TULSA, Okla. — There are roughly 30,000 women veterans in the State of Oklahoma, but healthcare for our women veterans is vastly different than it is for men. So dozens of organizations came together Friday to highlight programs for women veterans.
“We’re all veterans who served however women sometimes have very special and unique medical and health needs,” said Women’s Veteran Coordinator Lisa Mussett.
As the number of women going into the armed forces rises, the need for specialized care does as well.
“Women are the fasting growing demographic group within veterans and women are also the fastest growing demographic group in the military. And so it’s projected about 18 thousand women veterans separate from the military every year,” Mussett said.
Veteran Nadine Lewis spent 26 years in the Coast Guard and tells me being a woman in a male-dominated career is hard. It’s hard to find the specific women’s care she needs and being comfortable enough to ask for that care.
“When I first came to the Oklahoma City VA, it was predominantly male and it was overrun. There was a lot of us who felt uncomfortable even walking in the doors because of where the men sat,” Lewis said.
Another veteran, Roberta Mims said at times, it’s even hard for women to identify themselves as veterans. Whether that be from societal stigma or from others downplaying a woman’s role in the armed forces. And that denial, she said can lead to women veterans not seeking the healthcare they need.
“I am a person, I am an individual, I am a woman who put on a service uniform, and I did it faithfully until the end of my service contract and I should be recognized for that,” Mims said.
And whether that care looks like a service dog, Lewis has, or just a community of people who will listen and care. Organizers said healthcare for women veterans is lifesaving and every veteran should be able to get the care they need, for sacrificing so much.
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