VVA Chapter PI 887

1. SPECIAL VA MANILA OPC UPDATES:

I would like to thank everyone for their understanding and patience during the last several months. It has been a difficult time for everyone across the United States, here in the Philippines, and around the world as we have had to quickly adapt and learn how to co-exist with the COVID19 pandemic.

As the Clinic Manager, my number one priority is how can we ensure that the VA Manila is as safe as it possibly can be for our Veterans and our dedicated employees before we could consider resuming face to face operations. I think we have reached a point where we can look at slowly and deliberately accomplish this at the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic.

In my last update on July 5, I had mentioned that VA Manila had hoped to resume some in person appointments by July 27, 2020. Unfortunately, we will not be able to do this next week.

For all scheduled specialty care appointments, the week of July 27 will need to be cancelled and rescheduled. Veterans impacted by a cancellation should receive a phone call from their Primary Care Team scheduler to reschedule the cancelled appointment.Veterans with Primary Care or Mental Health Appointments between July 27 and July 31, 2020, your appointment will be transitioned to a telephone clinic appointment. Your provider should contact you during your regularly scheduled time and will conduct your appointment by phone.

Limited in-person Outpatient Clinic appointments will resume for specialty care appointments only on August 3, 2020. This includes the following clinical appointments: Audiology, Cardiology, Dermatology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Pulmonology, Renal/Nephrology, and Rheumatology.

Veterans should expect to receive an appointment reminder call between 5-7 days before to confirm their scheduled appointment. Veterans should not travel to the Clinic for appointments if they have any signs or symptoms of COVID19. Also, if a Veteran’s municipality or barangay is under a lockdown status, please follow the guidance of your local government officials and do not travel to the Outpatient Clinic. Enhanced screening requirements will be put into effect for all Visitors entering VA Manila.

If you do not feel well, please stay home and monitor your health status. Scheduled Primary Care and Mental Health Appointments will continue to be provided by telephone appointments until September 7, 2020. Veterans with a scheduled appointment with their PC or MH provider should also expect a reminder call to confirm a good contact number ahead of their scheduled appointment.

But it is not necessary to travel to the Clinic for these Primary Care or Mental Health Appointments in August. We will try to resume some face-to-face routine primary care and mental health appointments after September 7, 2020 (subject to COVID19 conditions in the Philippines).VA Manila will not permit unscheduled or walk-in appointments at the Outpatient Clinic during the month of August. Veterans MUST have a scheduled appointment to be allowed entry into the Outpatient Clinic.

This will ensure that staff from the Outpatient Clinic have contacted the Veteran before their appointment and provided a telephone health screening, and a second screening will be conducted by nursing staff upon the Veteran’s arrival at the Outpatient Clinic. We will be keeping our numbers of daily Veteran visitors to around 40% of our average pre-COVID levels for the month of August.

New Clinic Policies will be put into place ahead of the Clinic’s reopening to the public, including: no children allowed in the Clinic, only 1 companion/spouse per Veteran and only if the Veteran requires mobility assistance or help communicating with their provider, staggering appointment times and limiting how soon Veterans can arrive for their appointments. Companions and spouses of Veterans will be asked to wait outside of the Clinic if the Veteran does not need assistance.

This will help to ensure sufficient seating in our waiting areas, which due to physical distancing requirements has been greatly reduced. We will share additional details on these new operational policies in a follow up message next week. To ensure the safety and health of all employees, visitors, and Veterans, mandatory face mask use will be enforced while Veterans and visitors are at the VA Manila Outpatient Clinic. VA Manila will also continue to require a health screening prior to Veterans entering the VA building.

Your cooperation and adherence with these new policies will be expected and is appreciated.By focusing exclusively on Specialty Care Appointments for the month of August, this allows the Outpatient Clinic to see those Veterans who must travel to the Clinic for their appointments, while we can continue to provide telephone based care for Veterans with routine annual physicals or who need follow up with their mental health providers. We are also taking your safety seriously, and by seeing a fewer number of Veterans each day, we can reduce potential spreading of COVID19 amongst the Veteran community.

2. VA MANILA PHARMACY UPDATES:

The VA Manila Pharmacy continues to dispense needed medication refills and new medications ordered for Veterans during their telephone appointments. Both courier services used by the Pharmacy to deliver medications (Air21 and LBC) have resumed most of their operations within the Philippines, although some delays are still being noted, mostly for medication shipments to the most rural parts of the Philippines, or to individual islands in the Visayas or Mindanao.

Most Veterans within Luzon should have their medications delivered within 3 days of shipment from the Outpatient Clinic.One important thing to note, there are still restrictions on the shipment of perishable items within the Philippines – which includes many refrigerated medications like insulin and other injectable medications. Due to these restrictions, VA Manila cannot ship these medications to Veterans in the Philippines at this time.

We encourage Veterans who take these medications to purchase needed prescriptions from a community pharmacy, and seek reimbursement from the Foreign Medical Program if these are medications used for service-connected conditions. As soon as we are able, we will begin shipping these medications to Veterans.Veterans needing to request refills are asked to continue to use MyHealtheVet or the VA Manila Automated Pharmacy Refill Line (#MyVA,

Option 8), for Pharmacy to process their medications. VA Manila also now has received our supply of Southern Hemisphere 2020 Flu Season Vaccine. This vaccine is not for COVID, but for the standard, seasonal influenza virus. Here in the Philippines, the Flu Season traditionally runs the opposite of the United States, with the highest rates of influenza cases occurring between June and November. If you will be traveling to the Clinic for an appointment, be sure to ask your team nurse about receiving the annual flu shot.

We are not able to accommodate walk-in appointments just to receive the flu shot at this time, and unfortunately, will likely not be traveling to outreach events in the Philippines this year where we have often provided flu vaccines in Angeles, Olongapo, or Baguio. We strongly recommend all Veterans in the Philippines during the rainy season consider receiving the flu vaccine, and if you will not be traveling to the Outpatient Clinic, to receive it from a community provider.

3. VA MANILA REGIONAL OFFICE UPDATES:

The Regional Office will be available to aid Veterans and other beneficiaries via telephone starting July 27, 2020 on a limited basis between 9:00 am and 12:00 noon. Veterans may contact the Regional Office by dialing: +63-02-8550-3888, Option 1, or by dialing #MyVA (#6982) from any mobile or landline phone in the Philippines.

The Regional Office remains closed to in-person visitors at this time. Veterans should not travel to the Regional Office for assistance. Face-to-face interactions are still not available at this time. For inquiries and submissions, your options are the following:MAIL: Department of Veterans Affairs Claim Intake Center PO Box 4444 Janesville, WI 53547-4444Online Question Submission via IRIS: https://iris.custhelp.va.gov/app/askFAX: +1 (844)531-7818 or 02-8550-3947For information on VA benefits and forms, you may visit the following:VA Website: http://www.va.govVA Forms: https://www.va.gov/vaforms/default.aspOnline VA Federal Benefits Handbook:https://www.va.gov/opa/publications/benefits_book.asp4,

UPCOMING HOLIDAYS:

The U.S. Embassy, along with the VA Manila Regional Office and Outpatient Clinic, will be closed in recognition of the following public holidays:PH Eid al-AdhaFriday, July 31, 2020PH Ninoy Aquino DayFriday, August 21, 2020PH National Heroes DayMonday, August 31, 2020US Labor DayMonday, September 7, 2020

NOTE:

Plan ahead and order your refills 10 workdays in advance of holiday closures. Air21 is also closed on these holidays so medications will be delayed if you fail to request refills 10 days in advance. If you run out of medications for a service-connected condition, you can buy the medicine from a community pharmacy and file a claim for reimbursement from the FMP.In Closing:As VA Manila begins to slowly resume limited operations, I need to ask for your assistance and cooperation.

There will be some changes to how we interact with you, how you interact with us, and how you are able to access care under the ‘new normal’ for the next few months. I ask for each and every persons’ help in making sure we are fully compliant with the CDC and Philippine Department of Health recommendations – including wearing a mask, frequently washing your hands or using an alcohol-based sanitizer, and maintaining physical distance.

Please also be truthful in completing screening questions, disclosing contacts with COVID positive individuals, complying with restrictions in your local areas, and above all else, if you don’t feel well, please postpone your appointment. We are going to have our staff doing everything possible to stay COVID free – but just one case amongst our staff could require us to again temporarily suspend our in-person operations.

We are going to do everything we can to avoid that. As always, if you need any assistance, please email your primary care team in MyHealtheVet, or you are welcome to contact me directly: daniel.gutkoski2@va.gov.Wishing you continued good health and safety.

Your VA Manila Team———————————–Daniel Gutkoski, MHAClinic Manager, VA Outpatient ClinicManila, Republic of the PhilippinesEmail: daniel.gutkoski2@va.govOffice: +63 (2) 8-396-3735 **New**US Dial: +1 (808) 433-5254 x3735