Alexandria VA Health Care System
About the Alexandria VA Health Care System Core Values - "I CARE" Integrity: Act with high moral principle. Adhere to the highest professional standards. Maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage. Commitment: Work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries. Be driven by an earnest belief in VA's mission. Fulfill my individual responsibilities and organizational responsibilities. Advocacy: Be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries. Respect: Treat all those I serve and with whom I work with dignity and respect. Show respect to earn it. Excellence: Strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement. Be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them. New Initiatives: Service Recovery - Service Recovery is used at our facility to improve customer service and is a critical process in organizations that excel in service to their customers. It identifies a service failure, effectively resolves a service problem, classifies its root cause(s), and yields data that can be integrated with other sources of performance measurement to assess and improve the service system. It entails making a person "feel whole" by staff demonstrating politeness, concern and candor. It is taking a negative experience and turning in into a positive and memorable one. It is the "second chance", so it must be done very right the second time. Service Recovery always relates to service, not quality of clinical care. The primary person responsible for Service Recovery is the person who identifies the customer's dissatisfaction with services received. Each employee can be a part of Service Recovery, by taking ownership to improve our efforts to make the veteran's visit just as pleasant as possible. Home-Based Primary Care - delivers health care using an interdisciplinary team to housebound or bed bound patients in their own homes in concert with family and community support systems. The care rendered includes medical, nursing, social work, nutrition and rehabilitative services and is intended to offer chronically ill veterans an alternative to institutional care. DIGMA Clinic - Drop In Group Medical Appointments are used in conjunction with individual office visits and are designed to provide medical care in a group setting with other patients with similar medical problems. Care is provided by a multidisciplinary team is a more relaxed atmosphere in which both mind and body issues are addressed. Patient/family education and social support are integral parts of these clinics. Social Detoxification Residential Treatment Program (SDRT) - is a program designed to assist the veteran in need of social detoxification residential treatment for substance abuse and addiction. The program was designed for veterans seeking treatment from distant locations. A therapeutic milieu is provided at the VAMC. The Alexandria VAMC has contracted with a local detoxification facility that provides a safe therapeutic environment, meals, and transportation for the veterans enrolled in the VAMC Outpatient Program. Homeless Program - A Homeless Program was initiated in FY2000. Extensive outreach services are now in place for identification and linkage to services for homeless veterans. The Alexandria VAMC has co-sponsored and been the lead planning agency for the central Louisiana Homeless Stand Down during FY 2004 - 2006. Community Residential Care (CRC)- The CRC Program has been instrumental in the community placement of long-term care psychiatric patients, providing comprehensive case management services and interventions. Adult Day Care Program - provides contract services for veterans in a licensed Adult Day Care Program for daily stimulation and recreation. ADHC is provided in a protective setting during part of the day but less than 24-hour care. An emphasis is on helping participants and their caregivers to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to manage care requirements in the home. Approximately thirteen veterans per month utilize the program from two contractual agencies. Homemaker/Home Health Aide (H/HHA) Program - Homemaker/Home Health Aide (H/HHA) Program - this program was initiated in FY 2000 and provides homemaker/home health aide visits to eligible veterans using Contract Nursing Home funds. Community Nursing Home Care -The Alexandria VA Medical Center is very involved in community activities. Our employees support many local charities through holiday food and toy drives, serving food at a local soup kitchen, clothing drives, and participating in charitable organizations' fundraisers such as the annual corporate spelling bee, cooking contests, and drug awareness activities. Many of our employees take active roles in Non Profit Organizations as Board of Director and Advisory Board members. We also maintain a high profile in such community activ
