Providing mental health care to veterans in rural areas: using telehealth in mobile clinics.
Wynn, Stephanie D; Sherrod, Roy Ann
Why this matters
Mobile units and telehealth solve different halves of the same distance problem. The article proposes pairing them so mental health specialists can reach rural veterans instead of asking veterans to travel to a distant clinic.
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to provide information to improve the quality of care of veterans living in geographically isolated areas who require treatment for mental health issues. Because interactive care solutions are currently hot topics in the health care community, they should be viewed as possible strategies to meet the needs of this specialty group of veterans. An intervention using a mobile clinic and clinical video telehealth reduces distance barriers by making it possible for mental health specialists to come to rural veterans instead of the veteran attempting to find a way to get to the practitioner, who may be located in a clinic or hospital many miles away. This article focuses on an alternate strategy-telehealth in mobile clinics-as a possible solution to the mental health crisis of veterans in rural areas.