Mobile medical unit for veterans coming to Adair County

GREENFIELD — The Adair County Veterans Affairs Commission is excited to announce that three times over the next several months, a mobile medical unit for veterans will be coming to Greenfield.

Duane Avey, Veterans Affairs Director in Adair County, said that due to COVID-19 and other complications, some veterans in the last year haven’t been able to make it to medical services they’re entitled to in places like Des Moines, so Veterans Affairs is bringing those services to more rural locations such as Greenfield.

“Veterans Affairs decided to do this and asked if we wanted to do it, and they gave us the dates that they would come, and I said sure,” Avey said. “I thought it would be good for the community and the veterans too. I have no idea how many veterans will show up. They’ll be able to know about it and hopefully plan in advance to stop in.”

The mobile medical unit will come to the Veterans Affairs office, 270 Public Square, Greenfield, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 13, Aug. 12 and Nov. 11.

“With COVID-19, they have limited traffic [in the VA hospital in Des Moines]. They’re open again now, but they’d like to do mobile things like this if they can,” Avey explained. “We hope veterans who need it find out about it and show up.”

Walk-in availability will be included in these stops for tele-eligibility, blood pressure checks, battlefield acupuncture, home telehealth screening and enrollment scheduling, live telehealth scheduling and My HealtheVet enrollment.

Services available by appointment by calling 515-699-5999, ext. 21501, include primary care, respiratory, oncology, cardiology, tele-wound, teledermatology, urology, mental health, nutrition, social work, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, lab draws and some immunizations.

Avey said that in the case of a long line at the mobile unit, there will be coffee inside his office for veterans to warm up with.

There are approximately 546 veterans living in Adair County, and Avey hopes veterans continue to feel welcome to reach out to his office by calling 641-743-2656 to tap into the wide array of resources that are available to them.

“I will try to help any veteran, any time, with anything they need, whether it’s about any of this stuff or something else. Our government decided a long time ago that they deserve these services and we all know they certain have earned it,” Avey said. “Whether they were in a war or not, everybody in the military does the same thing: what they’re told. It doesn’t matter to us where they served, when, or how long, we’ll try to help them.”