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Domiciliary continues health care for veterans By PAUL FATTIG WHITE CITY - The main mission at the Department of Veterans Affairs Domiciliary continues to be caring for veterans, says its new chief operating officer. But Max McIntosh, named to the position late last month, says that means giving as many veterans as possible the means to increase their independence. "The thrust is to provide access to care at the right place, at the right time, at the right cost for as many veterans as we can," McIntosh said. "What we are doing is increasing our focus on the rehabilitation of veterans, and putting them in the least restrictive environment they can effectively live with." In addition to giving the veterans more autonomy, it will also reduce the cost to taxpayers, he said. "We did keep people here a lot longer in general than we do now," he acknowledged. "It's our sense that individuals have an enriched life in an alternative form such as community adult housing or home health." McIntosh, the facility's acting chief operating officer since February, replaces George Andries, who retired after 32 years with the agency early this year to take a job with the California Department of Veterans Affairs. The Domiciliary, the largest in the federal DVA not connected to a hospital, has a capacity for about 820 patients. There are now about 560 veterans living as patients at the facility. A year ago, there were nearly 800. The facility is now serving more than 7,000 outpatients. Built in the early 1940s as an Army base known as Camp White, the facility has more than 300 employees and several hundred volunteers. The Domiciliary is one of three DVA facilities in Oregon, including a secondary care facility in Roseburg and the large regional hospital in Portland. The Domiciliary receives patients from Portland and Roseburg to be rehabilitated. Before arriving at the Domiciliary, McIntosh was the chief operating officer at the DVA's Roseburg healthcare facility for nearly five years. He has been with the department for 28 years, working at its medical facilities in Florida and Southern California. He has a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from the University of Kansas and a master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University. Noting that his father served in the Army during World War II, McIntosh indicated he has an affinity for veterans. "But things have changed considerably from what they were a few years ago," he said. "At one point, this was more of a longer-term patient facility. What we have done over the last decade is to shorten the patient days and bring on new programs so patients are more challenged day to day. "We are doing what we can to help reintegrate them into the community," he said. Last month, the Domiciliary staff launched a program to increase support for outpatient veterans, he said. "That will help them transition back into the community," he said. Several clinics also have been created, such as a chronic pain clinic and a diabetes clinic, he said. "We find that veterans tend to like group educational clinics," he said. In 1995, the DVA worked with Rogue Community College to open a campus at the facility. The campus is used both by veterans and the staff. Eagle Point High School also has an alternative school at the Domiciliary. "Our challenge is to provide a good benefit package of health care across geographic barriers," McIntosh said of the DVA's mission. "That's why we have developed so many community-based outreach programs. "The other part of our challenge is to provide continuing care and rehabilitation for our older veterans as larger and larger numbers become more and more brittle," he added. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.