North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth and members of the North Hempstead Veterans Advisory Committee announced recently that the Northport VA Medical Center’s Mobile Unit will be stationed at Clinton G. Martin Park three days a week starting in October. Once the schedule is finalized, it will be posted on the town’s website and be available by calling the town’s 311 call center.
The presence of the mobile van comes after Bosworth, together with federal representatives Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congresswoman Kathleen Rice and Congressman Tom Suozzi, strongly advocated for the unit to be in place until a more permanent Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) for veterans can be established somewhere in North Hempstead. Town officials and members of the Veterans Advisory Committee gathered letters and hundreds of signatures on a petition calling for an outpatient clinic closer to home and a mobile health care unit.
“I have been advocating, along with our Veterans Advisory Committee, for an outpatient clinic in North Hempstead for several years now,” said Bosworth. “It now takes our veterans hours to get to Northport’s VA Medical Center and so having the mobile unit will have a positive impact. We are so grateful to have the Northport VA’s Medical Center and would particularly like to thank Senator Schumer for his advocacy on this issue and for help in moving this project forward on behalf of our veterans.”
The Northport VA Medical Center’s Mobile Unit offers a variety of opportunities for veterans to access quality healthcare in their communities. Some of the services offered by the mobile unit include: primary health care, podiatry care, audiology and many other services. The van will be staffed with a doctor and nursing staff.
“Our local veterans deserve a more immediate solution to their travel issues while the VA’s review to establish the community-based clinic is underway, and this new unit is just what the doctor ordered,” said Schumer. “While we continue to make the case for a new outpatient clinic, North Hempstead vets will soon benefit from greater convenience for some of their everyday medical needs.”
“We are so grateful to our veterans for their service and it’s our responsibility to make sure that they have medical care as close to home as possible,” said Bosworth. “The arrival of the mobile unit, as well as the continued push for a more permanent CBOC, are steps in the right direction. I thank our federal representatives for their interest, advocacy and dedication to our veterans on this important issue.”
For more information, call the town’s 311 call center.
—Submitted by the Town of North Hempstead
