At Henry Ford Hospital and across Michigan, health facilities received phone calls day in and day out. Many of them were related to COVID.
The impact was felt at V-A hospitals. The Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center in Saginaw covers 35 counties in central and northern Michigan.
James Hines is a Medical Doctor and Chief of Staff at the center.
He said since the coronavirus, they’ve beefed up virtual services.
“Video connect which is the ability to meet with a patient on a video screen. Telephone conversations to check on them to see how they were doing. To make sure they received their medication. Make sure if they had issues with PTSD or other specific things related to veterans that those questions were answered," he said.
Hines said patients and workers have made a smooth transition to distance health. He said that the VA has realized that there is a lot of health care that can be done virtually. Hines said before the pandemic 70 percent of patients were receiving face to face care now, for the most part, patients don’t have to leave their home.
“Virtual care and now that we’ve done that the veterans have really stepped up and say “hey we really like that,” we get to see our doctor and we don’t have to travel. It’s been very positive. It’s been so positive that we have a goal of doing 70 percent of our medical visits virtually so that's telephone or video,” he said.
Hines said the VA limited five ambulatory care centers, but Traverse City, Clare, Alpena and Oscoda remained fully open for emergencies and face to face visits. He said the four emergency locations were placed so a patient wouldn’t have to drive more than an hour to receive care.
He said the VA had vans available if a patient needs transportation.
Hines said pharmacists and nurses sent out educational messages to ensure the well-being of veterans. He said they stressed the importance of maintaining good mental health during the pandemic.
Hines said along with COVID, veterans in and around Midland have also faced floods in their communities.
“There were two dams that broke with massive flooding. We had three thousand veterans in the flood zone, and we contacted all of our veterans to make sure they were safe and that they had food and clothing and the medicine that they needed. So in the midst of COVID we had that second crisis," he said.
Looking ahead, Hines said the VA is planning for a resurgence of COVID. He said they have stockpiles of equipment ready to go. And he said they’ve been looking at how they can do things differently to improve care.
Hines said if people continue to use face masks and social distance, it will improve the lives of everyone.
“That a mask is helpful. It does decrease the spread of this virus. So there are things that veterans can do to decrease their chances,” he said.
The way you help veterans is the same way you help everyone else, he said. We’ve heard it before, everyone should mask up.
Masking should not be political. Doctor Nicholas Haddad is an associate Professor of Infectious Disease with Central Michigan University.
“People need to understand the critical role masking has in prevention. Masking is what we need to carry on for now, until we get rid of this virus," he said.
Haddad said along with masks, people need to practice social distancing and hand hygiene.
Doctor James Hines with the VA, said it’s important for people to do the right thing to help protect veterans who gave themselves to protect our country.
"Veterans keep our country healthy" by AFGE is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
