Veterans and Healthcare

00:00 One of the best quotes I've ever seen is "Their freedom is not free." And I think sometimes we forget about that. Right? We all enjoy the freedom and privileges that we have and I have heard people talk about veterans saying that they feel entitled.

00:21 Well, my humble opinion is that they are entitled because it takes a very brave and courageous person to go out and sacrifice so much so that we can all enjoy the privileges that we enjoy.

00:34 So we do need to keep that in the forefront of our minds their freedom is not free and that should inspire us to be more open to the experiences of veterans, military personnel, and also the families of veterans especially from a healthcare perspective.

00:50 So I'm going to use these VA mission and values to talk about or highlight or emphasize some of the ethical values or virtues that I've talked about in some previous segments.

01:03 So, the mission is to fulfill President Lincoln's promise, "To care for him who shall have born the battle and for his widow and his orphan by serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans." So, when we talk about approaching healthcare no matter what your discipline is, we need to think about that "Honor the men and women who are America's veterans." And that doesn't have, it doesn't label anything. Right? All it talks about is veterans, and some of those core values are integrity which you've heard me mentioned before in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, work commitment.

01:41 Being committed to that care and equitable care. Right? We're still talking in the realm of that. You've heard me mentioned the word advocacy because we do have to do that for each other regardless to what environment or arena we're in, but it's so important when we talk about advocating for any vulnerable population.

02:00 And while I say that word vulnerable, I want to say that sometimes people are like "Oh, vulnerable is offensive." It's not, it's a reality.

02:08 So anybody that's sick especially if you're really sick, you're in a vulnerable state.

02:13 Children are often in vulnerable states.

02:17 Older adults are in vulnerable states.

02:19 People who live with disabilities are often in vulnerable states.

02:23 Does that mean you're weak? No, absolutely not.

02:25 It means that we may need to advocate for people those of us who are not in a vulnerable position.

02:32 Advocate for the health and safety of people who are in a vulnerable state.

02:37 When I'm a patient in a hospital, I'm vulnerable.

02:39 So just thinking about all those ways that that is applicable in a lot of situations.

02:45 So I have had agreed to disagree and have had conversations with people about that and I stick to that.

02:52 Then respect is another one of those virtues.

02:55 You've heard me mentioned that and then we talked about excellence.

02:59 Well inclusive excellence in this excellence applies to providing excellent care and that means inclusive excellence.

03:07 And when you put those values together is the "I care" statement.

03:10 So that's very very important that we think about that when we're caring for veterans, active military personnel, and for their families.