Announce New Collaboration to Serve Veterans
6/2/2020, Winchester, VA - New efforts are underway to connect military veterans and their families with community resources. United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley (UWNSV) announced a partnership with ServingTogether, a program of EveryMind, to expand assistance to military families. The partnership is driven by UWNSV’s Valley Assistance Network (VAN), which leads the Connect NSV Network – a coordinated referral system.
“This partnership allows us to expand coordinated care for our community’s active duty service members, veterans, and military connected families, while allowing ServingTogether to do what they do best – serving those who served,” said Jennifer Hall, Director of Community Engagement at United Way NSV. “Service members in the Winchester area now have a direct link to dozens of partners in the Washington DC area as well as state and national nonprofits who specialize in serving the military community,” Hall said.
VAN uses technology to guide families to the most appropriate services and resources available. If a network partners identifies a veteran family that needs resources beyond what is available in our community, VAN can refer into ServingTogether’s network. That network covers 95 organizations in the National Capital Region and includes Coordinated Networks of Providers across the United States as part of the AmericaServes program by IVMF. Similar to VAN, ServingTogether utilizes Peer Navigators to connect families to a continuum of providers including mental health, housing, emergency services, employment, recreation, and much more.
Connect NSV and ServingTogether are powered by Unite Us, a technology company that builds coordinated care networks of health and human service providers to address the social determinants of health. The software seamlessly connects community members to services while allowing service providers to communicate in real time about their shared clients' care and track outcomes together. VAN serves as the Coordination Center for Connect NSV, which now includes more than 20 community partners. The Connect NSV Network launched in July 2019 and is a partnership between Valley Health, George Mason University, and United Way NSV.
Veterans who are seeking assistance can self-refer into the network through United Way’s website - https://www.unitedwaynsv.org/van-get-help or call Valley Assistance Network at (540) 773-3178.
About Connect NSV - Connect NSV is a coordinated referral network of social service partners that seamlessly connects community members to services while allowing service providers to communicate in real time about their shared clients' care and track outcomes together. All community members entering the network are given the SBIRT Screening for substance use intervention. SAMHSA has estimated that, by 2020, mental and substance use disorders will surpass all physical diseases as a major cause of disability. George Mason University, Valley Health and United Way Northern Shenandoah Valley recognized the need to collaborate, break down silos and build a system to address the region’s growing needs. With Unite Us, providers across sectors can send and receive secure referrals, track every person’s total health journey, and report on tangible outcomes across a full range of services in a centralized, cohesive, and collaborative ecosystem. This social infrastructure helps communities transform their ability to track outcomes, improve health, and measure impact at scale.
ServingTogether - ServingTogether, EveryMind’s commitment to veterans, service members and their families, is a coordinated system of care that brings together a robust network of health and human service providers to address the diverse needs of the National Capital Region’s military community. Designed to ultimately improve mental and physical health, employment, education, housing and other outcomes for our military-connected community, ServingTogether is transforming the way in which services are coordinated and strengthening the ability to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of our veterans, service members and their families, www.servingtogetherproject.org