Female Veterans Forum on July 28th in DC

Registration opens for female veterans forum

Registration opened today for a Veterans Affairs Department forum on meeting the needs of female veterans.

The forum, planned for July 28 at the Women’s Memorial in Arlington, Va., will showcase resources available for female vets.

“The VA forum will bring advocates for women veterans together to learn about VA services and to share valuable information with each other,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in an announcement about the forum. “The forum will also give veterans’ advocates the tools they need to help build women veterans networks and communities throughout VA.”

The medical community has recognized that female veterans’ needs often differ from men’s. Female war veterans are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, possibly because the rates of military women who have been sexually assaulted are higher than the civilian and male populations.

Women also face different challenges when they come home to their families and slip back into roles as caretakers, even as they try to reintegrate. And in the past, VA clinics did not specialize in annual exams or child-care services for female veterans, making those clinics impractical for women.

But as more women join the ranks — there are 1.8 million female veterans now — VA has worked to make health care for them more accessible.

The forum will take place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with morning presentations and an afternoon information marketplace.

The forum is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and reservations may be made by e-mail at [email protected] (zero zero W) until July 16 — or until seats fill up. For more information, call (202) 461-6193.