An Assessment of the Health Needs of Maine Veterans and Their Access to Veterans Health Administration Health Care Services

This Capstone is a research project to assess the current health needs of veterans in the state of Maine and their access to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care services. On a national level, since the beginning of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts (Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), respectively), the inadequacy of the VHA to meet the health needs of these veterans has been widely publicized. The VHA system is being stressed at unprecedented levels by a substantial increase in the number of new veterans returning home with physical and mental wounds from multiple deployments, the increasing prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the dramatic increase in the suicide rate among U.S. soldiers. On a state level, only a few assessments have been conducted, which indicate that Maine veterans are also experiencing similar mental and physical health issues; however, it does not appear that the adequacy of Maine’s VHA services to meet the need