Excellence In Healthcare

VA Careers regularly profiles employees in an effort to show job seekers a different side of VA from their perspective. The goal is to recruit top health care talent by sharing the stories of dedicated professionals who make a difference in the lives of Veterans every day.

Eva is a VA employee who speaks with passion about her career, her work with Veterans, and her admiration for her colleagues at VA. This is the first of three parts of Eva’s story.

When Eva Dickinson became the Network Weight Management (MOVE!) Program Coordinator for VA Health Care Network Upstate NY in 2009, she was a Veteran and experienced health care provider with insight into the unique needs of military service members. A clinical dietitian trained in the prestigious Air Force Dietetic Internship Program, she received her commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force and served as Chief, Clinical Dietetics at Eglin Hospital (Eglin Air Force Base, FL) before separating from active duty to join her husband, an active duty naval aviator.

As the VISN 2 MOVE! Coordinator, Eva works to implement and manage weight management programs in VA facilities and community based outpatient clinics across the upstate New York area. In her role, she provides support to local, facility-based MOVE! Coordinators—troubleshooting when they run into roadblocks, and using VA’s national network to find resources when necessary.

Early in her career at VA, Eva and her team partnered with VA’s national MOVE! program office to implement a telephone-based weight management program in VISN 2—a pilot so successful that it has since been implemented at VA facilities across the country. She looks to that project as a living definition of the I CARE values.

“The value of Excellence resonates,” Eva says. “Because not only did this provide comprehensive, high-quality weight management care, but we did so in a way that was convenient and easily accessible for Veterans. With this program, no matter where they were, our Veterans had access to high quality weight management support. It set a precedent.”

Eva’s commitment to high quality care is evident in all aspects of her work, and even in her dedication to experiencing VA as a patient.

Check back next week to read more of Eva’s story, and how being a VA patient contributed to her professional development at VA.