The GMS Gap and Virtual Care team works to virtually cover for nursing leave or vacancies within PACT teams and provide a temporary hold for Veterans waiting for PACT placement. The nurses are often carrying double the amount of patients the traditional PACT nurse would follow. This team requires strong organizational and communication skills to run effectively and ensure Veterans are taken care of. Some of the nurses are able to provide face-to-face care for Veterans at designated sites. The team works together to get the Veterans seen even though that Veteran is not on their team.

This team demonstrates the ICARE principles daily but one recent event stands out where the team really pulled together to support a Veteran experiencing a mental health crisis. One of the nurses, Melissa Hudson, got a secure message from a Veteran saying that nobody understands the pain and he wanted to die. Melissa called the veteran who was in the lobby of a local ER. He had been sent to the ER by the police the previous night for having an active suicidal plan. The ER had given him Toradol for his pain and sent him to the lobby to wait for the mental health social worker. He had been waiting in the lobby since 2000 the previous night and it was now mid-morning the next day. In addition to experiencing a mental health crisis, the Veteran was experiencing symptoms of detox as it had been over 24 hours since his last drink. 

Melissa calmly performed the Columbia-suicide screen which was positive. Melissa immediately filled out the mental health same day access form and sent a Teams message to her Gap team for support. The Gap Team rallied to support Melissa and the Veteran by coordinating with the local hospital ER to let them know there was a suicidal patient in the lobby. Only to find out the Veteran had gone outside to talk on the phone, so he wasn't there when they called his name. The ER staff would not go outside to look for him. The Gap team then called the local police to send a dispatcher over to check on him. All the while, Melissa stayed on the phone with the Veteran and was able to encourage the Veteran to go back inside the ER. The Gap team let the ER know he was back inside and he was safely seen by ER staff. If Melissa didn't have a supportive team, the Veteran might have experienced a different outcome. 

This is just one recent example of many situations the GAP team has experienced where it takes a team to appropriately demonstrate the I CARE principles and go the extra mile for Veterans.