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Healthcare Journal of new orleans
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MAY / JUN 2015
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Exemplary Service Award and in 2012 with
the Federal Excellence in Healthcare Lead-
ershipAward.
Rivera earned a bachelor’s degree in
Civil Engineering and a Master of Business
Administration Degree from the University
of NewOrleans. He was namedVA“Engineer
of the Year.” He is an honorary member of
the Vietnam Memorial Wall Washing Crew
and has received the Military Order of the
Purple Heart Distinguished Service Award,
theMarine Corps League Distinguished Ser-
vice Award, and the AMVETS Leadership in
Service Award.
With an operating budget of nearly $350
million, SLVHCS employs approximately
1,300 employees and serves over 66,466
enrolled Veterans in the 23 parishes of
Southeast Louisiana.The healthcare system
provides primary and mental healthcare at
all sites and specialty care at selected sites
including eight community-based outpatient
clinics inNewOrleans, Baton Rouge, Slidell,
Hammond, Bogalusa, Franklin, Houma, and
St. John Parish. SLVHCS supports nearly
500,000 outpatient visits. SLVHCS is affili-
ated with Tulane and LSU medical schools
andwas designated as one of nineVAEmerg-
ing Centers of Innovation for patient-cen-
tered care.
Q
Can you start by describing what care for
veterans is like in the greater New Orleans
area andwhy there’s a need for a newVAhos-
pital here?
A
I can start answering that by talking a little
bit about how it was before Katrina. I worked
here at themedical center before Katrina, for
20 years.The hospital was a referral hospital
that served veterans in the region from the
panhandle of Florida to the Texas/Louisiana
border and all the way up to Jackson in the
north. It was the open heart center for the
area. So if you wanted to have open heart
surgery and you were a veteran eligible for
care, this is where you came. It was a desti-
nation healthcare facility.
After Katrina, of course, there was no hos-
pital. Now we are a system of clinics. Right
before I left in December of 2004, we had
just opened the Houma clinic. Nowwe have
seven more clinics. It’s outpatient care. We
have a small procedure facility right down
the street on Poydras and of course we have
mental health facilities on Canal Street. But
primarily we are a system of clinics. Our
second big market is Baton Rouge. So we
what
happened to
me is what
happens to a
lot of other
people in the
VA; you fall in
love with the
mission.