“Closing out National Military Appreciation Month is Memorial Day weekend, and things look quite different than years past.”
“With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly in sight, the Department of Veterans Affairs is opening up cemeteries nationwide for commemoration of this weekend.”
“And for those who can’t make it in person, there’s the Veterans Legacy Memorial, the VA’s digital tribute platform that gives families of veterans additional ways to honor those interred in national cemeteries via commemorative online profiles.”
“’It’s the first of its kind in the federal government and something that we’re very proud of,’ said National Cemetery Administration Acting Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Ron Walters in a recent GovCast episode. ‘Each veteran has a dedicated web page and a recent update to the system now allows for the uploading of photos and documents, biographies and other similar types of materials. The content is reviewed by NCA moderators to ensure it’s appropriate, of course, and honors a veteran’s legacy.'”
“Technology has shown and is continuing to show great impact in the veterans community overall, especially over the past year.”
“’The VA really did step up their ability to see folks in their homes when they could, and I think that was very convenient for a multitude of reasons,’ said Scott Hope, deputy national service director for training at Disabled American Veterans (DAV). ‘I think that there’s a lot of skepticism from health administrators that really want that in-person experience, and what the pandemic did was show that even though we kind of sometimes prefer that, we really can do a lot of this stuff right from your computer or telephone.'”
“This includes successful processing of increased veteran benefits, virtual capabilities like telehealth and more…”
“Telehealth has especially impacted this community and VA at large. But VA’s tech momentum really began with its ongoing EHR modernization — and the pandemic has amplified the opportunities for technology overall.”
“’It is making a lot of members of Congress more aware of what technology is being used at the Department of Veterans Affairs and starting to think about, well, if we can do that, we can do this,’ said Justin Brown, CEO of The Nimitz Group and Founder of HillVets. ‘And for me that’s always been the fun of technology. How can we push the needle to make things better with tech and get lift that we’re not going to get with just a brick-and-mortar, human-oriented structure…'” Read the full article here.
Source: Veteran Community Reflects on Tech Impact of Pandemic, Memorialization – By Amy Kluber, May 28, 2021. GovernmentCIO.
