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An Interdisciplinary Clinic for Former Prisoners of War
Dean L Kellogg1, Holly Darling1, Bennetta Crawford1
1is a Staff Physician, and is the Administrative Officer for the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC); and are Social Workers all at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio. Dean Kellogg is a Professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center.
Background:
The former prisoner of war (FPOW) population is mandated to "receive the highest quality care and benefit services" from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Each VA medical facility is required to have a special Care and Benefits Team to meet this policy goal.
Methods:
In South Texas, 40% of FPOWs had no VA primary care or clinic assignment. In consideration of the commitment of the VA to care for FPOWs, the unique POW-related medical and psychological issues, the geriatric age of many FPOWs, and the surprising number of FPOWs currently not receiving VA care, the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio incorporated the concept of geriatric evaluation and management into its cognitive behavioral therapy team to create a specialized interdisciplinary FPOW Clinic. The main purpose of this project was to advise FPOWs of VA benefits and services as well as to facilitate the identification of overlooked conditions with a presumption of service connection, for example, exposure to Agent Orange.
Results:
As most FPOWs are aged > 65 years, the FPOW Clinic was designed as an interdisciplinary team similar to that proven successful in geriatric medicine. Overlooked FPOW presumptive conditions were identified for 34% of FPOWs.
Conclusions:
FPOW veterans are rapidly dwindling in numbers and may live in rural areas. Consistent with the VA's desire to adopt novel technological approaches, we propose to modify our FPOW Clinic by adopting telehealth.
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