Speaker 1: Hey thirty eight if you have care C detalk station,
Speaker 1: if you're having a decent Monday. Bryan Thomas always pleased
Speaker 1: to see, especially in studio, Todd Sledge and the since
Speaker 1: Antiva taking great care of our veterans each and every day.
Speaker 1: They are appreciate all that the since ANAVA does for
Speaker 1: my veteran friends and the listening audience. And you know me,
Speaker 1: I love to help out veterans and veterans causes, and
Speaker 1: I know Todd Sledge does too. Todd, welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Morning Show. Thanks for making the trip in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great to see in person for a change instead
Speaker 1: of over the phone. Now. Yeah, I am. I always
Speaker 1: mention that because you know, it's so much easier to
Speaker 1: have a conversation with somebody when you're staring at the
Speaker 1: in the face. Yeah right, jeezus. WI. So what is
Speaker 1: going on at the VA we need to talk about today? Well,
Speaker 1: there's a lot going on, Brian, you know a lot
Speaker 1: of different things. Today. I wanted to focus on all
Speaker 1: the different tracking and communication mechanisms that veterans should be
Speaker 1: plugged into to see all the information that we have
Speaker 1: going on, and how they can see what's happening with
Speaker 1: with their VA healthcare system. But before we do that,
Speaker 1: a I have something I like to do per with you.
Speaker 1: I have a challenge coin. Oh yeah, from the VA,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to recognize on behalf of all
Speaker 1: of our veterans and all of our folks there that
Speaker 1: you're outstanding dedication and service and recognition my friends. So
Speaker 1: my brother, thank you very much for that. Absolutely couldn't
Speaker 1: do it without you. Oh this is a true, true
Speaker 1: honor I have over the years, you know, because you
Speaker 1: know me, I love helping out veterans of veterans causes,
Speaker 1: so I have accumulated quite a few of these over there.
Speaker 1: I knew you didn't need an explanation on one. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I tell you how to shake your hand and grab
Speaker 1: a hold of it. So the only problem is is
Speaker 1: the challenge component of it by a couple of beers
Speaker 1: over the years, you know what I mean. Anyhow, thank you.
Speaker 1: I've cherished this absolutely, thank you for what you do.
Speaker 1: I mean, the relationship we've had all these years and
Speaker 1: with your listeners, it's been fantastic. Well it's the least
Speaker 1: I can do. Again, I always like to point it
Speaker 1: I never enlisted and I have so much respect for
Speaker 1: the men and women who actually went and went down
Speaker 1: that road not knowing what their future head in store
Speaker 1: for them. That's a that's just an amazing accomplish, an
Speaker 1: amazing thing to do. And you guys are all wonderful people,
Speaker 1: So thank you very much for a little so much pleasure.
Speaker 1: And I, uh, just something you point out all the time.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure I get it in now
Speaker 1: before we move on to the topics that we have
Speaker 1: to talk about today. If you get care from the VA,
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty confident you're going to get really good care.
Speaker 1: But someone had complained to me a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago about something and I said to him, I go,
Speaker 1: did you say something to the folks that have since
Speaker 1: any VA about it? Did you put you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if there's a form to fill out, but
Speaker 1: I said, they're really good at, you know, addressing concerns
Speaker 1: because they want to make the process as smooth and
Speaker 1: painless and as effective as efficient as possible. So don't
Speaker 1: you know, speak your mind. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: a jerk about it, but be sure and go ahead
Speaker 1: and let them know about your concerns. Yeah. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: say it all the time. We have a we have
Speaker 1: a full service patient advocate office, you know, I call
Speaker 1: it our concierge office. Yeah, if you've got to complain,
Speaker 1: you got concern, or you just don't understand something, something
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense, these advocates are there to be your
Speaker 1: your personal liaison between that department or that service to
Speaker 1: help resolve the problem. It goes directly to that administrator
Speaker 1: who then works with that staff. And I kind of
Speaker 1: take something from what my grandfather told me many many
Speaker 1: years ago. He said, Todd, if you have a problem,
Speaker 1: it's like having a rock in your shoe. If you
Speaker 1: don't take the rock out of the shoe and keep
Speaker 1: walking on it, you can't say anything because it's your
Speaker 1: fault for not taking the rock out of the shoe
Speaker 1: exact exactly. And to the extent you have a problem
Speaker 1: or a complaint, it's possible that one of your fellow
Speaker 1: veterans does too, and they haven't set anything. So bring
Speaker 1: it to their intention and don't don't hesitate to do so. So.
Speaker 1: In terms of tracking, you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: online stuff. There's a lot of apps out in the world.
Speaker 1: I suppose one of the larger challenges is you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of senior veterans and quite often they are
Speaker 1: and this is no insult to them. They're technologically challenged
Speaker 1: and they need a little bit of help, you know,
Speaker 1: navigating how the house and the whys and the whereforce. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so what we you know, we use a lot of
Speaker 1: different things like everybody else. Our Facebook page is very robust,
Speaker 1: and I really encourage people to be plugged into that
Speaker 1: or to make sure that caregiver or that spouse or
Speaker 1: someone who's helping you know, grandpa or grandma or aunt
Speaker 1: uncle follow what's going on because we use that a
Speaker 1: lot as not national information on what we have going
Speaker 1: on locally. There's also something on our website called gov
Speaker 1: Delivery where you actually can subscribe to receive information we
Speaker 1: pushed directly out, okay from that medical newsletter thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like a kind of like an online newsletter like
Speaker 1: email mechanism that lets you know, like, hey, here's this announcement,
Speaker 1: whether it's about the parking issues that you know keep
Speaker 1: going on at the hospital, or medication recalls, different changes
Speaker 1: with clinics. There is the variety of things. So you know,
Speaker 1: we have, like everybody else, our websites are our Facebook
Speaker 1: pages in this Gov delivery and these are all three
Speaker 1: things you definitely want to be tracked into and some
Speaker 1: other things we'll talk about in a few minutes. Yo, okay.
Speaker 1: And you know, in addition to the assistance you can
Speaker 1: get directly at this insane VA, I got to put
Speaker 1: a shout out to all the Veteran Services commissions out
Speaker 1: there absolutely as they can help you navigate this process. Yeah. Really, well,
Speaker 1: I know Claimont County Veterans Services comes on all the
Speaker 1: time and we're happy to help you hook up to
Speaker 1: the app. We're happy to help you get your VA
Speaker 1: benefits and everything. So yep, same way, same way, great, great,
Speaker 1: multiple multiple ways of doing that. And the website again,
Speaker 1: Cincinnati dot VA dot gov, our Facebook page of Cincinnati, VA.
Speaker 1: And get a chance to talk with you here in
Speaker 1: a few minutes about our podcast that we got going on. Podcast. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: let's just dive on into that right now. You're the
Speaker 1: one that brought it up. You're doing a podcast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we started a podcast about two months ago and thanks
Speaker 1: to my colleague Chris Klug who's on with me, he
Speaker 1: came up. He said his wife had a big influence
Speaker 1: on the name. But the podcast is called Beyond the
Speaker 1: Boots and I love that name. Oh that's great. I
Speaker 1: love the name. Yeah. It's on Spotify, it's on Apple,
Speaker 1: Go check it out. It's about a nineteen twenty minute
Speaker 1: podcast where we talk very candidly about the VA healthcare benefits.
Speaker 1: The veterans can get why they should use VA. We've
Speaker 1: had some veterans on there. Is want to talk about
Speaker 1: their their stories and journeys, and so that's a great
Speaker 1: mechanis will be plugged in to any time. Well, and
Speaker 1: signing up for your VA benefits is critically important because
Speaker 1: it is healthcare. You know, you can have your own
Speaker 1: medical insurance or your employer, but this, you know, these
Speaker 1: are benefits, as I always like to point out, that
Speaker 1: you earned as a consequence of your service. And you
Speaker 1: know what you want it. You want to get hearing aids,
Speaker 1: you need glasses. There's a lot of things that you'll
Speaker 1: provide that insurance companies just aren't going to have a
Speaker 1: part of. Yeah, exactly, you know, hearing aids, eyeglasses, mental
Speaker 1: health care, prosthetics, there's some of those big, those big
Speaker 1: elements that do cost a private in the private sector,
Speaker 1: a lot of bit of money to do. Yeah, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know I run across veterans all the time who
Speaker 1: are spending thousands and thousands of dollars on these hearing aids,
Speaker 1: and we can give you the same ones, you know,
Speaker 1: for free. Uh and uh you know, come and get them.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just amazing to me. All right, say
Speaker 1: forty five will bring consul Edge back to talking about
Speaker 1: some other elements of the Cincinna via health care system
Speaker 1: and how they benefit you. Don't go away, be right
Speaker 1: back fifty five KRC. Get ready for spring and have
Speaker 1: your room forty eight fifty five care see de Talks DA.
Speaker 1: A happy Monday to you, Todd Sledge since AVA in studio.
Speaker 1: God bless you, Todd Sledge. I truly truly appreciate the
Speaker 1: gesture getting that challenge coin from this since a VA
Speaker 1: that means a world to me. And uh and one
Speaker 1: more time, because you you mentioned the podcast. You mentioned
Speaker 1: the name of the podcast, but off air you said,
Speaker 1: I mean it took off right away. You got great numbers.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of veterans you're listening to it. So
Speaker 1: I just wanted to emphasize that because if the veteran's
Speaker 1: out there. I didn't even know there's a podcast. We'll
Speaker 1: apparently join in the fun, right, Yeah, exactly. It's marketed
Speaker 1: and stated on our Facebook page as well as our
Speaker 1: website called Beyond the Boots. You can find it if
Speaker 1: you know, if you're on Spotify, Apple, different YouTube as well.
Speaker 1: And it just took off on as soon as we
Speaker 1: started doing it, and a lot of good feedback from veterans.
Speaker 1: They like the shortness, the candidness of it. And I'm
Speaker 1: very fortunate to have my colleague Chris from my office
Speaker 1: who is a veteran combat veteran as well, pride of
Speaker 1: a perspective that you know that I can't from from
Speaker 1: non military service, but from the VA side. It's a
Speaker 1: good combination. That's great. I'm glad you're doing that now.
Speaker 1: I understand you. Also the since AVA hosts virtual town
Speaker 1: hall meetings, how often is this done? And we kind
Speaker 1: of topics you talk about. Yeah, So what we do
Speaker 1: is we the virtual platform allows us that we have
Speaker 1: to call out to target it veterans, and the amount
Speaker 1: that we're able to do that is about we can
Speaker 1: reach twenty thousand veterans through this telecommunication approach. That we have.
Speaker 1: So we might, for example, and we do it quarterly,
Speaker 1: so it's every three months. We might target a population
Speaker 1: that says, okay, who's been newly enrolled within the last
Speaker 1: three years to the Cincinnati VA and we can specifically
Speaker 1: reach out to that group. They get a robo call
Speaker 1: that tells them that this this town hall is going
Speaker 1: to happen the day before. Then they get another call
Speaker 1: about two minutes before the actual town hall happens. Then
Speaker 1: they're brought on into you know, like a teleconferencing system
Speaker 1: where my boss, the director, other subject matter experts are
Speaker 1: their Plus, there are screeners on the back that allows
Speaker 1: veterans to ask questions that we can scroll and go
Speaker 1: through and see, you know, if there's a general question
Speaker 1: we can take live to the entire group. We do that,
Speaker 1: but we don't take personal health information. And we average
Speaker 1: out of that twenty thousand, we average over about three
Speaker 1: thousand that stay on for that twenty five minute town hall.
Speaker 1: Oh that's great. He's been an amazing reach and good feedback.
Speaker 1: And those that have questions that we don't get to
Speaker 1: our Patient Advocate office, who I mentioned earlier, they follow
Speaker 1: up with these folks. If it's about I couldn't get
Speaker 1: a dermatology appointment, or I'm lost about what happens with this,
Speaker 1: or my claim I'm having trouble getting a response on
Speaker 1: my claim. We follow up with those approaches and make
Speaker 1: sure everybody gets an answer back. Oh, that's wonderful. I'm
Speaker 1: glad to hear that's been so successful as well. Now
Speaker 1: you mentioned that one of the great things you do
Speaker 1: provide in because veterans are sort of cut from a
Speaker 1: different chunk of fabric as the rest of the society
Speaker 1: that did not serve in terms of mental health benefits.
Speaker 1: I know, most insurance plans, at least as I've come
Speaker 1: to understand, have very limited like you get ten yep,
Speaker 1: and that's it. Is there any limitation on mental health
Speaker 1: services at the VA for the veterans, Yeah, there is not.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, there is not any limitation on the mental
Speaker 1: health services. I mean, whether it's a bounce back and
Speaker 1: forth between residential, impatient outpatient one on one medications groups,
Speaker 1: whatever you might need. There's no cap on. You know, Hey,
Speaker 1: you've gone through this program twice and you can't do
Speaker 1: it any further. Sometimes, you know, given the challenges with
Speaker 1: what our veterans deal with They may need to go
Speaker 1: through some of our processes multiple times and that's okay,
Speaker 1: and it's no detriment or negativity to them. This what
Speaker 1: have we got to do to get you where you
Speaker 1: need to get to exactly? You know, at least you're
Speaker 1: not doing Freudian therapy that takes like ten years on
Speaker 1: the couch and talking about your childhood and right, yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely. Now is there any telehealth through that since Ava, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there is. We do all kinds of telehealth. We do
Speaker 1: telehealth mental health as well. Oh that's great. Yeah, mental health, dermatology,
Speaker 1: nutrition and food service, weight loss man which meant whole health.
Speaker 1: So the veterans have a whole gamut of well, especially
Speaker 1: a lot of our younger veterans love it where they're like,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, I can go out to my car
Speaker 1: or a private area at lunch or on a break
Speaker 1: and I can see my therapist or I can see
Speaker 1: my doc, or I can see who I need to
Speaker 1: to get that exposer, so you don't have to come
Speaker 1: to the VA and do that. We have a lot
Speaker 1: of veterans that like to Brian. They like to come
Speaker 1: down there and they like to get the hospitality that
Speaker 1: goes on in the camaraderie. But we do offer a
Speaker 1: lot of telehealth. Yeah, camaraderie is a critical thing for
Speaker 1: the veterans especially, I think, as I've come to learn
Speaker 1: from from some some other organizations Patriots Landing for example,
Speaker 1: in northern Kentucky. Those guys, you know, need each other
Speaker 1: and they really benefit from being together. Absolutely, so I
Speaker 1: understand that component well. But I also understand the ease
Speaker 1: and convenience of telehealth and the idea that you can
Speaker 1: just sort of leave the room and sit in your
Speaker 1: car with a zoom screen and you know, talk with
Speaker 1: your therapist. You mentioned dermatology telehealth, like you just show
Speaker 1: a picture of your pretty much arm with the with
Speaker 1: the whatever is going on there? Can you tell me
Speaker 1: what this is? Doc? Yeah, pretty much. You know some
Speaker 1: things that they can do, you know, through a screen
Speaker 1: without having to do some type of physical exam that
Speaker 1: you know usually that's usually a follow up. You know,
Speaker 1: somebody came in and saw a specialist and you know,
Speaker 1: it's follow up to how things are going. So that way,
Speaker 1: you know, time and convenience of that person that veterans
Speaker 1: time to be able to get seen in a timely
Speaker 1: manner really does help with telehealth, all right, So it's
Speaker 1: easy to get your VA benefits d D two fourteen
Speaker 1: discharge papers. Yeah, well, it's it's helpful, you know. That
Speaker 1: validates everything. It's not a necessity because we do have
Speaker 1: systems in place where we can check, you know, as
Speaker 1: the different records and different things that go on and
Speaker 1: validate stuff the way things are integrated. But it is
Speaker 1: helpful to have. It makes the eligibility process go go quick.
Speaker 1: And as as you helped me many times as well
Speaker 1: as I do. It's it's an easy call. Five one, three,
Speaker 1: four seven, five, six, four nine nine is that eligibility number,
Speaker 1: and our eligibility specialists are there to walk you through
Speaker 1: the process, help you understand what we need to do.
Speaker 1: I've went three four seven, five, six, four nine nine.
Speaker 1: You got the benefits, take a hold of them and
Speaker 1: enjoy all the wonderful services the Cincinnati VA is offering.
Speaker 1: And it just keeps getting better. It's awesome. You and
Speaker 1: I have been talking for years and you have You
Speaker 1: have accomplished so many goals and you have made things
Speaker 1: so much better for the American veteran over the years.
Speaker 1: You're always in a process of trying to make things
Speaker 1: better and I truly appreciate it on behalf of my
Speaker 1: veteran listeners. Well, thank you buy it. We couldn't do
Speaker 1: it without you. It's a good partnership. It's just wonderful
Speaker 1: being a position to be able to do this and
Speaker 1: have this conversation. Todd s Ledge, God bless you and
Speaker 1: thanks again for the challenge. Coin Man, I certainly will
Speaker 1: cherish it. Scott Wortman from The Enquivers On earlier seven
Speaker 1: oh five, he took over for Sharon Coolidge, talked about
Speaker 1: what he's going to be reporting on and some of
Speaker 1: the more significant topics that are going on right here
Speaker 1: in the city Sincinnati. Christopher Smithman with a smith event
Speaker 1: Monday Monday with Brian James, and of course this conversation
Speaker 1: all on the podcast page fifty five cares dot com.
Speaker 1: Thank you Sean McMahon for covering four. Joe Strecker, I'll
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow, folks. Tune in tomorrow the Bright Bart
Speaker 1: Inside Scoop, the Daniel Davis Deep Dive, among other things.
Speaker 1: Got some great guests lined up, so that'll be tomorrow, folks.
Speaker 1: I hope you have a wonderful day. Stick around because
Speaker 1: Glenn Back is coming right up