| Veterans
News Flash 
DoD,
VA Announce "Recovery Coordinators" for Wounded
Warriors and Their Families
The Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs
(VA) today signed an agreement to provide “federal
recovery coordinators” who will ensure life-long
medical and rehabilitative care services and other
federal benefits are provided to seriously wounded,
injured and ill active duty service members, veterans
and their families.
The agreement puts into place one of the top recommendations
of the President’s Commission on Care for
America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, co-chaired
by former Sen. Robert Dole and former Health and
Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.
“This agreement will help ensure our nation’s
wounded warriors and their families receive the
care they need and deserve at the right time, right
place, and by the right person across the continuum
from recovery through to their reintegration into
their communities,” said Michael L. Dominguez,
principal deputy under secretary of defense for
personnel and readiness.
Under this agreement the first group of federal
recovery coordinators will be provided by VA in
coordination with DoD and will be assigned to select
military treatment facilities throughout the nation.
They will support existing military service and
veteran programs and care providers by coordinating
needed services between DoD and VA and state and
private and voluntary organizations, while serving
as the ultimate life-long resource for wounded,
ill and injured and their families who may have
concerns about federal services or benefits.
Job announcements for the new positions have been
posted, with the first 10 federal recovery coordinators
scheduled to be hired by Dec. 1. Plans call for
the new employees to be trained and in place at
the military’s major health care facilities
during January 2008.
The first 10 coordinators will work at military
health care facilities and at any other locations
where patients are later assigned. They will be
located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington,
D.C.; the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.;
the Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston,
Texas; and the Naval Medical Center Balboa in San
Diego. Additional recovery coordinators will be
added in the future as needs are determined.
The coordinators will have a background in social
services or nursing and will work closely with
the clinical and non-clinical case management teams
to develop and execute federal individual recovery
plans. Those plans, developed for the severely
wounded, injured or ill, specify what services
are needed across the continuum of care, from recovery
through rehabilitation to reintegration to civilian
life. The coordinators also will work closely with
family members to take care of their services and
needs.
The coordinators will have access to and support
from the DoD’s under secretary of defense
for personnel and readiness and VA’s under
secretary for health, as well as the commanders
of facilities where service members and veterans
receive treatment.
These federal recovery coordinators are in addition
to other programs that have been established by
the military services.
SOURCE:
US Department of Veterans Affair
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