The staff at the Louisville VAMC have provided a number of ways for you to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle and self-manage your own health. This page is intended to provide you with a brief sampling of the educational opportunities available at the medical center, however, many other opportunities may be available.  Ask your provider for more details.

Educational Materials

Patient Health Education materials are located in the Medical Library on the 2nd floor of the medical center in Room B240.  The library offers a collection of health and wellness books, health education newsletters, pamphlets, videos, and a variety of other materials.

My HealtheVet

The My HealtheVet site provides veterans and their families excellent, reliable patient education information as well as the latest VA News. Information about veterans benefits and services is also available.

Upon registering with My HealtheVet, you will be able to —

• refill prescriptions online
• keep personal food and activity journals
• monitor your personal health data, such as blood pressure and pain levels
• maintain your own self-entered personal health record

Outpatient Classes

The Louisville VA Medical Center is proud to offer a wide array of patient education courses & support groups  for both outpatients and inpatients.  If a topic you are interested is not listed, please ask your provider if a program is offered for that topic. Courses focus on —

• health promotion
• upcoming tests and procedures
• medications
• diagnoses
• treatments

Staff can tell you about upcoming education classes that are available.  We've provided more information about some of our most popular classes below.

• Diabetes Education
  • Overview: The diabetes education course covers general information including an overview of diabetes, complications, diet, stress, medications, exercise, monitoring, foot care and other general information.  The course is taught by a team of specialists including staff members from Endocrinology, Social Work, Nutrition, as well as the Preventive Amputation Clinic Team (PACT), which provides you with beneficial information on the many aspects of diabetes.
  • How do I Enroll?  Who is Eligible?  Ask your provider for a consult to enroll in the diabetes education course.  The course is open to diabetics and a family member or significant other.
  • When is the Course Offered?  The diabetes education course meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month in Room B234 at the medical center. 
• Tobacco Use Cessation
  • Overview: The Tobacco Use Cessation program is a behavior modification program that teaches behavioral changes that are helpful to maintain abstinence from tobacco, offers help for dealing with the psychological aspects of quitting, as well as providing an introduction to stress reduction.  The program helps to identify replacement behaviors for tobacco use and also examines different "triggers" that make it more difficult to remain tobacco-free.
  • How do I Enroll?  Who is Eligible? Enrolling in the Tobacco Use Cessation program is as simple as attending the first meeting, no appointment or reservation is required.  Call our Substance Abuse Disorder Treatment Program at 502.287.5960 and ask for the starting date of the next group session.  Alternatively, you may ask your provider for a consult to enroll in the Tobacco Use Cessation program, or stop by the Substance Abuse Disorder Treatment Program office, 7th floor, Room A742 to receive information about enrollment in the program. 
  • When is the Course Offered?  The program consists of a one hour group session that meets weekly for a period of 9 weeks on the 7th floor, Room B712.  A new series of classes begins every third week.  Most courses meet on Tuesday Morning, starting at 11AM for the first 3 weeks, and 10AM for the remaining 6 weeks.  DAV Transportation can be provided for attendance of the program.  Afternoon sessions, offered at 4PM on Mondays are offered at various times during the year for those veterans who are unable to attend the morning program.

Inpatient Classes

Clinical staff begin the patient education process at the time of admission, during the hospital stay, and at discharge. Our goal is to provide a hospital environment where patients —

• continually receive updated health information
• are able to ask questions about their health
• can enjoy as comfortably as possible their stay in our facility