For veterans, getting to the VA is a big problem too

Veterans committee hosts town hall forum
By SANJAY TALWANI Independent Record
Some veterans come to the Veterans Administration Hospital at Fort Harrison for treatment, only to have no money for gasoline for the return trip.

Fortunately, thanks to a private fundraising effort, the VA can give gas cards to those without the money, and more and more have needed the help.

“The number of gas cards we have given out in the last six months has doubled,” Robin Korogi, Montana Health Care Services director for the VA, said at a town hall-style discussion at the VA Wednesday. The event was organized by the Veterans Rural Health Advisory Committee, a nationwide group chaired by Jim Ahrens of Helena, former president of the Montana Hospital Association.

That committee makes one visit as a group to rural areas each year, and aims to bring the concerns of rural veterans to VA leadership in Washington.

Dr. Mary Beth Skupien, director of the VA Office of Rural Health, is also in Helena, visiting from Washington.
read more here
Veterans committee hosts town hall forum