The Boise VA Medical Center plans to open a new women's clinic building at the end of March, with a primary care physician and better accommodations for women patients.
The clinic will be on the VA hospital campus at its Mountain Cove Road site near the main hospital, said Nancy Daniels, the women veterans program manager.
Female patients are now seen in a women's clinic area in the main hospital site at 500 W. Fort St. in Downtown Boise. The new clinic will have more exam space, more private waiting areas for women and a full-time designated primary doctor, Daniels said.
"Our satisfaction rates are really good, and women are excited to have this option," Daniels said.
The VA has been making an effort to improve women's health care in VA hospitals and make visits more comfortable for them, said Daniels, adding that more women are returning to the Treasure Valley from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.
More than 2,000 women veterans are enrolled as patients at the Boise VA Medical Center. Daniels said "those numbers are going up and will continue to go up."
Women veterans won't be required to see the primary doctor at the women's clinic, Daniels said. They can also continue to see doctors throughout the hospital.
The Boise VA Medical Center's services for women include gynecology, breast exams and mammograms, reproductive health care, menopause treatment, mental health services and substance abuse treatment.
Nationally, the VA created a Women Veterans Health Program in 1988 to improve medical and psychosocial care for women veterans. At the time, 4.4 percent of veterans were women. Now, an estimated 8 percent are women, the VA says.
The VA wants to have primary care for women veterans at every VA hospital.
Women also can have different health concerns from male veterans. Some common diagnoses for women veterans are post-traumatic stress disorder, hypertension and depression, and women are about 20 times more likely to say they experienced sexual trauma during their military service, according to the VA.
Audrey Dutton: 377-6448
