In the fall of 2020, the VA informed the veterans of Nevada County that our medical provider would change from the Reno VA Medical Center to our current provider at the Mather VA Medical Center. When this change was made it was promised that this would be a great benefit to the Auburn VA Outpatient Clinic (OPC), that is located off Bell Rd. This change benefited our local veteran community because the Mather VAMC can more fully support the services available at the Auburn OPC, increasing the quantity, quality, and accessibility of services in our area.
Recently, the Auburn VA OPC announced the opening of a new audiology clinic that increases veterans’ access to hearing health care, reduces travel distances for veterans who do not want to travel to Sacramento, reduces the stress of navigating Mather’s medical center, provides support for veterans’ caregivers, reduces the amount of time a veteran or caregiver needs to take for appointment travel, promotes immediate and convenient access to a specialist, and increases patient satisfaction.
This new clinic uses technology called tele-audiology, which connects a veteran with an audiologist who is working remotely. This technology allows for the veteran to receive accurate hearing tests, assists with fittings of hearing aids, hearing aid follow-ups, and same day care for veterans who walk-in for hearing aid repairs or other needs. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment with the Auburn VA OPC’s new audiology clinic, please reach out to us and we can assist you with applying for VA healthcare. The clinic can be contacted directly at (530) 889-4930.
Additionally, Tera Ireland, Veterans Services Representative of the Nevada County Veterans Services Office (NCVSO), assists veterans file claims for compensation or pension benefits from the Auburn OPC on a bi-weekly basis. This is yet another attempt by your NCVSO to meet our veterans where they are at and in places that they are most comfortable. If you would like to schedule an appointment with Tera when you have your next appointment at the Auburn OPC, you can contact her at: tera.ireland@co.nevada.ca.us or at (530) 265-1490.
Last, the NCVSO previously hosted walk-in Thursdays that allowed veterans without appointments to receive same day service. The NCVSO is now proud to announce that every day is now walk-in day! We will have a staff member dedicated to assisting walk-ins each day of the week to ensure that every veteran receives the highest quality and immediate services when entering our office. We will continue to evaluate how we offer our services and how we can make access to our services even easier for our veterans. But don’t worry, there will still be donuts on Thursdays!
Next week, the NCVSO will be releasing its second “All Veterans of Nevada County” survey that we will use to gauge our progress from last year in these areas and obtain suggestions from each of you to ensure that we are meeting our community’s expectations and continually improving. The information we collected last year was instrumental in our efforts of reducing veterans homeless to functional zero, diversifying our services, and making our lobby area a more welcoming place for our veterans. This is an opportunity for our veteran community to provide input on our areas of focus as we develop our strategic planning for the next fiscal year.
David West is the Nevada County Veterans Service Officer. Reach him at (530) 265-1446 or david.west@co.nevada.ca.us. The Nevada County Veteran’s Services Office, 988 McCourtney Rd, Grass Valley, CA, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.