TeachAids and VA Palo Alto Health Care System Kick Off Partnership
TeachAids is proud to announce a partnership with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s (VAPAHCS) Headache Center of Excellence. Together they will develop high quality Veteran education materials and utilize cutting-edge technology to enhance Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and headache care.
This partnership will leverage an interactive learning experience focused on the prevention and treatment of concussions for our upcoming CrashCourse Concussion Story Wall product. The technology will enhance Veteran education by building and customizing health materials to improve understanding of symptoms following a brain injury. This will be accomplished by the design of an interactive video story wall in which Veterans share their personal narratives with the hope of helping others better understand and empathize with their own military injury experiences and care.
“By utilizing the power of shared experiences, the CrashCourse Concussion Story Wall will be instrumental in helping our Veterans better understand challenges of their own head injuries and recovery process”, says Dr. Odette Harris, Deputy Chief of Staff, Rehabilitation, Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System, and Advisor to TeachAids.
The CrashCourse Concussion Story Wall will include nearly 4,000 individual stories relating to how an injury occurred, the symptoms experienced and personal suggestions from those who have been injured. It is intended as a comprehensive resource for the many who are impacted, including military Veterans and their loved ones, athletes among others.
“We are proud to have collaborated with TeachAids by helping to provide the voices of our service men and women,” says Dr. Molly Timmerman, Physician, Polytrauma Network Site, VA Palo Alto Health Care System. “This program is a platform that allows service members to share and learn from others about living with the sequelae of TBI. Getting these stories out there decreases stigma, provides information, and hope for recovery.”
The VAPAHCS Headache Center of Excellence is aligned with the Polytrauma Network Site in Palo Alto, providing non-pharmacological services to Veterans with refractory headaches who sustained a TBI. Located within VA’s throughout the U.S., the centers offer health education, interdisciplinary rehabilitation, neurostimulation, medical procedures, complementary and alternative medicine, lifestyle and behavioral Interventions.
“It has been a pleasure working with the outstanding leadership in the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System”, says Dr. Piya Sorcar, Founder and CEO of TeachAids. “Their investment in producing the highest quality education to serve our Veterans has been inspiring.”
About the VA Palo Alto Health Care System
VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS) is part of VA Sierra Pacific Network (VISN 21), which serves Veterans in northern and central California, Nevada, Hawaii, the Philippines, and U.S. Territories in the Pacific Basin. VAPAHCS consists of three inpatient facilities located at Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Livermore, in addition to seven Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in San Jose, Capitola, Monterey, Stockton, Modesto, Sonora, and Fremont; as well as two residential homes for Veterans in the Compensated Work Therapy program. VAPAHCS operates over 800 beds, including three nursing homes and a 100-bed homeless domiciliary – all to serve more than 67,000 enrolled Veterans.
VAPAHCS operates one of the largest integrated health care systems in VA in terms of specialized programs, research and graduate medical education; primarily affiliated with Stanford University School of Medicine. Comprehensive health care is provided through primary, tertiary and long-term care in areas of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, dentistry, geriatrics and extended care.
For more information about the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s Polytrauma Network Site, visit www.polytrauma.va.gov/facilities/palo_alto.asp.