VA launches mobile medical units to serve homeless veterans

25 mobile medical units will provide primary care and other services
The initiative is part of an investment to address veteran homelessness
In 2022, VA housed more than 40,000 formerly homeless veterans

Updated: Aug 3, 2023 / 05:13 PM CDT

Washington DC/USA Mar 25 2019/Signboard of United States Department of Veterans Affairs(VA).The VA stands in front of Lafayette Square Park in the north of the White House.

(NewsNation) — The Department of Veterans Affairs is deploying more than two dozen mobile medical units to expand health care access to homeless and at-risk veterans.

The first of 25 units arrived Thursday at the VA Orlando Healthcare System. The others will be rolled out over the next six months in cities across the country.

“Veterans experiencing homelessness face a variety of barriers to accessing health care, including a lack of transportation,” VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a statement. “With these new mobile medical units, homeless and at-risk Veterans don’t have to visit VA hospitals — we come right to them.”

Mobile medical units are vans or trucks that move from one location to another to provide access to a private space for veterans to meet with medical providers for primary care, women’s health, audiology, laboratory, and telehealth services, the VA said.

The mobile medical units will be delivered to the following cities:

Aug. 14 in Oklahoma City
Aug. 14 in Los Angeles
Aug. 28 in Minneapolis
Aug. 28 in Atlanta
Sept. 18 in San Diego
Sept. 18 in Cincinnati
Sept. 25 in Montgomery, Alabama
Sept. 29 in Salt Lake City
Sept. 29 in West Haven, Connecticut
Oct. 2 in Tacoma, Washington
Oct. 2 in Seattle
Oct. 16 in Hampton, Virginia
Oct. 16 in Chicago
Nov. 6 in Charleston, South Carolina
Nov. 6 in Bay Pines, Florida
Nov. 13 in Lexington, Kentucky
Nov. 13 in Cleveland
Nov. 20 in Omaha, Nebraska
Nov. 20 in Birmingham, Alabama
Dec. 18 in Reno, Nevada
Dec. 22 in Las Vegas
Jan. 22 in New Orleans
Jan. 29 in Tucson, Arizona
Feb. 26 in San Francisco

The initiative is part of an investment by the Biden administration to address veteran homelessness. The White House has also directed funding for legal services, employment services and housing programs.

In 2022, VA housed more than 40,000 formerly homeless veterans and prevented more than 17,700 veterans and their families from falling into homelessness, the agency said. It also helped nearly 191,700 additional families who were experiencing financial difficulties retain their homes or avoid foreclosure.