Amid concerns about blast exposure, VA launches new outreach campaign to enroll Veterans in health care

[Tony]

WASHINGTON —Today, VA is launching a new outreach campaign to encourage all eligible Veterans to enroll in VA health care – including approximately 1 million unenrolled Veterans who served in Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This campaign will include text messages and emails directly to Veterans, public service announcements, paid advertising, and events.

VA is launching this campaign after reports of concerns from Veterans about health issues – including mental health challenges and thoughts of suicide – potentially related to repeated blasts and head trauma (low-level artillery blasts, IEDs, missile launches, heavy fire, and more). Since the first reporting about these concerns, VA researchers have been urgently studying this matter to learn more about the potential health impacts of blast exposure on Veterans.