An Oklahoma State University health care organization has been awarded a federal grant to enhance veteran health care in rural western Oklahoma, and they need your feedback to help.
OSU’s National Center for Wellness and Recovery is trying to improve veterans’ access to health services, including for mental health problems and substance abuse, through an initiative called the Oklahoma Rural Veterans Health Care Access Program.
The center has created a one-minute survey that can be accessed by scanning the provided QR code. The survey can be taken by anyone in the community, not just veterans, and is anonymous. Researchers will only be able to see where the survey was submitted from and not the name of the respondent.
“Our purpose is to improve the capacity of critical access hospitals and other rural providers by creating veteran-specific education and treatment content for physicians and mental health professionals,” program materials state.
About 40% of Oklahoma’s veterans live in rural areas. About 10% of Oklahoma’s population, more than 300,000 people, are veterans.
Twelve Oklahomans die each week of unintentional drug overdoses, according to Oklahoma Overdose Prevention. Here in Blaine County, eight unintentional overdoses were caused by prescription opioids between 2014 and 2018.
More information is available at Facebook.com/rvhap. The survey is available by scanning the QR code; smartphone users can scan the code using their phone camera.
Veterans in need of help can contact the 24/7 crisis line at 1-800-273-8255 x1 or by texting 838255.