VA, specifically Truman VA, is much more than you think!

As director of Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital, or Truman VA as we call it, I have the privilege of leading a health care system specifically for Veterans, right in the center of our state. Our main facility is a 126-bed hospital centrally located in Columbia, Missouri. However, we also have eight community-based outpatient clinics that are in Jefferson City, Kirksville, Marshfield, Mexico, Osage Beach, St. James, Sedalia and Waynesville.

Our three main priorities as part of VA are to provide health care services to our Veterans, assist in the education of future health care professionals and conduct health-related research. As such, this unique three-pronged approach makes us an academic health care system.

But what does that mean and why is it important?

From a health system standpoint, Truman VA offers a full continuum of inpatient and outpatient health services to Veterans from 43 counties in Missouri, as well as Pike County, Illinois. Approximately 40,000 Veterans receive health care at Truman VA each year through comprehensive services that include primary care, medical and surgical specialties, behavioral health, physical and occupational therapy, pharmacy services and more. As a referral center, Truman VA also provides cardiovascular care to include open heart surgery. Additionally, Truman VA provides more than 400,000 outpatient clinic appointments for Veterans annually.

In terms of employment, Truman VA has more than 1,600 full-time staff – placing us among Columbia’s six largest employers. The American Hospital Association estimates that each hospital job supports approximately two more jobs, and each dollar spent by hospitals yields approximately $2.30 in total economic activity. That means that Truman VA is responsible for more than 3,200 community jobs, and economically, because our health system spent more than $320 million last year, we produced a community benefit of over $750 million.

Patients and employees are top priorities, but education and research also are strategic initiatives. As many of you are probably aware, Columbia is a diverse community and is regarded for its world-class health services and educational facilities. The University of Missouri, Stephens College and Columbia College all are respected institutions of higher learning. Additionally, Columbia has significant health care resources that include a Level I trauma center, central Missouri’s only dedicated burn center and an air ambulance service.

However, what you may not be aware of, is that more than 70 percent of all U.S. physicians have received training through the VA. Truman VA is proud to affiliate not only with the MU School of Medicine, but also the MU Sinclair School of Nursing and the MU School of Health Professions by providing training opportunities for approximately 900 students each year.

In addition to providing excellent health care and medical education, Truman VA also has a nationally known research department, with a core mission of improving the lives of Veterans and all Americans through health care discovery and innovation. For more than 90 years, VA-funded research investigators have been engaged in significant breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer and heart disease, developing new diagnostic tools such as computerized tomography – or CT scans – and receiving international acclaim through Nobel Prize awards.

Other significant historical VA achievements include the first implantable cardiac pacemaker, first successful liver transplant, development of the thermal nicotine patch and care for post-traumatic stress disorder. The VA also launched the Million Veteran Program to establish one of the world's largest databases of health and genetic information. This project will be used for future research aimed at preventing and treating illness among not only Veterans, but all Americans.

If you believe that VA research does not impact the lives of everyday Americans, just remember the next time you hear about a doctor telling someone to take an aspirin each day for their heart, or you see a barcode used for medication tracking and disbursement, or someone you know receives a shingles vaccination — these examples also are the result of VA research.

And this brings me to new developments within VA.

As medicine continues to advance, so must we as its leaders. As part of that advancement, VA is committed to modernizing the way we care for our Veterans. I see modernization as a continual cycle between infrastructure, equipment and services. Modernization enables us to perform at a level that is higher than we could previously. And a key element of VA modernization is to continuously innovate so that Veterans have the best in leading-edge care and services.

Some of our most recent modernization efforts to our facilities include the opening of our new intensive care and surgical inpatient units. These new units increased not only the number of beds and rooms available to our Veterans, but also brought them up to beyond the industry standard. Both feature private rooms equipped with leading-edge vital sign monitors for automatic patient data entry. They also provide more space to accommodate our Veterans’ family members. Additionally, every room has a patient lift system for access to the main room and the bathroom. This also protects staff, ensuring their ability to safely handle patients and prevent injuries to themselves.

Our imaging center was modernized a few years ago, giving us the ability to provide services such as CT, ultrasound, and MRI to our Veterans in-house. We’re also in the process of expanding our ambulatory care addition for outpatient specialty care – with the placement of the last beam of the exterior structure just two weeks ago.

One future construction project that we have not started yet, but I feel is very important is our upcoming Fisher House. Truman VA recently was named by the Fisher House Foundation as a recipient of one of their facilities. Fisher Houses are to VA health centers what Ronald McDonald Houses are to Children’s Hospitals – they are “a home away from home” for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers. Although we are still in the planning and fundraising phases, we intend for the house to be built on our Columbia campus, so that families will have a place of comfort and respite close to their loved ones as they receive care at our facility.

In terms of patient services, VA is focused on caring for the Veteran’s Whole Health. Whole Health is a way for Veterans to take charge of their health and well-being. That means providing for the Veterans’ mind, body and spirit. At Truman VA we have constructed a new Patient Education Center, where we provide our Veterans with peer support through programs that include yoga, healthy cooking, music therapy and diabetes management.

In terms of research, Truman VA investigators are involved in the development of radiotherapeutic treatments for prostate and breast cancers. These treatments will utilize conventional chemotherapy to enhance targeted radiotherapy for better outcomes with fewer side effects. 

And finally, we continue to partner with our educational peers on future health delivery systems. MU is in the process of proposing a precision medicine complex for the development of medicines and cures that produce better health results with fewer side effects. Precision medicine also may be used to help patients repair and re-grow tissue that the body cannot fix on its own. When a patient is treated with their own cells, there is no risk of rejection by the immune system, and there's no need to be on a wait-list until a matched donor can be found.

MU’s proposed complex certainly is a project of the future, but one that we plan to be a part of should it come to fruition.

I should mention in closing that I’m not only the director of Truman VA, but I am also a patient. As a United States Marine Corps Veteran, I choose VA because I want the best health care available. So, I have a vested interest in seeing to it that we meet the expectations of every Veteran. This is a very exciting time to be a part of VA, and we at Truman VA promise to do our part through our commitment to caring for our Veterans.

David Isaacks, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran and Medical Center Director at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in Columbia, Missouri.