Rotary Program - April 28, 2004

The guest speaker for the day was Dena Patton, manager of the Veterans Administration Clinic in Prestonsburg since 2001. Dena has her MSN degree from Bellarmine University. She has a background in emergency and critical care nursing, and has been involved with administrative duties for the past 21 years.

Dena says that working for the VA has been the best job she ever had because it gives her the opportunity to know the veterans. The clinic sees almost 5,000 different veterans as patients. They have three full-time primary care practitioners who are internal medicine boarded and one is double-boarded. They have optometry once a week, doing a lot of diabetic eye screening. Podiatry will be starting soon at the clinic once or twice a month. She described her clinic as "top rated" and provides a positive experience for 99% of the veterans who come through.

The clinic sees some new Iraq active duty veterans now in addition to WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans. While they serve almost all veterans, they focus on veterans who cannot afford care anywhere else, but it is not just for the poor. Dena works to make sure veterans get the benefits that are coming to them.

She reported that there are 26 million veterans alive and 3/4 of them served during wars. VA is taking care of a lot of people. And VA provides some services to spouses and children of veterans. The last descendant of a Revolution War veteran died in 1911. As of 2003, there were still six children of the Civil War veterans were receiving benefits. Her clinic has seen 167 Iraq veterans.

The Veterans Administration has 163 hospitals, 137 nursing homes and 73 comprehensive care facilities throughout the United States. VA manages the largest health care system in the United States.

Dena said she was proud to be providing services to America's veterans who gave of themselves that we all might know freedom. She emphasized that veterans still care about our country. She encouraged us to tell veterans to come to her clinic for the benefits they have earned.

Reported by Mickey Anders