With fewer daylight hours and the potential for bad weather, there are even more reasons to add telehealth and virtual resources as options for your VA care.

Here are a few ways that you can use VA’s telehealth tools to manage your VA health care this winter.

TeleMental Health appointments using VA Video Connect

With VA Video Connect, Veterans can meet with VA providers through secure video calls using a smartphone, tablet or computer with an internet connection. You can utilize VA Video Connect to participate in VA’s TeleMental Health program to help your mental well-being from the comfort and safety of your home.

Father and son discussing online information

Prioritize well-being with virtual care

Veterans can connect with a VA mental health provider through a computer or mobile device rather than driving to in-person appointments during winter days when darkness comes early or in regions where it is snowy.

Talk with your provider to see if VA Video Connect appointments are right for you. Visit the VA Video Connect webpage on the VA App Store to learn more.

VA App Store apps

The VA App Store offers a variety of virtual apps you can add to your mobile device or launch in a web browser so you can make your health a priority, even in the darker days of winter.

  • If Daylight Savings makes it harder for you to sleep, try the Insomnia Coach app. You can access tools like a guided training plan, a sleep diary, personal feedback about your sleep and techniques to help get your sleep back on track.
  • If you’re looking for ways to reduce stress or help with anxiety and depression, try the Mindfulness Coach app. Track your progress, customize reminders for yourself and access the 12 audio-guided mindfulness exercises to help your mental wellness.

Visit the VA App Store to view other offerings that can help you make your health a priority as the seasons change and the weather gets colder.

Prioritize your well-being this winter

Prioritize your well-being this winter by adding telehealth and virtual care options to your VA care plan. To learn more about VA’s telehealth offerings, visit the VA Telehealth Services website.

Topics in this story

Leave a comment

The comments section is for opinions and feedback on this particular article; this is not a customer support channel. If you are looking for assistance, please visit Ask VA or call 1-800-698-2411. Please, never put personally identifiable information (SSAN, address, phone number, etc.) or protected health information into the form — it will be deleted for your protection.

13 Comments

  1. Dennis Lopez January 28, 2023 at 15:57

    S.W. Cinic refuses to offer this service to me since 10/10/2021 . Refusing also to give me a covid test , an over the phone diagnoses , talk to my Doctor , go into the clinic because I sounded too sick . I complained 4 times to the veterans affairs and 1 time to the va police . They tell me that was a crime , but could not force them to go by the law , My job required what they refused to give me . I was listed as job abandonment , unemployment wants heavy fines and possible jail . Because SW Clinic refuses to go by your laws . The head of the SW clinic was mad at me and started blocking my calls to my new team of health care . She wanted me to go to jail and stop complaining about her staff . Refused to help get Doctors not , I said I would add her name to the next complaint . She was pissed . I called the patient advocate to complain , and Betty Rodgers sent him a email saying I cursed her and threatened her , both lie’s . My PTDS makes it hard for me to go to the clinic . Jail for me thank you va health care .

  2. Ronald A Stetzy January 26, 2023 at 01:11

    When you going to get Radiology Department back up running at Parma Va Outpatient? Or maybe a Mobile Unit for X rays?

  3. Edward Ross January 24, 2023 at 12:57

    Thank you for all the work that you do. I always get great service when I visit your facilities.

  4. William Amacher January 23, 2023 at 12:50

    Why isn’t with USAA seeming’s to be hiring people that just can’t be understood?

  5. Charles Knowlton January 23, 2023 at 08:33

    I think that this is a great idea depending on the scale of the problem and the safety of the individual.

  6. Pierce Bishop, PhD January 23, 2023 at 01:48

    I think this will be excellent for all Veterans and their families. I feel so relieved that I won’t be in an almost incessant state of Dissociation.

    I need to say , hopefully, one thing about my mental health status. When I received the call from a Psychiatrist who was listening to me just rambling on I’m sure she could tell my state of mind. Yet I couldn’t get an appointment with anyone until January 27. I’m having a difficult time and I thought she was going to be my Doctor and I just started rambling away. It is such a let down. Then, I spoke (the next day, I think) to a GI Doc. I made it clear about the Gastrointestinal distress I was in. I was scheduled for a test February 7 and then a follow up with her July 7,2023 at 3 or 3:30. All I want, and I recall, vaguely, telling her that I needed to be cleaned out so I wouldn’t feel bloated or distended. I suggested that maybe they could put me in the hospital like at West Hills where in the E.R I lost 30 pounds and when the UCLA team came to see me I left the hospital from 220 pounds down to my normal weight of 130 pound. I know that sounds disgusting but it is the truth. I never liked talking about pooping until I discovered it’s importance.

  7. Annette Hebert (spouse of a Vet) January 21, 2023 at 10:15

    We have fantastic medical services in our city ,the medical personel are compassinate ,knowledgeable ,I wish you could work with local doctors at centers everywhere. In order to prove to the VA my husband is unemployable we have to travel two different cities ,for some doctors that will spend in one case 45 minutes the other 90 minutes.You can never get to know or understand a person in that length of time ,I applaud you for setting up a site like this it makes it easier if the Veteran has internet and someone to help them get started.Thank you for putting Veterans first.

  8. Robert G Parker January 20, 2023 at 06:36

    I would like to thank you for implementing community care on behalf of veterans such as myself. In 2022 my kidneys failed me, and I required two-time sensitive surgery’s. Both procedures were completed successfully saving me from an untimely death. So instead of complaining about what I don’t have. I would like to thank the V. A. and every health care professional who participated in prolonging my time on earth. Thanks, from the bottom of my heart R Parker.

  9. PETER PAUL GARBACKI January 19, 2023 at 22:59

    NEED A FIB HELP TO REGULATE M7 HEART RATE. . I LEAVE COMMUNICATE FOR GUIDANCE WHEN IT DON T GO DOWN FOR HOURS ABOVE 138 TO 144 BEATS PER MINUTE. WILL SOME ONE PLEASE CALL ME. THANK YOU 82 YEAR OLD COLD WAR VETERAN.

    • Jeffrey Spehar January 23, 2023 at 19:15

      This isn’t the place to make appointments. Call your local va patient rep asap!

      • James Costin January 25, 2023 at 23:54

        Great innovation. However, until VA Patients are able to receive local Labs, followup appointments like mine wouldn’t have timely/appropriate info for my physician to access accurate condition/diagnoses. Guess tele visits are great for sniffles, but not for those of us w/high disability ratings.

  10. Diego W Carrillo January 19, 2023 at 22:07

    Love this idea….thank you!!

  11. Scott January 19, 2023 at 18:26

    Does this work for veterans overseas?

Comments are closed.

More Stories