Abstract
VA Hospitals across the nation provide in and out-patient care, including emergency care. Yet, in Guam and its 24,000 veterans, there is only one community VA center: the VA Guam Community-Based Out-Patient Clinic (CBOC). It offers limited care including one primary care doctor, two mental health providers, and no emergency care. In response, Guamanian veterans have sought and advocated for alternative sources of healthcare and disability representation. Guamanian veterans have responded by directly filling these gaps in service by creating NGOs centered around veterans’ health, sports, and community. I derive gaps in care from the popular euphemism “they fell through the gaps,” and I define it as failures of a medical institution to address the needs of their patients. These veteran-community-based NGOs are changing veterans’ health in Guam and their relationship with the VA. Through ethnography and participant observation, this project aims to explore the ways that Guamanian veterans create novel forms of care to fill in the gaps in the care they experience from the VA.
Presenters
Nathan TiltonStudent, Anthropology , University of California, Berkeley-San Francisco , United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Physiology, Kinesiology and Psychology of Wellness in its Social Context
KEYWORDS
Disability, Critical Disability, Anthropology, Disability Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, Guam, Veteran
