WASHINGTON \u2014 April 30, 2019 \u2014 <\/strong>Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Microsoft Corp. announced a new collaboration to enhance opportunities for education, recreation and therapy for Veterans with mobility limitations by introducing the Xbox Adaptive Controller \u2014 <\/strong>a video game controller designed for people with limited mobility \u2014 <\/strong>in select VA rehabilitation centers around the country.<\/p>\n The partnership, which was formalized April 18, will provide controllers and services to Veterans as part of therapeutic and rehabilitative activities aimed at challenging muscle activation and hand-eye coordination, and greater participation in social and recreational activities.<\/p>\n \u201cThis partnership is another step toward achieving VA\u2019s strategic goals of providing excellent customer experiences and business transformation,\u201d said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie. \u201cVA remains committed to offering solutions for Veterans\u2019 daily life challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n Together, VA and Microsoft identified an opportunity to introduce or reintroduce gaming to Veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, and neurological or other injuries at 22 VA medical centers across the United States. Microsoft is donating its Xbox Adaptive Controller, game consoles, games and other adaptive gaming equipment as part of the collaboration.<\/p>\n Designated VA staff will engage with Veterans using the equipment and share feedback with Microsoft on therapeutic utility and the Veteran experience.<\/p>\n \u201cWe owe so much to the service and sacrifice of our Veterans, and as a company, we are committed to supporting them,\u201d said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. \u201cOur Xbox Adaptive Controller was designed to make gaming more accessible to millions of people worldwide, and we\u2019re partnering with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to bring the device to Veterans with limited mobility, connecting them to the games they love and the people they want to play with.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft and VA have a long-standing strategic partnership, working together for more than 20 years to provide the best possible care and service to Veterans. Gaming is a popular pastime of military personnel, and access to the Xbox Adaptive Controller in VA rehabilitation centers provides the opportunity for Veterans to experience gaming\u2019s various benefits, including staying connected with friends and family across the world, building esprit de corps through competitive or cooperative gameplay, and providing stress relief.<\/p>\n Microsoft\u2019s initial contributions will be allocated across 22 VA facilities. In addition, the controllers and other equipment will be available for Veterans to use at events hosted by VA\u2019s Office of National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events<\/a>, such as the National Veterans Wheelchair Games<\/a>.<\/p>\n The following 16 centers have confirmed participation to date, with at least six additional centers to come: Augusta VA Medical Center (VAMC)<\/a>, Central Alabama VA Health Care System (HCS)<\/a>, Central Texas Veterans HCS<\/a>, Chillicothe VAMC<\/a>, Dayton VAMC<\/a>, Memphis VAMC<\/a>, Minneapolis VA HCS<\/a>, Richmond VAMC<\/a>, VA St. Louis HCS<\/a>, South Texas Veterans HCS (Audie L. Murphy VA Hospital)<\/a>, South Texas Veterans HCS (Kerrville Division)<\/a>, James A Haley Veterans Hospital \u2013 Tampa<\/a>, VA Eastern Colorado HCS<\/a>, VA New York Harbor HCS<\/a>, VA Palo Alto HCS,<\/a> and VA Puget Sound HCS<\/a>.<\/p>\n More information on partnering with VA can be found at https:\/\/www.va.gov\/HEALTHPARTNERSHIPS\/index.asp<\/a>.<\/p>\n Media assets can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration<\/strong><\/p>\n The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,250 healthcare facilities<\/a>, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,069 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program.<\/p>\n About Microsoft<\/strong><\/p>\n Microsoft (Nasdaq \u201cMSFT\u201d @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.<\/p>\n For more information, press only:<\/strong><\/p>\n Assembly for Xbox, (206) 223-1606, xboxpress@assemblyinc.com<\/p>\n U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Public Affairs Media Relations, (202) 461-7600, Va.media.relations@va.gov<\/p>\n Note to editors:<\/em> For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http:\/\/news.microsoft.com<\/a>. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft\u2019s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/microsoft-public-relations-contacts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xbox Adaptive Controllers will be distributed across facilities within nation\u2019s largest integrated health-care system WASHINGTON \u2014 April 30, 2019 \u2014 Today, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Microsoft Corp. announced a new collaboration to enhance opportunities for education, recreation and therapy for Veterans with mobility limitations by introducing the Xbox Adaptive Controller \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[63,153,112,533,534],"class_list":["post-92762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-accessibility","tag-military-affairs","tag-press-releases","tag-veterans","tag-xbox-adaptive-controller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}