VA Portland Health Care System

03/12/2026

On Tuesday, March 17, 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. join us at the VA Portland Health Care System for our March Blood Drive!

Address: 3710 SW US Veterans Hospital Road., Portland, OR 97239, in the Auditorium

Please call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter: USVAPortland to schedule an appointment.

Maximize your blood donation. Help more patients. If you are an eligible type O, B - or A - donor, consider making a Power Red donation. Red blood cells are the most commonly transfused blood component.

Streamline your donation experience and save up to 15 minutes by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass to complete your pre-donation reading and health history questions on the day of your appointment.

RapidPass® can help save time during your next blood or platelet donation. For the best donation experience, we recommend you schedule an appointment, then complete your RapidPass®.

03/12/2026

Have you had a colorectal cancer screening? It could be as easy as checking your mail.

VA’s mailed FIT program provides easy, in-home screening for colorectal cancer. A f***l immunochemical test (FIT) is a screening done at home that checks for blood in stool that is invisible to the naked eye. VA recommends that adults aged 45-75 without any known increased risk of colorectal cancer should be screened by FIT every year. Nearly one million FIT kits have already been sent to Veterans, so look out for yours.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most diagnosed cancers and catching it early can prevent it from being fatal. VA stands shoulder to shoulder with all Veterans in making sure that their care isn’t just the best possible, but is also easy to access, navigate, and obtain. With mailed FIT, VA is once again delivering on this promise.

Learn more about colorectal cancer on cancer.va.gov or talk to your VA provider.

03/11/2026

We here at VA Portland Health Care System are curious about the job we're doing with our page. You can help by answering a couple of simple questions in our comments below.

1. What do you think of the content we post here on Facebook? Is it just the right amount, or not enough?

2. What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of?

03/11/2026

March 11 is National Registered Dietitian Day!

Did you know that your VA Registered Dietitian is required to have education at a Master's level or higher? They are also required to have a minimum of 1,800 hours of clinical rotations and must pass a national certification exam in order to practice?

Our Registered Dietitians are here to provide save and high quality patient food services, and work with our local communities to provide food security to Veterans.

Learn more about our offerings through our Whole Health program: https://www.va.gov/portland-health-care/programs/whole-health/nutrition-classes/

03/11/2026

As part of our ongoing observance of Women's History Month, today we spotlight Alice Ball.

Ball was an American chemist who, at the age of 23, developed the only effective treatment for leprosy until antibiotics were developed in the 1940s.

Due to the groundbreaking nature of her discovery, she became the first woman and first African-American offered an instructor position in chemistry at the College of Hawai’i.

For decades, her contributions were erased from history when a male colleague, later the college’s president, claimed credit for her discoveries.

Read more about her fascinating story at:

An Americ

03/10/2026

Join us tomorrow, March 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the VA Portland campus for the Nutrition and Health Resource Fair. Displays and booths will be set up in the lobby areas of building 100 and 101, and in the OHSU Skywalk and the Auditorium in building 101.

The event will include health promotion and disease prevention resources, nutrition games, health teaching kitchen recipes and samples, food pantry distribution, Whole Health and VA FARMS resources and Naloxone training!

No registration required.

Check out more info on the flyer!

03/09/2026

Last week Friday, on March 6, at approximately 4:00 a.m., one of our regular Waste Management drivers was going about his normal morning routine of emptying trash dumpsters at our VA Portland campus when his truck caught fire.

The cause was a hydraulic fluid leak, which had spilled onto the truck's hot exhaust. Reacting quickly, Waste Management employee Ronald Rush quickly sprung into action and used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. The truck continued to leak hydraulic fluid, so he and VA Portland employee Chris Trapp used pads to catch the oil and prevent it from going into the storm drain. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.

VA Portland Health Care System would like to thank Waste Management and their employee Ronald Rush for his quick thinking and decisive action, and, along with VA Portland employee, Chris Trapp, were able to mitigate an environmental hazard, and prevent further harm to our community.

03/09/2026

VA Portland Health Care System presents: Women Veterans Virtual Town Hall

When: March 19, 2026, from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Where: Online (see registration information below)

Are you looking for information on menopause? Learn about what is available at VA!

-Answer your questions about menopause and perimenopause
-Focus group discussions
-Discussion regarding future topics for town halls such as this
-Hear about the latest in health care services and research from subject matter experts

This Town Hall is open to all Veterans, caregivers, spouses and community members.

Register by visiting: WomenVeteransProgramTownHallandFocus@DVAGOV.onmicrosoft.com/?ismsaljsauthenabled" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://outlook.office365.com/book/WomenVeteransProgramTownHallandFocus@DVAGOV.onmicrosoft.com/?ismsaljsauthenabled

03/07/2026

GI Bill® students: Did you verify your enrollment for February?

All VA education beneficiaries, including Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance (Chapter 35) students, must verify their enrollment at the end of each month to receive benefit payments.

Learn more by visiting VA’s Verify School Enrollment webpage at https://www.va.gov/education/verify-school-enrollment/.

03/06/2026

The VHA Office of Integrity and Compliance is sharing this information to ensure awareness of a concern relating to a “Veteran Appointment Scam” which has been identified at a handful of sites.

A Veteran recently received a fake letter claiming he had a VA appointment and was asked to pay for the visit.

DO NOT PAY FOR VA OR COMMUNITY CARE APPOINTMENTS UP FRONT! Protect yourself from a recent scam targeting Veterans.

The VA later confirmed he was not enrolled in VA health care, and no appointment had been scheduled. The letter and payment request were fraudulent.

Remember:
• Veterans should never pay for any VA or Community Care appointment before or at the time of the appointment.
• VA does not charge upfront fees for appointments.
• VA does not send payment requests by email, text message, or phone.
• Community Care appointments are authorized by VA and are free to Veterans except standard VA co-pays when applicable.

If you receive a suspicious letter, call, or message:
• Do not send money or share personal or financial information.
• Contact your local VA medical center directly to verify any appointment.
• Veterans who suspect they have experienced fraud should contact the VSAFE Fraud Hotline https://vsafe.gov/ or 833-38V-SAFE, (1-833-388-7233) or the VA OIG Hotline at 1-800-488-8244.

03/06/2026

For Women’s History Month in March, we give special thanks to the brave women of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion. The Six Triple Eight were 824 enlisted and 31 commissioned Black women, drawn from the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), to boost morale by tackling a backlog of U.S. forces’ undelivered mail.

Watch this video about the 6888 Central Postal Battalion: https://youtu.be/7WqY_PLZcfQ?si=-zn0gfuOZ2qo4zsK

To read more about Fannie Griffin-McClendon: https://vaww.insider.va.gov/the-last-of-a-legacy-world-war-ii-veteran-maj-fannie-griffin-mcclendon/

03/05/2026

Today is "National Slam the Scam" Day!

On March 5, 2026, federal, state, and local government, non-profit organizations, and private companies are joining forces to help protect consumers from scams. Over the years, scams have grown and evolved in scale and sophistication.

Report phone scams at oig.ssa.gov

To read more, and to avoid being scammed, visit https://www.ssa.gov/scam/resources.html #:~:text=Slam%20the%20Scam%20Day%20is,year%20from%20March%203-9