Advancing a healthier wisconsin endowment awards seed grant to two va projects | va milwaukee health care | veterans affairs

Two projects led by Milwaukee VA doctors were awarded seed grants from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment. These projects focus on improving health and advancing health equity for

Veterans. “Compensated Work Therapy Core Career Training in Veterans with Disabilities: A Feasibility Study” is a 12-month project led by Dr. Beverly Maier, the program manager for

Vocational Rehab Services at the Milwaukee VA. The project aims to provide support to Veterans with disabilities who experience challenges in daily life that can impact their employment and

access to medical care. “The culture of the military is different from that of larger civilian life and civilians may not know how best to assist Veterans. People around Veterans may not

know how to best help them in the workplace or in everyday life. Meanwhile, Veterans experience disconnection with family and lack support after returning to civilian life,” Maier said. AHW

awarded $40,844 to the project which will introduce a Core Career Training group to engage recently unemployed Veterans with disabilities, providing them with vocational rehabilitation

support from rehabilitation counselors. The training will use a positive psychology approach and help to build job confidence that is expected to contribute to employment sustainability for

Veterans with disabilities. “Employment is an excellent community reintegration. To assist and include people with disabilities in the community, such as rejoining the workforce, is the

primary goal of rehabilitation. Participation in the workforce improves quality of life, including self-esteem,” Maier said. The proposed psychoeducation group provided by rehabilitation

counselors aims to train Veterans in how they handle negative feelings, how much they control what happens, how valuable they feel about themselves, and how confident they are at work.

Participants will be recruited in the coming months. After the research project, there will be a job fair for Veterans and their spouses. “Mentor Matching for Veterans with Post-Traumatic

Stress Disorder” is a 12-month project led by Dr. Zeno Franco, a staff psychologist with the Milwaukee VA. The project focuses on providing support for Veterans with post-traumatic stress

disorder to create successful outcomes. AHW awarded $50,000 to the project which will create an automatic mentor matching system using quantitative and qualitative factors. With algorithmic

approaches, researchers will identify suitable mentor-mentee matches, creating a personalized and effective mentorship experience for Veterans. AHW’s Seed Grants support the pursuit of

innovative strategies designed to lay the groundwork for longer-term efforts to address Wisconsin’s leading health challenges. The funding is for 12-month projects beginning in January 2024.

Grant applications were peer reviewed before approval by the Medical College of Wisconsin Consortium on Public and Community Health, the AHW Research and Education Advisory Committee, and

the MCW Board of Trustees—AHW’s three oversight bodies.