Local News
Mobile center proudly serves area vets
PRINCETON – At first, it looks like a recreational vehicle boasting a satellite dish any sports fan would envy, but it is actually a well-equipped starting point for isolated veterans needing everything from counseling and medical care to a phone call and a shower.
The RV parked Tuesday outside the Princeton Vet Center along Mercer Street was a Mobile Vet Center designed to reach rural and underserved veterans. Inside the 38-foot motor coach, veterans can receive services ranging from counseling to medical consultations.
“This is the first time the mobile center has been here,” said Ernest Baringer, readjustment counseling therapist for the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Its service area is part of Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and southern West Virginia. It’s a mini vet center.” The unit is shared by veterans centers in Princeton, Beckley, Huntington and Charleston.
Inside the unit, veterans will find two private consulting rooms and a telemedicine capability that allows them to speak with a physician. The equipment also includes encrypted telephones that lets them to have doctor and patient conversations without fear of eavesdropping, plus there are two regular telephones for other calls. There is an emphasis on ensuring the strict confidentiality of the veterans visiting the mobile center, Baringer said.
The mobile center also focuses on homeless veterans, both men and women, he said. A shower and toilet facilities are included, and there are times when clothes and other items for veterans in need are available.
“If we find that seven or eight vets are living under a bridge, we’ll go down there,” he said.
Baringer added the unit’s facilities are only for veterans. Counselors and other operators cannot put any of its features to personal use, and cannot stay inside it overnight. The mobile unit’s purpose is to be a starting point for veterans who often do not know about the services available to them.
“It’s amazing how many Vietnam veterans don’t know about our programs,” Baringer said. “A large number of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are homeless.”
The Princeton Vet Center can be contacted toll free at 877-860-9111.
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