This Veterans Day, we highlight the Community Health Center (CHC) commitment to the men and women who have served our nation—many of whom continue to face health challenges long after their time in uniform. CHCs served 428,319 veteran patients, according to UDS CY2024, reflecting 1.9% of the adult patient population. CHCs have been steadily reporting an increase in veteran patients for the last 10 years, and there’s been an 11% increase in veteran patients since 2020.
Through partnerships with organizations like ECRI, which aims to deliver transformative insights into safety and savings opportunities that enable better care, CHCs are expanding their capacity to identify, understand, and address the unique health care needs of veterans.
At the heart of this effort is ECRI’s SALUTE Program. The program equips health care providers and organizations, including CHCs, with tools to deliver more comprehensive, veteran-centered care. From communication techniques to specialized training resources, SALUTE is helping to bridge critical gaps between civilian health care systems and those who have served. NACHC is proud to be part of the ECRI SALUTE Honor Roll, one of many partner organizations committed to promoting improved quality care to veterans.
Empowering Providers and Veterans Alike
One of the key goals of the SALUTE program is to strengthen communication between health care providers and their veteran patients. Two of the program’s most effective tools are the “Be the Expert on You – For Those Who Have Served in the Military” checklist and the “60 Seconds of Listening” training.
The “Be the Expert on You” checklist prepares veterans to share their personal health histories, including details about their service that may influence their long-term well-being. This helps CHCs open the door to deeper conversations that can uncover hidden health risks tied to military experiences.
Meanwhile, “60 Seconds of Listening” trains providers to practice focused, reflective listening during the first minute of a patient encounter. This simple but powerful technique helps health care professionals better assess service-related risks and build trust with their patients. Both tools are evidence-based and available at no cost, making them highly accessible resources for CHCs committed to improving veteran care.
A Nurse, a Veteran, and a Survivor
For Shannon Davila, MSN, RN, CPPS, CPHQ, CIC, FAPIC, Executive Director at Total Systems Safety, the SALUTE Program is more than a professional mission—it’s personal. As the program’s lead at ECRI, she oversees partner engagement, education, and national outreach. But her motivation runs much deeper.
“I had the honor of serving in the United States Air Force as a young woman,” Davila recalls. “Later, when I became a nurse, I realized the impact of the unique service-related health risks that veterans face and the need for stronger engagement between health care providers and veterans.”
That awareness grew even stronger after her own battle with breast cancer. Experiencing firsthand the vulnerability that comes with illness, Davila became even more determined to design safer, more empathetic systems of care for veterans in need. Her dual perspective—as both a veteran and leader of this program—fuels the compassion and insight behind every SALUTE initiative.
The Power of Asking, “Have You Served?”
At the foundation of the SALUTE program lies a deceptively simple question, “Have you served?”
It’s a question that can open the door to understanding. As Davila notes, organizations like NACHC have led the way in driving home the importance of identifying veterans by asking and documenting this question during the patient intake process. For many veterans, being asked about their service is the first step toward recognition, connection, and healing.
One SALUTE participant shared a story that underscores this truth. His father, a Vietnam War veteran, had lived for decades with untreated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), coping in silence and self-medicating with alcohol.
“No one had ever asked him about his experience while serving, and his son was greatly saddened by how his dad had suffered alone all those years,” Davila explained.
That painful realization inspired the son to advocate for veterans within his organization, leading to an impactful shift in how providers approach their patients. Simply asking “Have you served?” became the spark for meaningful change—proof that awareness and empathy can transform care.
A Call to Action for CHCs
ECRI’s SALUTE Program offers CHCs a pathway to strengthen their relationships with veterans, improve health outcomes, and create safer, more inclusive systems of care. All program tools and resources are free and available to any healthcare organization that wishes to better serve those who have served. To learn more or access resources, visit ECRI’s SALUTE Program website or contact Shannon Davila at [email protected] or Gina Capra, NACHC’s Chief Education Officer at [email protected].