Our History
 

Based on emerging evidence in medical studies, along with national and local news, providers of mental healthcare and social support services came together in 2014 to educate and inform our community about the unique circumstances of military service and their impacts on our quality of life. We agreed to work with regional healthcare providers to foster a greater understanding of the physical and mental health needs of veterans, service members, and their families.

 

Using a grant from Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, we developed and conducted surveys of veterans and military families living in the four counties of western Massachusetts. Two focus groups- one composed of veterans, the other of family members- were conducted by professional facilitators to clarify and prioritize the challenges these families encountered in getting care. The information we gathered on the unmet needs of military families when they reintegrate into the civilian community provided a baseline for recommendations to improve the delivery of care and services. From those responses, the Outreach Project developed the scope of its mission to educate community-based providers along with the veterans and military family members in order to improve the availability and quality of care and services rendered.

 

We have provided free educational seminars and webinars to civilian healthcare providers, and we facilitated collaboration between the VA Medical Center in Northampton and community service agencies from Greenfield to Springfield. Our advocacy has joined these providers with state legislators to foster improved resource allocation and organizational efficiency. Long-term initiatives based on the skills of local community experts have begun to design a more systematic, inter-agency cooperation for these veterans and family members.