The Dayton VA Medical Center’s Change Leadership Team (CLT) has an honorary member ready to help end users prepare for the facility’s Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) deployment in 2026: a golden Labrador with a love for snacks.
Snaxs (also known as Korey) is an 8-year old certified service dog who has accompanied Joel Legawiec, a Veteran and member of Dayton’s health informatics team, since 2019. At a recent CLT event, Snaxs drew attention with his calm demeanor and friendly disposition, and both the health informatics team and the CLT observed an increase in booth traffic as attendees stopped by to pet him. As the attendees fed the Labrador his favorite dog treats, the team used the opportunity to educate them on the upcoming deployment.
“The interest in our booth provided us the opportunity to answer questions and direct staff to appropriate resources,” said Legawiec. “That face-to-face interaction really helps us discuss the new Federal EHR more effectively. I am glad Korey was able to help with that goal.”
CLTs serve as a conduit for information and decision-making between the local Executive Leadership Team, the Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office (EHRM-IO), Oracle Health and site end users, helping guide each facility through a successful Federal EHR deployment.
Amid the surge of information and activities surrounding the 2026 deployment, CLTs look for innovative ways to make pre-deployment events and engagements stand out with the end users. Incorporating Snaxs into the mix offers a memorable and effective way to capture attention.
Snaxs was drafted to pass out lanyards and draw people over to sign-up sheets for training events. He has posed for pictures at events and manned the change readiness table, where staff can get their questions answered regarding the transition to the Federal EHR system. He’s also been featured in the facility’s newsletter and staff emails and was a guest during its weekly fireside chats.
His dedication and consistent attendance at these events have led Dayton staff to recruit Snaxs as an honorary super user. Super users are VA staff who provide essential support to their colleagues during the Federal EHR deployment process, through go-live and beyond, by educating them about the EHR transition and engaging in hands-on troubleshooting.
In July, Deputy Secretary Dr. Paul Lawrence, Ph.D., visited the Dayton facility and was presented with a super user lanyard of his own, which he has donned at times to show his support for the project and to join in championing the role of super users in Federal EHR deployment. His endorsement further encourages staff to engage actively with the training and resources provided.
And as for Snaxs, well, he just loves the snacks that come with the job.
For more information and resources, visit the EHRM website.
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Instead of news.va.gov showing a genuine concern for veterans
plights, we have puppies and babies to distract. Think only happy
thoughts or you get wished to the corn field. Really?
The people in charge have no imagination, comfortable in there jobs.
Complete indifference. Even squandering money. Insulting efforts like
my own with nothing better. Allowing a aging and dated infrastructure
to live in the 90s. Carrying grudges.
All the while, survival is very real for veterans like me in a system that
only recognizes the wealthy. Its been a year of shut outs and really
terrible ideas stalling all else. Killing funding, threatening government
employees, mass firings, and now a total shut down. Are you doing a
better job than me? Ide say its a economic global disaster. Building a
$250,000,000 ball room while millions of Government employees cant
even get food from pantries that Trump killed that funding too. Which is
dangerously absurd. Let them eat cake?
Ive got 15 projects involved as we speak that could reshape VA care.
Only I cant get any where with the government shut down. A years
worth of ideas ready to roll out on hold over nothing.
My current fight to develop a new medical procedure for Toxic
Exposures drags on because of all this. Which would be the only
tissue collection samples looking for evidence rather than anecdotal
self reporting. Im scheduled for surgery, but the lab element has become
a nightmare because only the FBI forensic lab can do what I need.
Basically, my autopsy while Im alive. Not a Full Burden Load test for
a dozen items. Lab after lab saying no.
Biggest thing I plan to do is update 4 laws from the 90s and bring them
to 2025. Rather than recreate the wheel. The scale is massive but doable.
Change benefits, ratings systems, decaying programs, wasted money on
abused programs by VA, stream lining, create Gulf war specialty clinic,
create trues Toxic exposure pathology lab, release millions 34 year old records
from the war, reinstate OSAGWI CRUR unit locator database, reopen
investigations into gulf war, and so on.
Instead I have people that have no real clue stopping all progress if its not
about them. Too many. Who have to take my name off my ideas and then
poison them like much of 2025. To what end? Cancel culture. The damn
military journalist made this much worse. Censorship.
Its not brilliance out there. Its people destroying each branch from within
and weakening America in super bad ways. Until nothing exist, and we are
not far from that now. A weak, cheap, superficial country despised for its
present state. ENOUGH!!!!!
Let me do my job, and let me finish what I started. You had your chance. It
doesnt work for me. Now let me build usable elements with in VA that
veterans can benefit from. Practical, that find answers, and make our
remaining years respectable, with dignity. Top Down economics didnt
work, let us save ourselves while there is something left.
too bad Asheville VA got rid of their facility dog program!! One Year in the facility and they were gone- Those dogs did alot of good for the vets
Aw Snaxs is so cuuuute! :3 It’s such a great way to educate the public on VA resources and provide much needed therapy at the same time. I really want a photo with him now lol.
Not a great story and certainly not a so called top story. How do Veterans benefit?