Rural Veterans to gain Better Access to Health Care, Oct. 9

Oregon military veterans who reside in highly rural areas will have improved access to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and services thanks to a $400,000 grant that has been designated to expand transportation services for veterans in eight counties. The VA and the White House Rural Council have announced a national award of grants which will improve health care access for veterans across the nation. The Congressionally authorized funding program will assist more than 11,000 veterans in seven states and 56 counties by providing up to $50,000 per highly rural area to fund transportation services for veterans to and from VA medical centers and other facilities that provide health care. The Oregon counties that will be receiving $45,000 each from this grant include Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Wallowa and Wheeler. For thousands of veterans living in rural Oregon, the challenges of accessing the VA’s health care system stem from a lack of transportation to one of the three major medicals centers across the state. Eric Belt, the Administrator of Veterans Services for the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs (ODVA), said each of the state’s counties that are receiving grant funding have unique transportation needs. The grant addresses these needs by enhancing existing community linkages and new routes established by grant funding through increasing staff, outreach and marketing. “Many times the distance between a veteran and a VA Hospital or Community Based Clinic can be hundreds of miles apart. It’s even more difficult for those who can’t drive themselves,” Belt said. “The grant will specifically address and improve transportation concerns so Oregon veterans may better receive VA health care and services.” As an accredited service office, the ODVA applied for the grant on behalf of eligible rural Oregon counties. A highly rural area is defined as a county or counties with a population of fewer than seven persons per square mile. At least half of the states, including Oregon, have at least one highly rural area. About one quarter of the nation’s 22 million veterans live in rural areas and a majority are enrolled in the VA health care system.