Rural Veterans In Need Of Care Face Uncertainty, Isolation

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan living in rural areas face unique challenges when trying to receive care through the VA. Is enough being done to help them?




For rural veteran Mickey Ireson, appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs are a source of apprehension and stress, rather than relief. In early April, the former Marine infantryman received a call from the VA telling him that his evaluations for mental health and dental work had been scheduled at the Omaha, Nebraska, office.

Ireson lives three hours away in Hastings.

Initially scheduled for three separate days, Ireson was able to have the appointments moved to one day, but that meant six hours worth of driving, and several hours of meetings with physicians and caregivers. For Ireson, who is employed and going to college on the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, lengthy travel time can mean a day behind in class, or a day’s worth of wages lost. In addition, Ireson has trouble being on the road for several hours at a time, and the frustration that comes with hunting for parking in a crowded lot, and long wait times once he arrives, only makes him more agitated and apprehensive about the VA.

“Driving to Omaha doesn’t make it any easier,” says an exasperated Ireson, who left for his appointment at 5 a.m, and didn’t return home until after 3 p.m. “That’s one more thing to stress out about, there goes a whole day of class, now I have to make up for class, there goes money I was making, there goes fuel I was spending. I don’t know any civilian that drives three hours for a doctor’s appointment.”
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