VA Maryland Health Care System

Maryland Lieutenant Governor Tours the VA Maryland Health Care System

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Marylyn Solivan, Glen Burnie VA Outpatient Clinic nurse manager, gives Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown a flu shot during his visit to the Glen Burnie Outpatient Clinic.

October, 2008

Maryland Lt. Governor Anthony Brown visited the Baltimore VA Medical Center on October 6th to get a first hand look at the services offered to Maryland's veterans.  Brown, an Army Veteran who served in Iraq, was particularly interested in the services offered to returning veterans from Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Besides getting a full briefing about the VA Maryland Health Care System from top leadership, he also toured the Baltimore VA Medical Center to greet patients and staff, and to receive demonstrations of the VA's state-of-the-art technology.  While visiting the Mental Health Clinic, the Lt. Governor received a demonstration of the facility's new virtual reality exposure therapy system, which emits smells and sounds while allowing patients to navigate various Iraq based scenarios that they observe through a headset and goggles.  The new system is utilized by the medical center's Trauma Recovery Program for the treatment of patients with post traumatic stress disorder.

Brown also toured the medical center's outpatient surgery areas and the primary care clinic, where he received demonstrations of VA's Bar Code Medication Administration and Computerized Patient Record System.  Brown seemed to particularly enjoy his tour of the medical center's Radiology Reading Room of the Future, where he got to try the new radiology treadmill workstation.

In addition to his visit to the Baltimore VA Medical Center, the Lt. Governor also toured the Cambridge and Glen Burnie VA Outpatient Clinics, where he received information on how the VA Maryland Health Care System is serving veterans in their own communities.  During his visit to the Glen Burnie VA Outpatient Clinic, the staff made sure to have the Lt. Governor get his annual flu shot.

The Lt. Governor's visits were part of the State's initiative to partner with the VA to provide mental health services for returning veterans in rural communities.