Report on Capacity, Quality, and Accessibility of Veteran Affairs Clinics in Southern California

This is a version of the github repository found here: https://github.com/Derreckadam/Takano_fellowship. The final report is labeled Takano_Final_Jan 27.docx the code can be found in the markdown file, vet-data.Rmd
 

This report describes Southern California veterans, and their needs with regard to Veteran Affairs Health
Facilities. US Census Bureau Data including veteran age, disability status, income level, and race is
documented. To analyze the quality and ratings of health care, physical addresses were accessed using data
from the US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA). Transportation routes, drive-time, and accessibility to these
facilities were analyzed using traffic reports and map data from ArcGIS, as well as bus stops from the
Riverside Transit Authority. In general, this report finds that, despite having the largest veteran population of
any state, California does not have A) high quality medical centers and B) clinics that are easily accessible by
much of the population, and that C) this impacts some veteran groups much more than others. VA (SAIL)
internal evaluations composed of 25 different metrics, show that the best California facilities have only 3, 2
or 1-star facilities. This is in contrast to the 5-star quality seen on the east coast. An additional issue identified
is the need for improved accessibility. Metrics not evaluated by SAIL such as demographics, income, and
disabilities clearly show important physical locations where additional facilities should exist to serve these
populations. One such location is Congressional District 41. Access to other clinics requires high drive times to
clinics (30 minutes) and bus routes are exceptionally long (1 hour). This significantly impacts disadvantaged
populations in this district especially senior citizens, disabled veterans, and impoverished veterans who need
to use these facilities.  There is clear evidence there is a strong need for improved health services for
Veterans, that CD 41 is a prime location for a new Veteran Affairs Health Facility and Touchpoints, or urgent
care centers run by the VA likely to be effective.