Baltimore will receive $250,000 from the federal government to help military veteran patients living in rural areas who trek to the city for treatment.
The federal Department of Veterans Affairs handed out $21.7 million to health care systems nationwide to help veterans living far away from VA hospitals get the help they need.
Baltimore was the only Maryland city to receive any funds because less than 3 percent of its veteran patients live in rural areas.
Cities such as Lincoln, Neb.; Jackson, Miss.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Atlanta got $1.5 million, because more than 6 percent of its veteran patients live in rural areas.
Twenty-three cities in 19 states received the VA funding.
State officials have said veterans living in western Maryland and on the Eastern Shore often have to travel hours to get to a VA hospital.
The VA has opened more clinics in the state, including one under construction at Fort Meade in Odenton in Anne Arundel.
The money will be used to make health care more accessible to rural veterans, as well as improve the services they receive, by expanding mobile clinics and tele-medicine deployment.
– Jason Flanagan
