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WILKES-BARRE VA TOUTS IMPROVED DENTAL SERVICES
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Facility includes digital X-ray imager that
eliminates the use of film.
This is an interesting story because many
VA facilities are cutting way back on dental services.
Because of underfunding and
understaffing, many vets wait up to a year for an appointment and even
longer, in some cases, if they need dentures.
Story here...
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/living/16112561.htm
Story below.
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Dental services growing at VA Medical Center
Local facility includes digital X-ray imager
that eliminates the use of film.
By DAWN ZERA
Times Leader Correspondent
“These improvements are a part of what we’re about. We are looking for
innovative ways to serve our patients, and it’s made a big impact. It’s
a challenge now to see patients within 30 days of their desired
appointment.”
Dr. Charles E. Caldwell Clinic chief
Recent improvements in the dental clinic are bringing faster,
state-of-the-art care to veterans in the 20-county area served by the
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, perched high on a hill in
Plains Township.
Most days, the parking lot is full, with cars constantly coming and
going. Inside, a volunteer veteran mans the information desk in the
lobby. On the second floor, a newly established memorabilia sitting area
attracts a lot of interest.
This medical center serves 19 counties in Pennsylvania and one in New
York, a total of about 200,000 veterans and growing. It has medical,
surgical, psychiatric and intensive care-unit facilities, 79 hospital
beds and 105 nursing home beds for long-term care. In 2005
administrators counted 356,000 outpatient visits.
The local facility also works with seven outpatient clinics: Allentown,
Tobyhanna, Schuylkill Township, Sayre, Williamsport, Northampton County
and Berwick. So far in fiscal year 2006, the center has provided health
care service for nearly 43,000 patients.
In addition the health care, the hospital keeps veterans in touch with a
significant portion of their life experiences. Many patients will show
up two hours early for appointments to visit with old friends or meet
new ones.
Vince Riccardo, the medical center’s public affairs officer, said there
is a feeling of pride and sense of sharing among the veterans who depend
on the facility for health care. The importance of the facility to the
veterans it serves is reflected in its corps of devoted volunteers — men
and women who serve as greeters and ambassadors, the people who have
contributed volumes of information to the memorabilia area.
“The VA hospital is a very important asset. The folks who’ve been in the
service develop a comradeship amongst each other, a commonality no one
else can share. The issues they’ve dealt with, their family can’t really
understand. It really is a ‘Band of Brothers’ where they are
symbolically bonded to each other,” Riccardo said.
“This facility is very important to them and the fact that the quality
of care continues to improve is a way to recognize we’re here for them.”
The facility’s dental clinic recently was renovated under the direction
of clinic chief Dr. Charles E. Caldwell. The work included three key
updates: a full-function wheelchair platform lift, the technology to
provide metal-free, tooth-colored restorations in one appointment and a
digital X--ray imager that eliminates the use of film, and can convert
the image into instant digital data.
The wheelchair lift has created a more comfortable environment for
disabled dental patients, while also eliminating the physical challenges
staff face when lifting patients in and out of traditional dental
chairs.
The Plains Township center is the first hospital in the United States to
have the full-function platform.
The restoration technology cuts crowns for patients in record time –
gone are the days of multiple appointments while impressions are made –
and in the process saves money. And the digital radiography is
cutting-edge technology that only a handful of private practices can
boast in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
“These improvements are a part of what we’re about. We are looking for
innovative ways to serve our patients, and it’s made a big impact. It’s
a challenge now to see patients within 30 days of their desired
appointment,” Caldwell said.
“We thought that this war would not last as long as it has, and it is
now challenging us. These sorts of technologies are allowing us to meet
those needs.”
Demand has been swelled by returning veterans from the wars in Iraq and
in Afghanistan during the past five years. As of August, the medical
center had served about 1,160 combat veterans from those operations.
In addition, the number of female veterans has increased to represent
nearly 6 percent of patients. Although the medical center does not offer
pediatric or obstetric services, it does provide gynecological services.
The new demands on the Veterans Affairs department have spurred VA
medical centers to raise the bar in the quality of health care they
offer, Riccardo said. That has resulted in increased applications for
the local medical center’s residency programs, as well as the initiation
of a research program with a pharmaceutical focus.
The research program, Riccardo said, will be conducted with patients who
give their consent to participate.
“It represents a milestone for us, as we develop and expand,” Riccardo
said.
ON THE WEB
For more information about the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical
Center, visit www.va.gov/vamcwb/.
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Larry Scott
