HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The process for disabled veterans to receive transportation to and from medical appointments at VA Hospitals in West Virginia will not change but the transportation itself will.
Governor Jim Justice announced Tuesday that the state has entered into a partnership with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) to transport disabled veterans to and from those appointments at the hospital locations of Clarksburg, Beckley, Martinsburg, and Huntington.
“This will bring significant cost savings to West Virginia from the program we are currently operating,” Dennis Davis, Secretary of Veterans Assistance, said on MetroNews “Talkline.”
“It gives us more flexibility with this program to provide services to the veterans around the state.”
Justice entered into this partnership with DAV after the state-controlled this program since 2014. In the release by Justice, it states prior to 2014, the DAV operated the van transportation program in West Virginia, but state officials decided at that time that the state would take over operations.
“The transportation part will change but their contact will remain the same,” Davis added. “Any veteran needing transportation should just call a hospital. The changes will come on our end as far as West Virginia is concerned. To veterans, it should be a smooth transition.”
Drivers are the biggest change to this transportation switch as this is where the cost savings come in. DAV uses volunteer members as drivers as the state had been paying drivers to take veterans to hospitals.
DAV operates in all 50 states with 3,500 vans running on a daily basis.
In the release by Justice, it added the DAV has agreed to immediately provide three new vans for the program, and the Governor has provided funding for an additional four. Justice said he will also recommend to the Legislature that they provide funding for six additional vans.
“We had not been buying vans as we should,” Davis said. “I look at the roster now and we still have one van we bought back in 2001.”
Davis added that one of the bigger problems during the states run of paying drivers was the misuse of some of the vehicles.
“Vehicles were being used for other things,” he said. “When Governor Justice took office, one of the first things he asked for was a counting of state-owned vehicles. That caused us to take a deep look into this program.
“We found some cases where the vehicles were being used to transport people other than veterans. Number two was since they were being compensated by West Virginia, we also found that the vehicles were going into neighboring states to pick up veterans from those states.”
Beginning July 1, 2019, the DAV will use its volunteer network to provide drivers at no cost to the state.