Latest / Brian Thomas / KRC Cares Cincinnati VA -- 2/9/26

Transcript

KRC Cares Cincinnati VA -- 2/9/26 · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: One more time for the Channel nine weather look forward Tomorrow.
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  Speaker 2: Chuck Ingram from the UCL Tramphing Center at the UC
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  Speaker 2: seventy five slow approaching the bridge. Chuck Ingram on fifty
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  Speaker 2: five KR see the talk station.
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  Speaker 3: Hey forty two if you have KR s the talk
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  Speaker 3: station at the Monday. This time for KRC cares and
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  Speaker 3: we do care, especially when it comes to the American veteran.
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  Speaker 3: I'm pleased to have back in the fifty five CARC
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  Speaker 3: Morning show studio, Chris Klube from the Cincinnati VA talk
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  Speaker 3: about some major things going over the VA. Chris, always
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  Speaker 3: good to see you, Mana. Thanks what you're doing for
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  Speaker 3: the American veteran each and every day at the since
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  Speaker 3: a VA.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, and thank you for having me here.
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  Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: And you're always on the march to improve services at
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  Speaker 1: the VA.
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  Speaker 4: We are, We're always on.
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  Speaker 5: Uh, We're always trying to renovate, trying to update things,
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  Speaker 5: make them, you know, as modern as possible. And then
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  Speaker 5: we have a lot of things going on. It's Sincinnativa
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  Speaker 5: right now to improve care for veterans.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about those renovations. I mean, what I
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  Speaker 1: guess I have to observe just in my I mean,
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  Speaker 1: this is my twentieth year in radio, just since I've
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  Speaker 1: been on radio. The changes that have gone on to
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  Speaker 1: the VA are dramatic. I mean, from getting appointment scheduled
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  Speaker 1: and honoring them and you know, greasing the skids make
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  Speaker 1: things easier for veterans, the opportunity. It's just all improvements.
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  Speaker 1: I have seen nothing but a steady onward march or
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  Speaker 1: improve services and I applaud you and your efforts there
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  Speaker 1: for doing that.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we're trying our best to get veterans the care
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  Speaker 5: they need and help serve them the best way we can.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: We just keep renovating and making things more modern Cincinnatia
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  Speaker 5: and it's great. Like, for example, we have a reconfiguration
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  Speaker 5: of our primary care coming up, and if you evolve,
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  Speaker 5: that involves we took a corner of the first floor
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  Speaker 5: of the VIA roughly twenty thousand square feet and made
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  Speaker 5: it the most modern primary care suite possible for our veterans.
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  Speaker 5: And that's wrapping up in the spring of this year,
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  Speaker 5: so April May timeframe, that will open up and we'll
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  Speaker 5: have a brand new, modern, state of the art, twenty
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  Speaker 5: thousand square foot primary care facility for our veterans to
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  Speaker 5: come to.
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  Speaker 1: Well that's great. What type of things are right are
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  Speaker 1: the veterans going to see? I mean, the differences between
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  Speaker 1: what they've been used to in this new facility.
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  Speaker 5: Well, just picture you go to a primary care office
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  Speaker 5: at a local hospital. It's going to be that plus better.
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  Speaker 5: You're gonna be able to come in, pick your provider,
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  Speaker 5: get with your team, and with the new EHR records.
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  Speaker 5: We're going to be able to see all of your records.
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  Speaker 5: The doctor is going to go over them with you
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  Speaker 5: and whatever tests you need, whatever you need, there's no wait.
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  Speaker 5: If you come into primary care and something's wrong, they
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  Speaker 5: can schedule an appointment that day and get you some
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  Speaker 5: to whatever service it is.
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  Speaker 4: Service it is that you need. Oh that's great. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned the electronic health records in our conversation
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  Speaker 1: off air before we started, Chris, you said, quite often
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  Speaker 1: it's the health record that is an impediment to a
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  Speaker 1: veteran even signing up for VA benefits.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's one of the impediments anything that a veteran
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  Speaker 5: has to do, Like a veteran that may have been
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  Speaker 5: out for ten years may no longer have those health
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  Speaker 5: records and they may not want to search them down.
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  Speaker 5: So when we do get this new electronic health record,
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  Speaker 5: all those files from the DoD will be switched over
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  Speaker 5: into the new EHR, so we'll have all the files
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  Speaker 5: at that point.
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  Speaker 1: That'll make it a whole lot easier. All right, Well,
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  Speaker 1: so what else is going on over there in terms
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  Speaker 1: of renovations and changes at the since any VA Chris.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're currently expanding our emergency department as well,
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  Speaker 5: which is a big deal, and that's going to be
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  Speaker 5: expanding by two thousand feet. So we're gonna be able
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  Speaker 5: to serve more veterans with more offerings. If you come
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  Speaker 5: in with an emergency, they're going to be able to
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  Speaker 5: take care of you faster, with better equipment and more staffing.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that all sounds good. I would think the emergency
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  Speaker 1: area would be one area that would be a well
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  Speaker 1: oiled machine to start with. I mean we're talking murgencies, you.
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  Speaker 5: Know, so we're expanding it and making it even better
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  Speaker 5: than it already is.
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  Speaker 1: Well, sounds to me like more and more veterans are
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  Speaker 1: using this sincientti VA. I mean, if you had an
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  Speaker 1: increased number of veterans, clearly you must increase space and
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  Speaker 1: provide the and provide the necessary space and accommodations for
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  Speaker 1: emergency or for this new clinic area. Has the number
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  Speaker 1: of veterans increase, Yeah, the number of veterans has definitely
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  Speaker 1: gone up. I've been with the VA for about five
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  Speaker 1: years now, and we sat around forty two to forty
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  Speaker 1: four thousand veterans for about three years, and now in
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  Speaker 1: the last year, more and more veterans are finding out
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  Speaker 1: about the care we offer. Uh, and we're right around
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  Speaker 1: fifty thousand veterans using the Cincinnati VA right now. That's good,
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  Speaker 1: and that number should increase.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we're expecting it to get up to you know,
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  Speaker 5: sixty thousand in the next five years or so.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, let's talk about the importance of veterans
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  Speaker 1: getting their VA healthcare. I always like to point out
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  Speaker 1: that you earned it, craft something to some limitations. I
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  Speaker 1: realized there are caveats too. You know, you earned it,
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and sign up for it. That is not
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  Speaker 1: a one hundred percent, you know, black letter rule. But
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  Speaker 1: for the vast majority of the veterans out there, they
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  Speaker 1: did earn this. They didn't take as much a paycheck
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  Speaker 1: because the guaranteed health care benefits for the rest of
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  Speaker 1: their life. Why wouldn't they sign up? And what's the
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  Speaker 1: importance of Mike, for example, the under fifty veterans getting enrolled.
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  Speaker 1: The importance for So I'll give a personal story about this.
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  Speaker 1: So I have healthcare.
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  Speaker 5: I went and I had a condition, and I went
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  Speaker 5: to go get some antibiotics from just what do you
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  Speaker 5: call those like a outpatient clinic on the street or whatever,
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  Speaker 5: and they said, okay, well we need to get you
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  Speaker 5: an MRI.
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  Speaker 4: First said, okay, I went next door to get the MRI.
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  Speaker 5: They wanted a four hundred dollars CO payment for that MRI,
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  Speaker 5: and I said, oh, well, I'll just go down to
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  Speaker 5: the VA and get it for free, which I was
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  Speaker 5: able to do, send them them information.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, everything was clear.
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  Speaker 5: So it's better to get in younger because it gives
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  Speaker 5: you options that way, and it also before you retire.
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  Speaker 5: If you retire, you run out of insurance and then
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  Speaker 5: an emergency comes up, it may take some time to
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  Speaker 5: get you enrolled into that care.
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  Speaker 4: So it's smarter to get enrolled early. Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: That way, when an emergency does pop up, your family's
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  Speaker 5: not struggling to find care for you. You just you're
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  Speaker 5: already in the system. You're with us and we can
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  Speaker 5: serve you well in time and time. Again, that's one
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  Speaker 5: of the things that I have heard. Veterans won't sign
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  Speaker 5: up for the vacare because, like, I don't need it.
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  Speaker 5: I've got insurance through my work. But as you point out,
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  Speaker 5: just having insurance through work doesn't mean that you're rid
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  Speaker 5: of the pesky copage, deductibles and all that kind of thing.
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  Speaker 5: You can get an MRI at the VA and it
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  Speaker 5: doesn't cost you anything. That's a that's a benefit that
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  Speaker 5: works along with the insurance you got through your employer.
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  Speaker 4: Correct, Yes, so yeah, I have private insurance. I use both.
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  Speaker 5: It's a great option to have to be able to
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  Speaker 5: choose where you want your Karen who's going to offer
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  Speaker 5: you the best service. Would take dermatology, for example, I
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  Speaker 5: tried to make a dermatology appointment on the outside. They
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  Speaker 5: said it would be six months, seven months before I
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  Speaker 5: could get a dermatology appointment.
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  Speaker 4: So I scheduled one with a VA. I had one
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  Speaker 4: within a week.
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  Speaker 1: That is amazing. That's funny you bring up dermatology because
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  Speaker 1: I've joked many times because dermatologists are in such high demand.
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  Speaker 1: You're right, it will be six plus months before you
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  Speaker 1: can even get your foot in the door. And so
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  Speaker 1: I have a standing appointment with my dermatologist because you know,
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  Speaker 1: my dad had a lot of things out in the sunlight,
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  Speaker 1: you know, pasting Northern European genetic descent, we burn easily
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  Speaker 1: and we are just red flags for cancer. So I
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  Speaker 1: recommend people getting an early appointment. So benefit of the VA.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have to wait for something like that. I
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  Speaker 1: guess I'm also curious about mental health. I know it's
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  Speaker 1: becoming more and more acceptable. People aren't, you know, don't
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  Speaker 1: look like it is a stigma to receive mental health services.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, we struggle with veterans dealing with post traumatic stress.
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  Speaker 1: That's one thing veterans struggle with. Life outside of the
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  Speaker 1: military is quite often in and of itself a struggle.
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  Speaker 1: Are veterans accessing mental health care more frequently and more
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  Speaker 1: regularly now than seeing years past.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, they are.
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  Speaker 5: I don't know the numbers on that, but they definitely
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  Speaker 5: are because they're realizing that the VA has the mental
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  Speaker 5: health care experts for this type of trauma for veterans.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, for veterans, it's veteran focused.
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  Speaker 5: I know, our staff in the VA goes out and
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  Speaker 5: gives lectures to people that are not in the VA
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  Speaker 5: system so they can help outside providers deal with veteran
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  Speaker 5: situations trade veteran cases. Yes, exactly, Well that makes sense.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, you have specialists for children, you have for veterans, Yes,
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  Speaker 5: and our mental health is the top notch. I've heard very,
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  Speaker 5: very positive comments from my veteran friends who acknowledge that
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  Speaker 5: they have received mental health s. Yeah, and with a
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  Speaker 5: compact act, you know, if you don't want to see us,
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  Speaker 5: apply for the compact act and then you can see
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  Speaker 5: a provider on the outside if you don't want to
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  Speaker 5: use the VA.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that part up. Do you have
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  Speaker 1: telehealth for veterans and mental health services?
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  Speaker 5: Yes, we do have telehealth services as well, So if
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  Speaker 5: you don't want to go to the you know, Norwood
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  Speaker 5: or Clifton to see a provider, we can definitely do
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: telehealth and I think a majority of our patients I
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: would say probably fifty to fifty do telehealth.
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  Speaker 1: That's wildly popular. Yes, yeah, you can see that. You
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  Speaker 1: can talk to the same mental health provider each and
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  Speaker 1: every time, each and every time, like this cosmic, random
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  Speaker 1: spin of the wheel.
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  Speaker 4: As to who you're going to be, it's your doctor.
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  Speaker 5: You may go in and meet him for the first time,
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  Speaker 5: decide if you like him and he's the doctor for you,
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  Speaker 5: and then uh yeah, go about your process.
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  Speaker 1: All the reasons in the world for veterans to get
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  Speaker 1: their VA benefits sign up for a D two fourteen
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  Speaker 1: discharge pretty much all they need. They can work with
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  Speaker 1: their local Veteran Service Commission to get through the process
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 4: Make sure can.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, Hamilton, Claremont, Butler County, they're all great service commission.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, they are really Greasy's kids for you to get
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  Speaker 1: that benefits any upcoming events you want to let my
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  Speaker 1: veteran listeners know about there, Chris Klue.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, we have the Veteran Health Expo coming up on
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  Speaker 5: February eighteenth from noon to two pm at the Sharonville
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  Speaker 5: Convention Center. Like you just mentioned, those Veteran Service officers
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  Speaker 5: we're going to have, those commissions will be out there.
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  Speaker 5: The VA will be out there with about ten different services,
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  Speaker 5: different VA, not VA, Different veteran care providers will be
• 10:47
  Speaker 5: out there that do different things. DAV all those types
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  Speaker 5: of places will be there. So if anybody has questions
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  Speaker 5: about any type of service veteran related on February eighteenth
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  Speaker 5: at the Sharonville Convention Center, we'll be there to be
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: to answer all your questions.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the other thing that I've learned over the years,
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of additional perks you get from being
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: in the VIA healthcare system. Hearing age is one that
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: always ends up popping up here. They could be really
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: expensive yew glasses. Glasses.
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  Speaker 5: Glasses are free if you qualify for via I Care.
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  Speaker 5: If I mean, if you qualify five for the VA
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  Speaker 5: and you need glasses, you'll get a free pair every
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: single year. And we just expanded our via I center.
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  Speaker 5: It's now twenty thousand square foot facilities, so it's state
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  Speaker 5: of the art.
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  Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Do you do wellness programs too to keep
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  Speaker 1: veterans healthy.
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  Speaker 4: We do.
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  Speaker 5: We have a whole health program at the Cincinnati VIA
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  Speaker 5: and that's all they focus on. We have a whole
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: team that is focused on your goals. So if you
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: come in and say, I want to lose weight, or
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: I want to be able to run again, to play
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: with my grandchildren, whatever the need is, they will take
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: that and they'll design a program around you to help
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  Speaker 5: you meet your goals that individualized, not individualized, and you
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: can go just go to the sense A website, go
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: to our program's page, look up whole health and you'll
• 12:03
  Speaker 5: find all the information you need right there.
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  Speaker 1: That is fantastic. Yeah, I can't believe that one flew
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: underneath my radar for all this time. You think, talk
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: more about that next week. Anything else. Loorking behind the scenes,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: you want to let my listeners in the veteran community
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: know about.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, two more things. We just opened up a new
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  Speaker 5: Hamilton seaboch Or outpatient location and that's at seventy two
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  Speaker 5: fifteen Gateway Avenue in Hamilton, Ohio. And it's a brand new,
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: not on a strip ball anymore, standalone, state of the
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: art outpatient clinic. So if you live out towards Hamilton,
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: don't want to come down the Cincinnati, you know, check
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: out your local outpatient clinic. And more more to come
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: on that, Yeah, more to come. We actually have one
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: in Claremont opening up in the spring, so we're looking
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: forward to that one. It's almost wrapped up with construction
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: that's over kind of by TQL and the new Children's
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: outpatient clinic over there.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: So I'll be opening up in the spring. Great, and
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: I imagine Moore will open up. How do you determine
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: where the need is? I mean, how did you end
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: up in those particular locations.
• 13:03
  Speaker 5: There's a team that comes in and looks at all
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: the numbers that's above.
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  Speaker 4: My head's at your pay grade.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's good too, because that doesn't sound like
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: something that would fun to be in terms of number
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Crunching Chris Clue from the since AVA let me thank
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: you on behalf of all the listeners who've gotten great
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: service at the since Anna VA, all my veteran friends
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: out there and of course their families benefiting from what
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: you're doing each and every day. I truly appreciate it.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: And then the Veterans Health Expo is a eighteenth febeenteenth.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: And if you have any questions or want to enroll
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: in the CINCINNATIVS, Yes, yes, give us a call at
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: five one three four seven, five six four nine nine.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Four seven five six four nine nine veterans sign up.
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  Speaker 1: They'll take great care of you. Eight fifty five. Chris,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: keep up the great work, my friend. We'll talk again
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: real soon. I'm certain, folks if didn't get a chance
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: to listen early in the program, Christopher Smithman of course
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: an a tear every Monday with the smith Vent podcast.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: If fIF you've got caresee dot com, a conversation with
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Brian James, and of course this conversation with Chris Clue.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: You'll find the podcast page. Tune in tomorrow for the
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Inside Scoop, Bright Bart News and the Daniel Davis Deep Dive.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Thank you Sean McMahon for covering for the vacationing Joe Strecker.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I imagine Joe'll be back tomorrow. I guess I'll see
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you on Thursday. Right, Shawn's covering for Joe on Thursday
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: as well. Have a great day, folks, put a smile
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: on your face, and don't go awake. Glenbeck's next Today's
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  Speaker 1: Top Headlines coming up at the top of the hour.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Everything can change in a moment's notice. On fifty five KRC,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the talk station