SYRACUSE — The Syracuse VA Medical Center on Dec. 1 formally opened the Women Veterans Wellness Center, which will provide primary care and specialty care, including care for military sexual trauma (MST) and reproductive health care. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) attended the ceremony. The Women Veterans Wellness Center (WWC) has two full-time providers, a […]
SYRACUSE — The Syracuse VA Medical Center on Dec. 1 formally opened the Women Veterans Wellness Center, which will provide primary care and specialty care, including care for military sexual trauma (MST) and reproductive health care.
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) attended the ceremony.
The Women Veterans Wellness Center (WWC) has two full-time providers, a physician, and a nurse practitioner.
Together, they provide care, including primary and gender-specific care, for nearly 1,000 women. These two providers also provide gender-specific care to another 200 women in primary care teams, dubbed Red and Blue, respectively.
The Wellness Center provides gynecology services four days per week, urology three days per month, and mental-health services four times per week.
A pharmacist will be available in the clinic on a regular basis beginning in January. The WWC also provides rural health care with tele-mental health, tele-gynecology, and tele-primary care phone clinics.
“Women have served bravely and honorably for generations and the roles and jobs that women perform in our Armed Forces have expanded even more significantly in recent years and during the on-going conflicts. This center is devoted to ensuring that these Veterans get the care they deserve and have earned,” James Cody, director of the Syracuse VA Medical Center, said in a Gillibrand news release.
In addition to the wellness center, the local VA Medical Center also dedicated the Corporal Kyle Schneider Family Waiting Room.
The facility named the room in honor of a 2006 graduate of C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville who was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmond Province, Afghanistan on June 30, 2011.
The Family Waiting Room serves as a place of respite for veteran families waiting for their veterans while they receive care at the VA.
“As Kyle’s parents and family, we are grateful Kyle’s memory and sacrifice are honored in this way by the VA. It has been a source of comfort to us to hear from the families who have used The Cpl. Kyle Schneider Family Room, and tell us how meaningful and helpful it has been for them. We would like to thank all those involved in making The Cpl. Kyle Schneider USMC Family Room a possibility,” Rick and Lorie Schneider, parents of Corporal Kyle Schneider said.
Gillibrand wrote to then-Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, urging him to approve the new name for the waiting room.
The Corporal Kyle Schneider Family Waiting Room is supported by volunteers from the Corporal Kyle R. Schneider Foundation, which was formed in Schneider’s honor.
“These ceremonies today at the Syracuse VA hospital were so important for the community here,” Gillibrand said. “We honored the bravery of a Baldwinsville Marine who gave his life for his country, and we honored the women who make so many sacrifices to serve in our military. The past, present, and future of our military were represented proudly today, and it was a privilege to be a part of this day of celebration at the Syracuse VA.”
Gillibrand is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com