The Department of Veterans Affairs will deploy 25 mobile medical units across the country during the next six months to provide health care and support to homeless and at-risk veterans.
Mobile medical units are vans or trucks that move from one location to another to provide a private space for eligible veterans to meet with medical providers, including mental health clinicians, social workers, and other staff that provide primary care, women’s health, audiology, laboratory, and telehealth services to those who may not have access to a local VA medical center.
“Veterans experiencing homelessness face a variety of barriers to accessing health care, including a lack of transportation,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough 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.”
The announcement builds on sweeping new investments to address veteran homelessness launched by the White House in June.
The first MMU arrived Aug. 3 at the VA Orlando Healthcare System. The units are made available through VA’s Homeless Patient Aligned Care Teams. In addition, VA operates 83 Mobile Vet Centers nationwide that provide confidential counseling and outreach to eligible individuals in communities that are distant or remote from existing services.
According to the most recent count by VA, Housing and Urban Development and the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the number of homeless veterans dropped to 33,000 or by 11%, from early 2020 and early 2022.
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Last year, VA said it housed more than 40,000 formerly homeless veterans, prevented more than 17,700 vets and their families from falling into homelessness, and helped nearly 191,700 additional veteran families who were experiencing financial difficulties retain their homes or avoid foreclosure. VA announced a goal of housing 38,000 homeless veterans this year.
The MMUs deployment schedule can be viewed here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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