WHAT: In observance of Women Veterans Recognition Day, VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS) will host three events Friday, June 12 at the Alvin C. York VA Medical Center and Chattanooga VA Clinic. The events are free and designed to honor and celebrate the contributions and sacrifices of women Veterans. The resource fair, hosted by the TVHS Women Veterans Program, will feature opening remarks from TVHS leadership and offer a range of offerings dedicated exclusively to

John Robinson loses sleep over missed phone calls. As Patient Advocate at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, he fields hundreds of calls from veterans who are frustrated, angry, lost in a system that’s supposed to serve them. When he tells someone he’ll call them back by the end of the day and doesn’t make it, it eats at him. The next morning, the first thing he does is call them back and apologize. Most veterans tell him: John, I know I’m not the only one you’re dealing

A veteran reaches a VA Health Connect clinical triage nurse by phone. For rural veterans across the TVHS service area, that call is often the first step toward care they cannot easily reach in person. (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) The call comes in from somewhere past the county line, from a veteran whose chest has been tight since morning. He doesn’t want to go to the hospital. He doesn’t have a car, the nearest emergency room is 40 minutes down a two-lane road, and

Summary John Robinson, a patient advocate at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, transforms what it means to represent veterans navigating the VA system. From 26 years in the Navy to his current role fielding hundreds of calls from frustrated veterans, Robinson operates on one principle: if I give you my word, it’s all I have. Walking through VA halls in lime green suits and hot pink ties, he’s built something that can’t be measured in titles. When veterans don’t know wher

Summary Dr. Andrew Neck, Section Chief of Emergency Medicine at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, and Dr. Brett Cohen, board-certified emergency medicine physician, launched Tele-Emergency Care in January 2025 to eliminate the barriers that keep rural veterans from accessing urgent medical attention. Dr. Cohen built the program’s custom application from scratch, creating a system that connects veterans with emergency physicians through video consultations within minutes

Summary Hannah McDuffie, Chief of Public Affairs for VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, turned a childhood shaped by Hurricane Katrina into a lifelong mission of connection. Leading a team of nine public affairs, outreach and creative specialists across three states serving more than 146,000 veterans, she built trust one conversation at a time. Whether walking into homeless encampments in the cold of night or organizing presidential visits, her message stays the same: com

Summary Dr. John Nadeau, Chief of Staff at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, brings four decades of clinical experience and Marine Corps values to transform VA health care. After deploying twice to Iraq as a Marine battalion surgeon, he joined TVHS full-time in 2008 on a mission to ensure returning veterans receive the care they earned. Under his leadership, TVHS evolved from a one-star to five-star facility with the highest primary care quality measures in the entire VA

Summary After 34 years in uniform and a decade leading VA health care, Daniel L. Dücker knows that excellence isn’t about avoiding problems—it’s about recognizing opportunities. As Executive Director of VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, he’s transforming one of the nation’s largest VA medical centers by putting staff first, veterans always, and proving that the best leadership happens shoulder to shoulder with the people doing the work. Daniel L. Dücker doesn’t talk abou

Summary Kelly Drumright and Dr. Matthew Mart are leading VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System’s reimplementation of the ABCDEF ICU Liberation Bundle, transforming critical care by replacing deep sedation and immobility with wakefulness, early mobility, and family engagement. After achieving the nation’s highest performance in 2015-2017, the program collapsed during COVID-19 – and they’re rebuilding it to be indestructible. This time, they’re hardwiring the bundle into hospit

Summary Stacey Parsons, Veteran Justice Outreach specialist at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, transforms justice-involved veterans’ lives through the largest Veterans Treatment Court in Tennessee. Meeting veterans in jails, courtrooms, and crisis, she guides them through year-long programs that require sobriety, accountability, and sustained support — watching as denial turns to insight, anger transforms into mentorship, and burned bridges begin to rebuild. Her approa

Summary Rory Thompson, Chief of Veteran Experience at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS), transforms a journey marked by four suicide attempts, three divorces, and nine years of unacknowledged Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD into a mission to save veteran lives. The Marine Corps veteran and son of a pastor uses his story as fuel, leading veteran satisfaction initiatives that have helped TVHS achieve 93% trust ratings and five-star status. His philosophy: PTSD do

Summary Traci Boswell, Acting Program Manager for Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, leads a team that’s eliminating one of the biggest barriers to mental health care: stigma. By embedding mental health providers directly within primary care teams, PCMHI offers same-day consultations, crisis intervention, and brief therapy right in the familiar setting of a veteran’s regular doctor’s office. With over 22 years as a nurse p

Summary Dr. Ledetra Bridges, Program Manager of the Caregiver Support Program at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, brings personal experience and professional expertise to leading a program that serves the often-invisible heroes in veterans’ lives: their caregivers. With a doctorate in public health from Jackson State University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in social work, she has dedicated her career to helping others after witnessing her mother care for her gran

Summary Dr. Elizabeth Burke, Chief of Quality and Patient Safety at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, transforms her grandfather’s warning to never work at VA into a decades-long mission to make veteran care so excellent that families choose it first. Leading more than 100 process improvement projects in fiscal year 2025 alone, she helped elevate TVHS to a five-star rated health care facility from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Services. Her philosophy: qual

Summary Dr. La-Kenya Rushing’s story is one of service, resilience, and heart. From long nights during the pandemic to leading thousands of nurses across VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, she continues to ask the question that changes everything: What matters most? Dr. La-Kenya Rushing remembers the vaccine that almost went to waste. It was somewhere around 9 p.m., months into the pandemic, and she’d been at work since 6 a.m. Again. Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Ca

Summary At VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Dr. Kristina Gill, Dr. Christina Creech, Dr. Rebecca Cripps, and Dr. Traci Dutton lead pharmacy residency programs that have graduated more than 150 residents since 1991. They train six to eight Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) and six to eight Postgraduate Year 2 (PGY2) residents each year. In 2020, their PGY1 program was recognized as Residency of the Year by the Tennessee Pharmacist Association. Their advice: “Be a sponge.” Their

Summary At VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS), Amanda Docktor and Dr. Kanah Lewallen lead nurse residency programs that have become the gold standard for preparing new nurses and nurse practitioners to serve veterans. In fact, VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System is the only VA medical center to offer all four of VA’s post-graduate residency programs , a rare feat among VA’s health care system. Through its Registered Nurse Transition to Practice (RNTTP) program and

Summary Lynn Daugherty, Women’s Health Program Manager at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, brings over 30 years of nursing experience and a trauma-informed approach to leading one of the fastest-growing women’s veteran populations in the VA system. After spending her career in perinatal services and nursing leadership in the private sector, she joined TVHS two years ago to oversee comprehensive care for 16,613 enrolled women veterans. Under her leadership, the program h

Summary LaKeisha Brooks, Connected Care Program Manager at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, transforms a simple observation from her time as a nurse on duty into a digital access revolution. Through Veteran Health Resource Center tables, Telehealth Access Point sites, and a philosophy that “if you can use Amazon, you can do this,” she’s eliminating barriers for rural veterans across three states. Her mission: make virtual care so easy that all you have to do is roll ove

Summary Retired Air Force Colonel Dr. Bridget Brozyna transforms her 30 years of military leadership, including critical combat care in Afghanistan, into a relentless mission: developing the next generation of VA health care leaders. As Interim Deputy Executive Director at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, she champions servant leadership through mentorship, driving a 30% reduction in patient falls, near-zero infection rates, and a 93% veteran trust rating across two lev