In October, Jesse Brown VA received a medical mobile unit to support at-risk and homeless Veterans with mental health clinicians, social workers and other staff.
Dr. B. Keith Taylor, Health Care for Homeless Veteran social worker, said the medical center was fortunate enough to receive the medical mobile unit because having one provides a wonderful opportunity to provide vaccines, level procedures and wraparound services for Veterans who would otherwise not have access to them.
“If you see us out there in streets, honk your horn or wave. If you know a Veteran who is not coming to VA to receive services, encourage them to link up with us. We have our providers, our social workers, our medical support assistants and our nurses. We have an entire team ready to serve our Veterans,” Taylor shared.
Dr. Sarah Unterman, chief of staff, explained that many medical center workers are stuck in brick-and-mortar buildings where patients come into the buildings for care.
“But we know that our large areas, mostly in the Southside of Chicago and Northwest Indiana, where we are not reaching our patients. It’s difficult for these patients to come to us because they don’t necessarily have a mailing address, they don’t necessarily have a phone number,” Unterman explained. “What better way to reach those patients and get them the care they need than to go to them? We are taking Jesse Brown on the road.”
Unterman added that the unit is fully stocked with everything that’s needed for the first touch with Veterans. She said the unit will also provide addiction and vaccine care in the community.
“Then we can discuss with them what other care they need and help them to obtain deeper, broader care that we have at our facility. They might not even realize what care we have available for them and we can bring it directly to them and tell them, ‘OK, this is a good start but we’ve got more. Let us help you get there,’” she said.
Ending Veteran homelessness is a top priority for VA, and President Joe Biden has made supporting Veterans a key pillar of his Unity Agenda for the nation.
Author: