Details on University of Arkansas’ School of Journalism Veterans Health Care Project

Students at the University of Arkansas School of Journalism and Strategic Media produced these articles, data visualizations, photos and videos as part of the Fall 2017 Digital Media Lab course. This is an immersive journalism course where students learn advanced reporting, editing, social media, visual media and data journalism. The project began after National Public Radio encouraged its local affiliated stations, including KUAF in Fayetteville, to examine Department of Veterans Affairs datasets and report on the state of veterans health care in wake of the 2014 VA health scandal in Phoenix and elsewhere.

The students researched the history of the VA health system and recent controversies. They used Excel, Tableau Desktop and SQL to examine data from Patient Access Data from the VA. Students presented their preliminary findings to staff of the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, the Fayetteville VA hospital, on Oct. 27. The questions and follow-up interviews led to additional rounds of interviews with Fayetteville VA staff. Students then fanned out throughout Northwest Arkansas and interviewed at least 30 veterans about the preliminary findings. This led to additional refinements of the data work, requests for specialized data sources and another round of interviews with VA staff.

The School of Journalism and Strategic Media would like to acknowledge the dedication and openness of the Fayetteville VA hospital, particularly public affairs officer Wanda Shull, and the many veterans and their loved ones who spoke to the students.

Rob Wells, Ph.D., Assistant Professor. Data Journalism
Patsy Watkins, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Visual Journalism
Gerald Jordan, Associate Professor, Writing and Editing
Ray Minor, Instructor, Social Media

Thanks to graduate student Amy Sherrill for editing and Trevor Sutherland for his WordPress expertise.