National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
OCE Partnerships and COVID-19
Several VHA partnerships demonstrate the importance of physical activity for Veterans, especially during the coronavirus pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic has prevented people across the country from going to the gym or spending as much time outdoors in group exercise, it has become more important to find ways to get physical from within the home.
Thankfully, partnerships throughout the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have given Veterans the ability to stay active even if they do not have access to their typical equipment or fitness classes—sometimes, all they will need is a wireless internet connection.
The benefits to Veterans’ health of physical activity, even in the home, are well-documented: “Sport and physical activity enhance subjective well-being in Veterans through active coping and doing things again, PTSD [posttraumatic stress disorder] symptom reduction, positive affective experience … and quality of life,” according to The Institute for Veterans and Military Families.
VHA’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE), which supports partnership creation and implementation across the administration, manages or has facilitated several partnerships that focus on physical activity and associated mental health benefits. Here are a few:
- VHA and Y-USA (the national entity that oversees YMCA facilities across the country) renewed their partnership agreement in November 2019. This collaboration helps Y-USA and VHA employees connect Veterans to healthy lifestyle programming and community integration, as well as volunteer opportunities. Most recently, Y-USA offered free, online, on-demand fitness videos through its “YMCA 360 platform.” There, Veterans can access dozens of videos such as yoga and barre, all from the comfort of home.
- VHA’s partnership with Americans for the Arts, which OCE facilitated for the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation, enables Veterans to access arts and humanities offerings with a focus on self-empowerment, self-healing, and self-care. Veterans can take classes in painting, storytelling, or dance, to name a few, and these creative and physical pursuits contribute to stress relief. During COVID-19, Americans for the Arts is helping make resources available for struggling arts organizations around the U.S.
- OCE also collaborated with the Office of Patient Centered Care and Cultural Transformation on three different yoga-focused partnerships for Veterans. Connected Warriors helps engage Veterans in healing, growth, and change through yoga, and in June posted a link to its “inner strength” yoga class for Veterans. Another organization, the Veterans Yoga Project, streams yoga classes daily, and in June hosted a webinar on how yoga can help with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Meanwhile, the Warriors at Ease organization promotes the evidence-based benefits of yoga and meditation to military and Veteran communities. On its website, the group offers a library of different yoga classes that Veterans can stream from home. This summer, Warriors at Ease is also conducting yoga teacher training for Veterans.
There are many other activities and partnerships throughout VHA that focus on physical activity—another example is the MOVE! Weight Management Program for Veterans, which is led by VHA’s National Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention (NCP). OCE has promoted the activities of the program in the past, since it has led to such good health outcomes for Veterans. MOVE! offers Veterans the opportunity to participate in a lifestyle change program that targets dietary and physical activity changes; since 2006, more than 850,000 Veterans have participated in the program, according to Dr. Susan Raffa, national program director for weight management with NCP. Part of MOVE! is a special eight-week physical activity program called “Be active and MOVE!”, and Veterans can access this and other components of the program through the MOVE! Coach mobile app. Prior to COVID, MOVE! classes were offered at some YMCAs in collaboration with local VA medical centers across the country.
“So many partnerships and activities within VHA bring more resources to Veterans when it comes to their physical health,” said Dr. Tracy L. Weistreich, nurse executive for OCE. “This isn’t just about keeping fit in body, but keeping fit in mind, too. Having resources to maintain physical activity can help Veterans feel more empowered and motivated in all aspects of their lives.”
To learn more about OCE’s partnerships, please visit: va.gov/healthpartnerships.
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Posted August 31, 2020
