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Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Substance Abuse Treatment location & phone number

  • Our Address:
    2360 East Pershing Boulevard
    Cheyenne, Wyoming

    Phone Number:
    (307) 778-7550x7130
    We are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

Rehabs at Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Substance Abuse Treatment in Cheyenne Wyoming

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10 Most Recent Comments

  • 18
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    The Cheyenne VA Medical Center and local awareness and assistance programs joined forces on Tuesday April 7 to "break the silence" on military s**ual trauma, s**ual assault and s**ual abuse in commemoration of s**ual Assault Awareness Month. Cheyenne VAMC added 7 new photos to the alb**: s**ual Assault Awareness Month 2015.
  • 0
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    Cheyenne VAMC at Cheyenne VAMC
  • 8
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2015/04/07/news/19local_04-07-15.txt
  • 14
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    Cheyenne VA Medical Center and Local Military Join Forces to Honor Military s**ual Trauma Survivors CHEYENNE, Wyo.—The Cheyenne VA Medical Center and the Wyoming Military Department will join forces on Tuesday, April 7 to “break the silence” on military s**ual trauma, s**ual assault and s**ual abuse, in commemoration of s**ual Assault Awareness Month. The 2 p.m. event will be held in the Cheyenne VA Medical Center Canteen where community providers who work with military s**ual trauma patients will offer brief presentations about their individual programs. Participants are invited to decorate T-shirts to be displayed for The Clothesline Project, a visual display for awareness of the program. The Clothesline Project encourages men and women Veterans to speak up about their experiences. The t-shirts will be on display throughout the month at the Cheyenne VA Medical Center and Clinics in Ft. Collins and Greeley, Colorado. Who: Veterans, military members, State and local leaders and media are welcome to attend. What: Military s**ual Trauma and The Clothesline Project When: Tuesday, April 7, beginning at 2 p.m. Where: Cheyenne VA Medical Center Canteen, located at 2360 E. Pershing, Cheyenne Additional Information on The Clothesline Project: http://www.clotheslineproject.org/
  • 14
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    Cheyenne VAMC shared a link.
  • 9
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 2 months Ago
    In March 1890, 125 years ago, the Federal system of veterans facilities for former volunteer forces increased to seven when the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers opened its new Marion Branch in Indiana. The new branch was authorized by Congress eighteen months earlier on July 23, 1888 with a mandate for a minimum of 200 acres and a budget of $200,000. Marion was one of four new National Homes built between 1880 and 1900. Selection of the 220-acre site in Marion was attributed to Congressional Representative George Steele who served in the Civil War. The National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) was the first generation of Federal veterans facilities for the masses of men who served with the Union volunteer forces during the Civil War and is the origins of today’s Veterans Health Administration. The Marion Branch opened nearly 25 years after the Civil War ended when many of the young soldiers discharged back in 1865 were middle-aged with increasing health issues. In 1900 the National Homes were authorized to admit veterans from Regular or Volunteer forces who served in all prior wars. The Civil War veteran population at the National Homes peaked in 1905 at over 22,000 men. Two notable monuments are located on the former Marion Branch grounds: one features an artifact from the U.S.S. Maine which sunk in Havana harbor during the Spanish American War and the other is a sculpture by Lorado Taft to honor the Home’s Civil War veterans. World War I created additional demands to provide hospitals and benefits for a new generation of America’s veterans. This greatly impacted the National Homes, including the Marion Branch. National Homes were the first providers of hospital beds for World War I veterans while newly established World War I federal bureaus scrambled to meet the urgent demand. On September 14, 1920, National Home President, General George H. Wood, issued General Order No. 2 to re-designate the Marion Branch as the Marion National Sanatorium. As a result, the position of Governor was renamed as “Medical Director and Superintendent” and the wearing of National Home uniforms by staff ended. Marion was the first National Home to operate as a neuro-psychiatric hospital and it did so in collaboration with the Veterans Bureau, which was created from the first merger of World War I veterans programs in 1921. In 1930, the first generation of U.S. veterans hospitals—the National Homes—were consolidated with World War I veterans programs and the Pension Bureau to form the Veterans Administration. It was the second merger of federal veterans facilities and medical care programs since 1921. The Veterans Administration was the fifth incarnation of federal veterans’ health care agencies since the Civil War. In 1932, one year after the VA consolidation took full effect; Marion was the first National Home to become a VA facility when it was re-designated as a VA neuropsychiatric hospital. By 1948 all of the former National Homes were re-designated as one of three types of VA hospitals. Marion and all other former National Homes became part of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988. All have operated continuously since they opened.
  • 11
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    Celebrating Women's History ROSA MARIA FONTANEZ-MARQUEZ was the first known woman of Hispanic heritage appointed to a leadership position at VA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Rosa Maria Fontanez-Marquez was born in Naguabo, Puerto Rico around 1940. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico and received a direct commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army in 1963. She left the military at the rank of Major. She was hired in 1971 at VA’s Central Office in Washington, D.C., as the first Spanish-speaking staff assistant for VA’s Contract Compliance Service. This national-level position was established to improve communication between Spanish-speaking veterans and firms interested in conducting business with the Veterans Administration. In 1975 Miss Fontanez-Marquez was appointed Equal Opportunity Specialist on the Associate Deputy Administrator’s staff. In 1977 VA Administrator Max Cleland selected her as a task force member to plan and establish a new Office of Human Goals. In a 1977 report to President Jimmy Carter, Cleland stated that his intention in creating the new office was to elevate EEO and Affirmative Action to top staff levels. The Office of Human Goals was activated in January 1978. Miss Fontanez-Marquez was initially its Director of Standards, Research, and Training, but just a few months later, in April of that same year, Administrator Cleland appointed her as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the VA Office of Human Goals. By 1985 she was listed as “Rosa Maria Fontanez” in government doc**ents and had become Director of VA’s Consumer Affairs Service. In 1987 that service became the Consumer Affairs and Internal Communications Service. After VA’s elevation to a Cabinet-level Department in 1988, a major reorganization took place and the former level of details on leadership and programs diminished in official records. Future research may yield more details on Miss Fontanez.
  • 23
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    Celebrating Women’s History ESSIE DAVIS MORGAN, sister of Hollywood actor-producer Ossie Davis, was a pioneer in American social work and VA’s first African American woman regional office director. Essie Mae Davis was born on the last day of 1919 in Waycross, Georgia, where she grew up in the racially segregated South. She was a year younger than her brother Ossie and the only girl among five siblings. Job opportunities for black women were extremely limited in those days. Despite those obstacles, she graduated from Alabama State College and went on to pursue a master’s degree in social work from Atlanta University. In 1949 she was hired as a social worker at the Tuskegee VA hospital. While at Tuskegee she developed a community placement program for psychiatric patients that became a model for all VA psychiatric hospitals. She authored numerous guides and articles that perpetuated best practices within VA and benefitted the field of social work overall. She later developed new techniques to aid in the care of patients with spinal cord injuries or receiving dialysis. After the 1964 Civil Rights Law was enacted, career opportunities for women opened up. In 1965 Essie Morgan was appointed as Chief of Community Service in the VA Social Work Office at VA Central Office in Washington, D.C. In 1971 she received the Federal Woman’s Award, which recognized government career women. She was recipient of the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s Speedy Award in 1974 for her work with spinal cord injury veterans. She continued to advance in her career serving as Chief of Socio-Economic Rehabilitation and Chief of Staff for Spinal Cord Injury, Area Field Director for the Western Region and in the summer of 1980, after serving as an Assistant Director, she became VA’s first African American woman regional office director for the Washington, D.C., regional benefits office. She retired from VA in 1986 with a career that spanned nearly 40 years and died of a brain tumor on February 27, 1990. She is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The Academy of Spinal Cord Injury Professionals and the American Association of Spinal Cord Injury Psychologists and Social Workers established awards named in her honor to acknowledge her contributions to the field of social work.
  • 21
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    Celebrating National Social Work Month! Social work has been an important cornerstone of Veterans health care since the American Civil War. During the Civil War, there was no American Red Cross in existence, so numerous volunteer organizations like the U.S. Sanitary Commission, U.S. Christian Commission, churches, and various state and local groups raised money for supplies, held soldier’s hands, combed their hair, wrote letters for them, and provided countless vital services and moral support to benefit military medical staff, active-duty and discharged soldiers alike. The U.S. Sanitary Commission’s social research and advocacy ultimately led to the founding of a national soldiers and sailors asylum, later known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), which was the origins of today’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Clara Barton, a nurse with the U.S. Sanitary Commission, founded the American Red Cross after the war in 1881. From 1866 until World War I, all forms of social work were practiced every day at the National Homes, although it wasn’t called that at the time. No formal “social work” training, discipline, or program existed at the time. The work included providing educational, recreational, occupational, and religious activities for veterans, as well as helping them to work out relationships with one another, their families, National Home management, and the local community. National Home officers, matrons, or veterans assigned as hospital workers performed much of that social work. Initially National Home patients with psychological issues were housed and treated in special wards within the home’s hospitals, but after August 7, 1882, all “insane” veterans were sent to the Government Insane Asylum, later known as St. Elizabeth’s, in the District of Columbia. A paradigm shift in the approach to veterans medical care took place during World War I. The Bureau of War Risk Insurance and Public Health Service (VA predecessors) were charged with providing medical care for World War I veterans. The National Homes, which took care of veterans from all earlier wars, were opened up to World War I veterans until the new bureaus could build their facilities. The War Risk Bureau and Public Health Service consulted with the American College of Surgeons on development of the government’s largest hospital construction program in history, at the time. Beginning in 1918, psychiatric hospitals became a new and distinct type of Veterans medical facility. Specialized, professional medical and psychiatric social workers were needed for this new formalized element of veterans’ health care. Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, was a leading institution in training social workers at that time and others soon followed. Beginning in 1919, the “[American] Red Cross was asked to organize social services for treating mental diseases [in veterans hospitals] like those in civilian hospitals. By 1920, 42 [Veterans Bureau] hospitals had such services and 15 of these psychiatric social work departments were headed by graduates of the first training class at the Smith College School. Psychiatric social workers were solidly entrenched and Red Cross scholarships made some of this training possible. Their control was demonstrated in 1927, when the Veterans Bureau took over the operation of social services from the Red Cross. Before the transfer, the bureau established a social work section as part of its medical service, which drew up Civil Service requirements and job functions for the psychiatric social workers throughout the Veterans hospital system. Psychiatric social workers shaped these bureau standards through the organized efforts of the Psychiatric Section of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers, later the American Association for Psychiatric Social Work (1926).” The Red Cross provided social services in veterans’ hospitals for roughly 7 years. On June 16, 1926, Veterans Bureau Administrator General Frank T. Hines authorized the first Social Work department and hiring of professional social workers began. On September 1, 1926, the Veterans Bureau formally took over social work in its neuropsychiatric hospitals and 2-3 general hospitals with the goal of doing so at all of its hospitals by July 1, 1927. Irene Grant was the first Director of Social Work under the Veterans Bureau. Fresh out of college, she entered social work with the Red Cross Social Service during World War I rising to the rank of Chief (Red Cross) at the Veterans Bureau hospital in Minneapolis. When the Veterans Bureau authorized its own social work department in 1926, Irene Grant was hired as the Veterans Bureau’s first Director of Social Work. She remained through the bureau’s transition into the Veterans Administration serving in that capacity for 20 years (1926-1946). More research is needed on Ms. Grant, but she published several articles and reported on VA’s social work activities in professional journals such as the Social Work Year Book. In July 1945, under Administrator Hines, Civil Service classifications for nurses, dietitians, social workers, and librarians changed from subprofessional to professional with requirements for a professional psychiatric social worker including “completion of a four-year college course, and one year of school of social work training with six hours of psychiatric courses, and three hundred hours of field work.” After VA established its Department of Medicine and Surgery in 1946, which implemented robust medical research and medical school affiliation programs, the number of social workers mushroomed. A VA annual report stated that “the VA social service staff has increased from 550 in July 1946 to 1,026 in June 1947. The quality of the VA social service program was considered of such a standard that 27 accredited schools of social work placed 105 students with the Veterans Administrations for field placement in connection with their graduate training. Among the many services rendered veterans and their families are the following: Physicians are furnished social information pertaining to patients’ disorders; patients are assisted with personal and family problems which interfere with recovery, and are helped to affect their post-discharge adjustment; veterans who are ineligible for VA medical care are assisted in securing medical care in non-VA agencies; and neuropsychiatric patients and their families are prepared for the patient’s return home on a trial visit prior to ultimate discharge from the hospital.” By the 1950s, social workers were essential members of the professional medical team and were key contributors to many medical research projects. VA and its ancestors significantly expanded the role of medical social work in the U.S. and influenced raising the standards for psychiatric social work and social work in general. Today, VA is one of the largest employers of social work graduates in the world. Their work remains crucial to veterans and their families. Submitted by: Darlene Richardson Historian Veterans Health Administration Cheyenne VAMC added 2 new photos.
  • 27
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    Celebrating Women’s History NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS, born in Orange, Virginia, probably in 1878. As a young woman, nannie Burroughs tried and failed to get a job as a domestic science teacher in a Washington, D.C., school. She wasn’t rejected because she wasn’t qualified, or even because she was black, but because she was too black; the District wanted even its black teachers to be as white as possible. Angered and dismayed, Burroughs decided then that someday she would start a school that “would give all sorts of girls a chance.” Her dream took a long time to realize. First, she had to get a job. She worked on a Baptist newspaper for a year, then returned to Washington and took the civil service exam. Her high score didn’t help her, though. She was simply told there were no jobs available for “a colored clerk,” so she worked as a janitor and bookkeeper. Her free time was spent working for the National Baptist Woman’s Convention as its energetic corresponding secretary and later as its president. She also organized the Woman’s Industrial Club, which served lunches to office workers at low prices, and held night classes for members in domestic and clerical skills for ten cents a week. Soon the club was so successful that she quit her daytime job and gave it her full attention. However, Burroughs’s primary ambition had always been to found a school for black girls, and she first proposed such a school to the Baptist Woman’s Convention in 1900. In 1906 the Convention agreed to help fund the project and donated a six-acre site in Washington; on October 19, 1909, the National Training School for Women and Girls opened with seven students and eight staff members. By the end of the year it had thirty-one students. Burroughs’s fundraising efforts, sound business sense, and personal encouragement of students made the school a success. Taking as her motto, “We specialize in the wholly impossible,” she offered practical courses in sewing, home economics, nursing, bookkeeping, shorthand, typing, gardening, laundering, interior decorating, printing, shoe repair, and barbering, but she stressed academic subjects as well and made each student pass at least one course in black history before graduation. She died in 1961; in 1964 the school was renamed the nannie Burroughs School, and in 1975, May 10 was designated Nannie Helen Burroughs Day in the District of Columbia.

10 Most Liked Comments

  • 7969
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    From Voluntary Services, on behalf of the Chaplain Service: Quilts for “Final Salute” Our Chaplain Service is always in need of “Final Salute” quilts for the Community Living Center. These red, white and blue quilts are given to veterans upon admission to Hospice so the quilt can be used while here. When the Veterans pass, the patriotic quilts are draped over the gurney as a Final Salute. As they are transported from their room, the family, many employees, including fellow Veterans, line the hallways, salute or place hands over their hearts signifying the “Final Salute.” We keep track of the wonderful volunteers who make & donate these special quilts. When you donate, be sure to let Voluntary Services know your quilts are for the “Final Salute”. Any VA hospital would be happy to receive quilts through Voluntary Services, Chaplains Service or the Community Living Center. For destination Cheyenne please mail or deliver to: Cheyenne VA Medical Center (Attn: Voluntary Service/Final Salute Quilt) 2360 East Pershing Blvd Cheyenne, WY 82001 307-778-7317 Here are samples of quilts received. The accompanying pictures were taken during a training session using a mannequin: Cheyenne VAMC added 5 photos.
  • 139
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Additional information about the Final Salute Quilts THANK YOU, EVERYONE! This is only one of the many things done behind the scenes for our Veterans and families. Quilts may be delivered or sent to Cheyenne VA Medical Center Attn: Voluntary Services (Final Salute Quilt) 2360 East Pershing Blvd Cheyenne, WY 82001 Please include a note of your name/organization and contact information for recording donations and also to receive a formal letter of thanks. Any VA Medical Center would be happy to receive these quilts. Contact a local Voluntary Service office in any state for details. Voluntary Services is the central collection point for all donations to a VA facility. For Cheyenne VA Medical Center please contact Linda or Cindy at 307-778-7317. They are located in Bldg 6 on the north side of the facility. The quilts are dual purpose. Bed covering while a patient, upon passing a patriotic tribute and covering while transported from their room and afterwards a lasting memento to the family, thus the request for red, white and blue quilts. We will take any pattern. (This is a demonstration photo with a mannequin) THANK YOU for your support. We look forward to hearing from you all throughout 2015!
  • 131
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 4 months Ago
    Beautiful Fall day at Cheyenne VA Cheyenne VAMC updated their cover photo.
  • 86
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    The "Final Salute" makes the news: In one of the many responses someone said, "guess this story isn't profitable enough to be carried by the news." Well, KGWN Channel 5 must have heard them. They coverd the story today!. It should be on at 5 and 10p.m. Here are a few pictures from the story as it was shot at the VA today: Cheyenne VAMC added 6 photos.
  • 46
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    To all Veterans, family members, volunteers, community partners, and stakeholders have a wonderful and safe holiday season. May your heart and home be filled with joy.
  • 41
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Remembering Pearl Harbor, here is another individual who exemplified American values during the attack: 1st Lieutenant Annie G. Fox, an Army Head Nurse stationed at Hickam Field, was on duty the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks. Lt. Fox “worked ceaselessly with coolness and efficiency” while she “administered anesthesia, dressed wounds, and taught civilian volunteer nurses to make and wrap dressings. . .setting a fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership that was of great benefit to the morale of all whom she came in contact” during and after the attack. For her outstanding service that day, she was awarded the Purple Heart in January 1943. She was the first woman to ever receive a Purple Heart. Lt. Fox was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and served as an Army nursing during World War I, as well. She died on January 20, 1987, and is buried in San Francisco National Cemetery.
  • 40
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 7 months Ago
    In honor of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives Cheyenne VAMC was privileged to serve Allen Dale June who was one of the original Navajo Code Talkers. Mr. June passed on September 8, 2010 He served in the Marine Corps from 1941 to 1945 and earned an honorable discharge and the rank of Sgt. Mr. June was 89 at the time of his death.
  • 36
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 5 months Ago
    After 22 years of federal service Rose will be getting used to her new recliner. Hope you enjoy these photos of the Queen of Supply" as much as we have enjoyed working with Rose.
  • 36
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 4 months Ago
    Cheyenne VAMC updated their cover photo.
  • 36
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 5 months Ago
    Rose's Retirement Cheyenne VAMC added 33 new photos to the alb**: Rose's Retirement.

Read More Comments

  • 9
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Cheyenne VAMC updated their cover photo.
  • 16
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Join the Patriot Guard in the CLC for the 2014 Wreaths ACross America program, December 13, 10 a.m.
  • 32
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Remembering Pearl Harbor Over 2,000 U.S. personnel, including civilians, died in the Pearl Harbor attacks and even more were wounded. Within nine minutes of being struck by a 1,760 pound bomb, the USS Arizona sat at the bottom of the ocean with 900 sailors and marines entombed within its hull. Five battleships were sunk, three destroyers, two cruisers, and numerous smaller ships were badly damaged. Only 289 out of 1,472 men aboard the Arizona survived. Talks about making the USS Arizona into a memorial to honor those who died in the Pearl Harbor attacks began around 1943 and by 1949 the Pacific War Memorial Commission was established to take the first steps in making it happen. In 1958 President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved creation of the memorial and in 1961 public funds were appropriated for it. The USS Arizona memorial was dedicated in 1962.
  • 27
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 5 months Ago
    Cheyenne VAMC updated their cover photo.
  • 0
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 5 months Ago
    Start your next mission. #ExploreVA today. http://1.usa.gov/1BMYEua
  • 3
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 5 months Ago
    The celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’Jr birthday has become not only a day of remembrance, but also a day of service. He once said that humanitarian. His dream repre-sents our country’s highest ideal – that all men and all women are created equal — an ideal fought for by every American who defene can say with certainty and pride that our charge is to ensure VA serves all Veterans in the way they want and need to be served. You can help. For more information on volunteering at VA, visit the VA Voluntary Ser-vices website at http://www.volunteer.va.gov/
  • 21
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    Celebrating National Social Work Month! Social work has been an important cornerstone of Veterans health care since the American Civil War. During the Civil War, there was no American Red Cross in existence, so numerous volunteer organizations like the U.S. Sanitary Commission, U.S. Christian Commission, churches, and various state and local groups raised money for supplies, held soldier’s hands, combed their hair, wrote letters for them, and provided countless vital services and moral support to benefit military medical staff, active-duty and discharged soldiers alike. The U.S. Sanitary Commission’s social research and advocacy ultimately led to the founding of a national soldiers and sailors asylum, later known as the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS), which was the origins of today’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Clara Barton, a nurse with the U.S. Sanitary Commission, founded the American Red Cross after the war in 1881. From 1866 until World War I, all forms of social work were practiced every day at the National Homes, although it wasn’t called that at the time. No formal “social work” training, discipline, or program existed at the time. The work included providing educational, recreational, occupational, and religious activities for veterans, as well as helping them to work out relationships with one another, their families, National Home management, and the local community. National Home officers, matrons, or veterans assigned as hospital workers performed much of that social work. Initially National Home patients with psychological issues were housed and treated in special wards within the home’s hospitals, but after August 7, 1882, all “insane” veterans were sent to the Government Insane Asylum, later known as St. Elizabeth’s, in the District of Columbia. A paradigm shift in the approach to veterans medical care took place during World War I. The Bureau of War Risk Insurance and Public Health Service (VA predecessors) were charged with providing medical care for World War I veterans. The National Homes, which took care of veterans from all earlier wars, were opened up to World War I veterans until the new bureaus could build their facilities. The War Risk Bureau and Public Health Service consulted with the American College of Surgeons on development of the government’s largest hospital construction program in history, at the time. Beginning in 1918, psychiatric hospitals became a new and distinct type of Veterans medical facility. Specialized, professional medical and psychiatric social workers were needed for this new formalized element of veterans’ health care. Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, was a leading institution in training social workers at that time and others soon followed. Beginning in 1919, the “[American] Red Cross was asked to organize social services for treating mental diseases [in veterans hospitals] like those in civilian hospitals. By 1920, 42 [Veterans Bureau] hospitals had such services and 15 of these psychiatric social work departments were headed by graduates of the first training class at the Smith College School. Psychiatric social workers were solidly entrenched and Red Cross scholarships made some of this training possible. Their control was demonstrated in 1927, when the Veterans Bureau took over the operation of social services from the Red Cross. Before the transfer, the bureau established a social work section as part of its medical service, which drew up Civil Service requirements and job functions for the psychiatric social workers throughout the Veterans hospital system. Psychiatric social workers shaped these bureau standards through the organized efforts of the Psychiatric Section of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers, later the American Association for Psychiatric Social Work (1926).” The Red Cross provided social services in veterans’ hospitals for roughly 7 years. On June 16, 1926, Veterans Bureau Administrator General Frank T. Hines authorized the first Social Work department and hiring of professional social workers began. On September 1, 1926, the Veterans Bureau formally took over social work in its neuropsychiatric hospitals and 2-3 general hospitals with the goal of doing so at all of its hospitals by July 1, 1927. Irene Grant was the first Director of Social Work under the Veterans Bureau. Fresh out of college, she entered social work with the Red Cross Social Service during World War I rising to the rank of Chief (Red Cross) at the Veterans Bureau hospital in Minneapolis. When the Veterans Bureau authorized its own social work department in 1926, Irene Grant was hired as the Veterans Bureau’s first Director of Social Work. She remained through the bureau’s transition into the Veterans Administration serving in that capacity for 20 years (1926-1946). More research is needed on Ms. Grant, but she published several articles and reported on VA’s social work activities in professional journals such as the Social Work Year Book. In July 1945, under Administrator Hines, Civil Service classifications for nurses, dietitians, social workers, and librarians changed from subprofessional to professional with requirements for a professional psychiatric social worker including “completion of a four-year college course, and one year of school of social work training with six hours of psychiatric courses, and three hundred hours of field work.” After VA established its Department of Medicine and Surgery in 1946, which implemented robust medical research and medical school affiliation programs, the number of social workers mushroomed. A VA annual report stated that “the VA social service staff has increased from 550 in July 1946 to 1,026 in June 1947. The quality of the VA social service program was considered of such a standard that 27 accredited schools of social work placed 105 students with the Veterans Administrations for field placement in connection with their graduate training. Among the many services rendered veterans and their families are the following: Physicians are furnished social information pertaining to patients’ disorders; patients are assisted with personal and family problems which interfere with recovery, and are helped to affect their post-discharge adjustment; veterans who are ineligible for VA medical care are assisted in securing medical care in non-VA agencies; and neuropsychiatric patients and their families are prepared for the patient’s return home on a trial visit prior to ultimate discharge from the hospital.” By the 1950s, social workers were essential members of the professional medical team and were key contributors to many medical research projects. VA and its ancestors significantly expanded the role of medical social work in the U.S. and influenced raising the standards for psychiatric social work and social work in general. Today, VA is one of the largest employers of social work graduates in the world. Their work remains crucial to veterans and their families. Submitted by: Darlene Richardson Historian Veterans Health Administration Cheyenne VAMC added 2 new photos.
  • 3
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 3 months Ago
    How many Veterans remember the Chuck Norris jokes from when they were deployed? Today is his 75th bithday and we thought it would be fitting to celebrate with him with a few jokes (family friendly) and laughs!
  • 20
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    Remembering Louis S. Zamperini Lt. Zamperini received numerous awards including the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and Purple Heart. He married Cynthia Applewhite in 1946, then set about keeping a promise that he made while adrift in the Pacific. He “got religion,” with the help of Evangelist Billy Graham, then visited Japan in hopes of locating—and converting—his former captors.
  • 1
    Cheyenne Veterans Affairs Sub..
    cheyenne,WY
    2 years, 6 months Ago
    The 2014 Laramie County Toys for Tots campaign of the United States Marine Corps Reserve is in full effect. Contact Program coordinator Wendi Henderson, CPO, USN (retired) (678) 215-7584 for more info at: Cheyennetoys4tots@aol.com Donations of new unwrapped toys can be made through Dec. 11. Boxes will be picked up by TFT’s volunteers at least weekly. All donations stay in local area. Dawn Gay, ext 7624, is the POC at the Cheyenne VA. If you are inclined to purchase a toy at the VCS Retail Store there is a Toys for Tots collection box just outside the door of the store.

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