Community Education & Employment Reentry Initiatives
The Healthy Caregiver Community Foundation and
The “Women Veterans ROCK!” Rally & Advocacy Campaign
Joins The National Effort To Improve Veteran Health Care
National Launch of Joining Forces Online Initiative
Philadelphia, PA – April 21, 2011 — The Healthy Caregiver Community Foundation & The “Women Veterans ROCK!” Rally & Advocacy Campaign has joined with the American Hospital Association, HealthPartners and more than a dozen national organizations in a nationwide effort to educate millions of Americans about the problems faced by returning veterans and their families. Through the Joining Forces education campaign and curricula, medical professionals across the nation can now receive training online on how to deal with the health issues facing our nation’s troops as they return home from service. These outreach efforts are designed to inform individuals and organizations that service men, women and their families might turn to for help about these available resources.
The Web site, www.joiningforcesonline.org provides the four-part series which addresses the most common issues our returning soldiers face including challenges of reintegration, a general overview of health care issues faced by returning military, mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as links to many resources.
The program was first developed in 2007 by Minnesota-based HealthPartners Institute for Medical Education in partnership with Twin Cities Public Television, the Minnesota Army National Guard and Minneapolis Veterans Affairs. Since that time, the American Hospital Association has recruited a variety of organizations including the American Medical Women’s Association, the American Association of Medical Colleges, the American Association of Nurse Executives and many others to help promote the program.
“What began as an effort to educate health caregivers in one community in Minnesota about the special needs of returning veterans and their families has grown into a collaboration among national organizations involving hospitals, doctors, nurses, social workers, clergy and many others all across our nation”, said Rich Umbdenstock, President and Chief Executive Officer, the American Hospital Association. “Joining Forces tells an important story about the debt
we owe our troops and the enormous level of support they enjoy back home.”
For more information go to www.joiningforcesonline.org. The Joining Forces curricula is available to anyone and can be used to meet continuing education credits for physicians across the nation.
The Healthy Caregiver Community Foundation is dedicated to “Building Better Communities” by improving the overall quality of life for the Elderly; the Poor; Veterans & Their Families; and other Underserved Communities through Government Alliances, Faith Based Partnerships, Community Outreach & Education. We are an nonprofit education, advocacy and research organization. The Healthy Caregiver Community Foundation is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with satellite operations in the Washington , DC Metropolitan Area.
About AHA
The American Hospital Association (AHA) is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 4,800 hospitals, health care systems, networks, and other providers of care, and 37,000 individuals. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues. For more information, visit the AHA Web site at www.aha.org.
About Health Partners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of healthcare companies serves more than one million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community.
