MILLS RIVER, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Mills River was bustling with happy faces under late February sunshine as the community celebrated a grand reopening after Hurricane Helene.
Nonprofit organization Veterans Healing Farm marked their recommencement with a double ribbon cutting ceremony: The occasion was accompanied by the debut of a VA Telehealth Station.
“Today, we did the double ribbon cutting, one with the Chamber of Commerce, which tells the general public that we have found a new home, we survived Helene and we’re continuing to move forward with all our programming for veterans their families,” said Alan Yeck, executive director of Veterans Healing Farm and Marine Corps veteran. “The second part is the other ribbon cutting with the Charles George VA to become a telehealth outpost.”
Telehealth is a term for patients remotely connecting with healthcare providers. With their new telehealth station, Veterans Healing Farm is equipped to help veterans do so.
“Veterans that have a hard time traveling to Asheville or even veterans that may not want to go to Asheville or don’t have technology skills can come here,” Yeck said. “They can do their appointments here. There’s also a system called My HealtheVet which has all their records, they can set appointments, they can renew their prescriptions.”
After their appointments, “they come out and have a cup of coffee with us,” Yeck grinned.
“We had been lucky enough to have the opportunity to work with the farm to set up a space where we can build a station for veterans to come to and use for telehealth if they need it,” said VA digital navigator Sarah Friedman. “Or anything that they feel more comfortable doing here, or need to do here, based on access at home or desire to be in this lovely space. So, we are a connection that can grow working with making health care from our facility easier to access.”
Part of making telehealth easier to access for veterans is helping them connect with digital devices and learn new technological skills. For example, Friedman is working to secure laptops for veterans that want them, particularly because of their ease of use and multifunctionality. Other objectives for the digital team include helping veterans set up Internet at home.
“My piece is the mental health aspect,” said Amie Goerlich, a VA research study coordinator. “We want to have private, safe, comfortable space that veterans can use for their mental health appointments. If they need help getting access to those mental health appointments or they need help with their provider or something, they can come to me and I can set that up for them.”
Goerlich is out to make access to mental health resources as easy as possible for the veterans she works with.
“I think just knowing that there’s someone who can help them reach out to the schedulers to make their appointment for them so they don’t have to be the one to actually ask for help is important and really helpful,” Goerlich explained.
At present, each VA telehealth station has a minimum goal of serving 15 to 20 veterans. There is another station in development at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. and another scheduled to open in April or May in the Franklin-Murphy area. A fourth station is planned for Cherokee, N.C.
Telehealth is just one service Veterans Healing Farm provides for its community.
“Since January, we’ve done a mead-making workshop taught by a Green Beret. We’ve had a DIY Valentine’s soap, body wash taught by the wife of a –well, they’re actually 44 years now – Navy veteran,” Yeck recalled. “Going forward with this Friday, we’ve got another workshop. Last year, we did 57 workshops for over 500 people, and they’re all either actual therapies like equine therapy, canine therapy, music therapy, art therapy and neural feedback therapy, or they’re therapeutic.”
Other activities at the farm have included vegetable canning, fungal log inoculation and field trips like kayaking and fly fishing expeditions. Last Saturday, Veterans Healing Farm even went to a Greenville Swamp Rabbits hockey game.
“There’s always something that we’re having the veteran community involved with, and the broader community, because we don’t want a veteran that’s self-isolated at home to come and self-isolate here,” Yeck said. “It’s great to have the community going back-and-forth.”
That being said, visits to the Veterans Healing Farm don’t require participation in the trips or activities.
“The Veterans Healing Farm is open for all veterans. We don’t ask for a DD 214, which is a discharge paper. We don’t ask for a medical referral, we’re not a clinical site,” Yeck pledged. “It’s just show up and you don’t have to do anything. If you wanna learn beekeeping and be part of the bee squad, you can, but you don’t have to. Just come and have a cup of coffee. Just hang out.”
The farm is open Tuesday to Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For more information, visit www.veteranshealingfarm.org.
