PHOTO: OPVP Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval welcomed to Window Rock U.S. Veterans Administration Northern Arizona Director Steve Sample, Navajo Nation Veterans Administration Director Bobbie Ann Baldwin and representatives from the New Mexico Veterans Administration to discuss bringing more services to hospitals and health clinics on the Navajo Nation.
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren has begun discussions to bring U.S Veterans Administration services to Navajo Nation hospitals.
On Thursday, the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration, representatives from the Northern Arizona and New Mexico Veterans Administration and the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President discussed the plan to bring more VA services to Navajo vets.
The Northern Arizona Veterans Administration entered into an agreement to have contractors provide Navajo veterans with healthcare services at Navajo hospitals such as the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility.
By working together, said OPVP Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval, the VA, Navajo hospitals and health care facilities can provide specialized care to Navajo veterans.
“We’d like to see the Veterans Administration provide expanded health care for Navajo Nation veterans,” Sandoval said. “We should be able to build out our capacities so we don’t have to keep sending veterans off the Navajo Nation to receive services.”
The Nygren Administration’s three top priorities for veterans are housing, health care and financial assistance.
Steve Sample, director of the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Medical Center, said so far the VA has been unable to hire the people it needs to staff its clinics.
“As a veteran myself, my focus has been on rural areas,” he said. “We asked, ‘Why don’t we contract some of these services through IHS?’ We have space and our problem is just staffing.”
Contractors would work at the Chinle facility to provide primary care for veterans.
A grand opening is planned for January to celebrate the fully functional VA healthcare center being placed within the Chinle Comprehensive Health Care Facility. This will improve access for Navajos because more of them could be seen in local clinics.
Veterans have said they want to be seen by a hospital physician rather than through a computer screen or phone visits. Through VA contractors, Mr. Sample said, the VA can ensure veterans are seen in person Monday through Friday.
PHOTO: OPVP Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval leads the discussion to bring federal VA health care assistance to the Navajo Nation on Thursday.
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