said. “Here you can have a female doctor and female nurses, and it makes it much easier to be open.”
In June, the VA launched its Women’s Health Research Network, a new initiative designed to address the issue that too few women veterans seek services at any single VA medical center to answer women’s health research questions.
By linking VA medical centers nationally, researchers can study enough women veterans to accurately research important health issues, such as heart disease.
One recent VA study found that women veterans rated having female providers and separate health-care settings as very important.
Friday’s ceremony also included a groundbreaking for a new 6,500-square-foot, $3.5 million MRI center that will open later.
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