ptsd Va Reaches Out To Women Veterans

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Recent VA News Releases

To view and download VA news release, please visit the following

Internet address:

http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel

VA Reaches Out to Women Veterans

Department Hosts 4th Quadrennial Summit

WASHINGTON (June 19, 2008) - The Fourth National Summit on Women

Veterans' Issues will take place at the Westin Washington, D.C., City

Center from June 20-22. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. James B.

Peake said the three-day meeting will help ensure that women veterans

know about the benefits and health care they have earned.

"With more women than ever serving in our armed forces, this public

forum will bring visibility to the issues important to women veterans of

all eras," Peake said. "Today, women are important contributors to the

military and valued members of the veterans community."

Recognizing the valor, service and sacrifice of America's 1.7 million

women veterans, VA has created a comprehensive array of benefits and

programs.

Women veterans are entitled to the same benefits and medical care as

their male counterparts, including health care, disability compensation,

education assistance, work-study allowance, vocational rehabilitation,

employment and counseling services, insurance, home loan benefits,

nursing home care, survivor benefits and various burial benefits.

In addition, VA also has a multitude of services and programs that

respond to the unique needs of women veterans, including pap smears,

mammography, and general reproductive health care, substance abuse

counseling, counseling for sexual trauma, and evaluation and treatment

for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Today, over 200,000 women are serving in the armed forces. About 11

percent of the U.S. forces currently serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are

women.

According to a recent "hospital report card" by VA, the Department's

screening for breast and cervical cancer for women in VA facilities

exceeds screening in private-sector facilities, but women veterans lag

behind their male counterparts in some quality measurements.

VA has already launched an aggressive program to ensure women veterans

receive the highest quality of care, including $32.5 million to purchase

additional equipment to meet the health care needs of women. This

includes full field digital mammography equipment, stereotactic imaging

technology, specialized ultrasound and biopsy equipment and DEXA

scanners for bone density measurements. The status of health care for

women veterans will be a major topic at the summit.

There is a women veterans program manager at every VA medical center, a

women's liaison at every community based outpatient clinic and a women

veterans coordinator at every VA regional office.