Sigmon: Hickory veterans' clinic 'doesn't really solve the problem'

Although many western North Carolina military veterans are enthused about a new health clinic proposed to open in Hickory late this year, congressional candidate Lance Sigmon says his homework shows there may be an even better option.

Both Senator Elizabeth Dole and 10th District Representative Cass Ballenger championed an outpatient clinic in the Hickory area several years ago (see adjoining article). At that time the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began looking at what’s called a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) to bring health care closer to the veteran population.

Prior to approval of the CBOC for Hickory, the only VA-sponsored medical attention available to veterans in the 10 western North Carolina counties comprising the 10th Congressional District has been at hospitals in Salisbury and Oteen.

Still, our military veterans who need medical care may need to drive 1-2 hours from our more rural areas in the mountains to get to a CBOC in Hickory.

It’s the same problem that veterans in Catawba, Burke, Caldwell, Lincoln and Iredell counties have now, getting to a stationary provider of primary and mental health services.

Why not take the health services even closer to the veterans who need them with one or more mobile health clinics?

If a vet has problems sitting or driving—with leg or back problems for example—a trip to the Asheville or Salisbury hospital can turn into an all-day ordeal. On top of that, the vet must arrange transportation, usually from family members, neighbors or friends.

If there was a mobile VA health service that could bring health care to various locations within the District on a routine schedule, would that not lessen the burden of travel on the veteran himself, and be much easier on the transportation provider, too?

I studied such services and I am convinced that mobile medical services are the next step toward more comprehensive solution than stationary, bricks-and-mortar VA clinics.

I’m not saying the CBOC is a bad thing but I don’t see why we assume that veterans who critically need health care services always have the ability to travel to a fixed location. In fact, those veterans who actually do have the ability to travel may, in fact, make the choice that the distance is too far for basic, preventative care. Veterans in Mitchell and Avery counties, plus parts of Caldwell, Burke and Rutherford counties could receive preventive health care services from mobile VA clinics, possibly reducing the need for more expensive and less successful disease care treatment in the future.

As noted above, the VA has based its ability to provide health care services on the typical civilian care system—fixed hospitals and more recently, outpatient clinics. However in several states (Washington, Missouri and Pennsylvania), the VA has used a “mobile coach” to provide treatment for veterans that live in remote areas. It is that type of service that our District needs to provide much needed care to veterans who live far from the Hickory area.

As your new congressman from the 10th District of North Carolina, I will work hard to bring these mobile medical clinics to veterans needing health care in our more remote areas. We should never settle for solving the problem for some but not for others.