TriWest Healthcare Alliance honors ‘those we serve’

The American Legion awarded TriWest Healthcare Alliance its Employer of the Year for Hiring Veterans Award, which was accepted on stage during its 102nd National Convention in Phoenix Sept. 1 by President and CEO David J. McIntyre.  

McIntyre thanked The American Legion for honoring TriWest Healthcare Alliance’s dedication to hiring and supporting veterans.

“For 25 years, serving America’s veterans has been our sacred mission, and we are privileged and dedicated to this important work. Currently, TriWest serves in support of the VA in meeting the health-care needs in the community for our nation’s veterans, offering access to quality care and customer service through the VA network.

“The health care that you’ve earned, where you need it and how you need it, is absolutely imperative. Our work will always honor those we serve, and we are not going to stray from those commitments.”

For 35 years, McIntyre said he has been associated with and admiring the work The American Legion does. That admiration was visible when the late Sen. John McCain, a former boss of McIntyre, received The American Legion’s Patriot Award in 2019. For McIntyre, McCain “defined patriotism. And so do you. The American Legion defines for us what being patriotic is all about. I’d like to thank The American Legion for the amazing work you do, for the leadership you provide. For being a needed moral compass when we lose our way. And for your effective advocacy.”

McIntyre shared a story with Legionnaires about an example of The American Legion’s leadership and advocacy efforts – when the Phoenix VA Healthcare System “was the epicenter of the access to care crisis for our nation’s veterans” in 2014.

After meeting with Phoenix VA staff and leadership to hear of the work they were doing to “refine their operations” and how TriWest Healthcare System could be of help, McIntyre walked out of the hospital doors and was “horrified and disgusted” at what was written on the billboard across from the hospital for all staff to see. The billboard read, “They’re lying. Veterans are dying.”

McIntyre learned that the party who put up the billboard was a week behind in paying for the space. TriWest quickly had the billboard space secured and signed a longtime lease for its use.

TriWest then contacted The American Legion to help create “a message of appreciation to VA and community partners, providers, who work in partnership to render care to veterans in need. And that message of thanks, with The American Legion (emblem) on it, continues to stand as a spring to the step of all who work for and all who receive care from the Phoenix VA and in the community.

“It has helped the staff there to restore their morale. So I’d like to say thank you.”

As a follow-up to the access of care provided to veterans, McIntyre said that the providers that have been called on by TriWest Healthcare Alliance “to join the course of care in the community, on our watch, have now delivered nearly 50 million appointments” – from cancer treatment, organ transplants, and childbirth with help from the VA’s in vitro fertilization (IVF) program. “That’s not to replace the VA – it’s to give the VA the elasticity that they need to serve veterans at or in their communities on a convenient basis. And to supplement the direct services with the services that they do not otherwise have.”

McIntyre concluded with a “heartfelt gratitude to our nations veterans and their families during this challenging time.” He recalled being in Phoenix on Sept. 11, 2001, and watching the devastation unfold on TV while his then 6-year-old son had his hands placed on the TV screen.

“Those who served in response to the events of 9/11 deserve absolutely nothing but our very, very, very best. From the VA and from TriWest,” he said. He gave thoughts and prayers to the families affected from recent events in Afghanistan and the loss of the 13 servicemembers. “We will, along with others across the country, do everything we can to honor their service.

“As a fellow citizen, I want you to know that we appreciate all that you have done and do for this great nation. And we consider it a privilege to stretch ourselves for you.”