Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Stand Downs are typically one- to three-day events providing supplies and services to Veterans, such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings and VA Social Security benefits counseling.

The Veterans Engineering Resource Center (VERC) and VA Office of Analytics and Business Intelligence invited CHERP’s Susan Zickmund, PhD to analyze their VA-wide survey of facilities that held Access to Care National Stand Down events in 2015. The 200-page After Action Review, written by Dr. Zickmund’ s team headed by Peter Taber, ABD, provided key recommendations and actionable items from the responses from 105 VA facilities.   Issues ranged from planning and coordination to staffing and publicity.  This important information from front-line staff will be used to improve the operations and effectiveness of future Stand Down initiatives and events. 

VA Access to Care National Stand Down

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is committed to providing timely access to Veterans as determined by their clinical needs. We strive for all Veterans to have safe, high-quality, personalized, and timely care wherever they receive their health services. Toward this end, VA medical centers across the country have participated in the National Access Stand Down. On a national scale, the access stand down is designed to reach out to Veterans identified as having the most urgent, acute needs to make sure they are seen either at the VA or in the local community as soon as possible.  Clinical leaders, administrators, and volunteers staffed every VA Medical Center across the nation to work on this initiative.

Stand Downs are typically one- to three-day events providing supplies and services to homeless Veterans, such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings and VA Social Security benefits counseling. Veterans can also receive referrals to other assistance such as health care, housing solutions, employment, substance use treatment and mental health counseling. They are collaborative events, coordinated between local VA Medical Centers, other government agencies and community-based homeless service providers.

VA facilities across the country organized about 100 stand down events in 2015.  To volunteer for or participate in an upcoming stand down in your area, contact your local VA.

The contents of this article and this website do not represent the views of the US government or the Department of Veterans Affairs.