Mobile Vet Center brings help and hope to Inland Northwest veterans

The Spokane Mobile Vet Center works out from the Spokane Vet Center at 13109 E. Mirabeau Parkway in Spokane Valley.

The Vet Center provides counseling for veterans and active duty service members, including National Guard and Reserve components. Qualifications for services include active military duty in any combat theater or area of hostility; anyone who experienced a military sexual trauma; anyone who gave medical care or mortuary services while on active duty or a crew member of an unmanned aerial vehicle in a combat zone.

Vet Center services are also provided to family members to aid in readjustment issues or to provide bereavement counseling. The Vet Center Program was established by Congress in 1979 after it was found that a significant number of Vietnam-era veterans were still experiencing readjustment problems. The Vet Center is staffed by eight full-time counselors and four graduate level students. Two Outreach Program Specialists man the Mobile Vet Center vehicle.

The Spokane Vet Center is available for your call 24 hours a day and seven days a week. You are guaranteed same-day access to a professional to discuss your individual needs.

PTSD is a major disorder which can be delayed until long after a service member is discharged. There are many indicators of PTSD and the counselors report that anxiety, depression, isolation, survivor guilt, anger and irritability are the most often identified symptoms.

Dave Baird is the director of the Vet Center and his counselors conduct more than 800 appointments each month at this location. The Vet Center Counselors also provide assistance in applying for VA benefits; alcohol/drug assessments; employment guidance and referral to community resources.

The Spokane Mobile Vet Center serves war veterans in rural communities not served by the VA. They provide individual counseling; group counseling; marital/family counseling; are a liaison with VA facilities and refer veterans to community agencies. They drive a 38-foot van built in 2015 which has two rooms for private counseling. It is self-contained with internet access to Telehealth Video at Myhealthevet, water, a restroom and heating/cooling. They go to assigned monthly locations, as well as sponsored events like Stand Downs, 2nd Harvest Mobile Market events, job fairs, natural disasters and locations announced by email or the VA Website.

The Mobile Vet Center is a critical resource to homeless veterans who have a primary requirement each day of finding food to eat and a place to sleep that night. These veterans are assisted with finding resources available to them for food, shelter, medications, VA benefits and even permanent housing.

The counselors have had success stories like when a homeless vet was out of his medication and they found a local source to have the prescription filled. His information had dropped out of the VA system after he moved to the Pacific Northwest from Texas. They helped a veteran in Malden, Wash., whose home burned to the ground and needed a VA home loan to rebuild. They also provided water and a charging station in Malden for people to recharge their portable devices. Some Vietnam veterans became disillusioned with the VA years ago but have been reinstated and now use their entitled services.

To set up an appointment or speak to a live person about your immediate situation, the Mobile Vet Center can be contacted by calling 509-444-8387 or by contacting the two counselor/specialists on the van: Joe Dumlao, Eliseo.Dumlao@va.gov; and Robert “Stu” Sturtevant, Robert.Sturtevant@va.gov, 509-496-5628.

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Darrel Maddux is with the American Legion Department Public Relations Committee.