Everett, Wash.
Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Better health services sought for female veterans

A bill in Congress would help equip the VA to meet the needs of women returning from war.

By Jim Haley
Herald Writer

 MOUNTLAKE TERRACE -- When Chili Perez walked into a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix 30 years ago, she was treated by male doctors and nurses.

That made her feel uncomfortable.

She said she was sexually assaulted while serving as a U.S. Army communications specialist a few years beforehand. The Mountlake Terrace resident still questions the motives of some male doctors who see her on occasion.

Following injuries in accidents in the Army and after her discharge, Perez now is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair to get around.

She makes about a dozen trips to the VA hospital in Seattle each year, and the setting nowadays is a lot more comfortable at the hospital's women's clinic.

The clinic has its own entrance, and at her request, Perez, 58, is seen by a female doctor. She feels safer, she said.

Some of her past experiences at VA facilities have made her a firm believer in proposed legislation aimed at improving services nationwide for female veterans as more leave the U.S. armed services after serving in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.

Called the Women Veterans Health Improvement Act, the proposal calls for preparing the Department of Veterans Affairs for what could be twice as many women across the country who will need VA services in the near future.

In the Puget Sound region, there are about 3,500 women enrolled with the VA, and local health providers also expect that to double. Women make up 14 percent of today's active duty, National Guard and reserve forces, Murray's office said.

As more women come back home with "physical and mental wounds of war, and step back into lives as mothers, wives and citizens, the VA must be there for them," U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said.

Murray is one of a seven senators from both sides of the aisle, including two Republican women, who are sponsoring the law.

The bill would for the first time give the VA authorization to care for a newborn child of a veteran who is receiving maternity care. The law would have to change for the VA to provide those services for babies.

Among other things, it would require the VA to prepare to deal with women who may have post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as what the measure calls military sexual trauma.

The idea is to recognize that women may have different needs than men who return from war, and to set up the framework for dealing with women's problems.

Also, the measure authorizes studies of women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan to assess how the conflicts have affected them and what services they need.

Many female veterans either don't know about services available to them or, for a variety of reasons, don't take advantage of what has been thought of as a man's place to go. Another goal of the law would be to promote what the VA has to offer and to make the VA woman friendly, Murray's office said. The bill, which doesn't have an estimated cost, needs to go through the full Senate and House.

Perez said she has generally good experiences at the VA hospital in Seattle, but attitudes and services vary across the country.

While in the Army, Perez fell from a ladder while attending to a communication tower. After discharge, she again was injured when she fell several stories from a parking garage. That accident left her unable to use her legs.

Her advice to lawmakers is to "really push the legislation through. All VA hospitals need to recognize they will have more women returning."

As a group nationally, female veterans are nervous about going to a VA hospital, said Jan Buchanan, female veterans program manager at the Seattle VA hospital.

"They see it as traditionally a very male setting," Buchanan said. Her organization has conducted focus group sessions with some of the female clients. The patients emphasized the need for privacy and a separate entrance to make them comfortable, Buchanan said.

"It's our fastest-growing group and we're preparing for that," Buchanan said.

Although the veterans system in the Puget Sound area has already started gearing up for more women, things aren't so rosy everywhere, Buchanan said.

Dealing with military sexual trauma is a growing problem, and her hospital is one of the few in the country about to hire a full-time coordinator to deal with it. Most hospitals don't even have a full-time female veterans program manager.

There are male health-care providers at the hospital, but Perez said the ones she sees are all women.

"What I'd like to see is the intake being done by a woman and their main providers should be women," Perez said.

Overall, she added, the need is to conquer the "male mindset" at the VA, and "deal with women the way they would with men."
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA