Volunteer van drivers wanted for vets

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Veterans Affair Office is looking for van drivers to take veterans to the VA hospitals around Iowa.

There are currently 16 drivers, including the Floyd County Executive Director Maria Deike, and there have been no additions for a little under two years.

Now is good time to become of driver, because there are a lot of seasonal drivers, Deike said.

“We have drivers that are in the field in the fall and the spring,” Deike said. “It sounds like we have a lot of drivers, but a lot of them are seasonal.”

Some drivers just aren’t available during the holidays to help because of family commitments, Deike said.

“Some of our drivers are retired, they want to travel,” Deike said. “That’s fine. They should be able to go down and see their family somewhere else.”

The Floyd County VA Office is trying to get to a point where a driver will drive maybe two times a month.

“We want to fill enough drivers where it’s two times enough and it’s not going to burn them out,” Deike said. “That’s the biggest thing is not burning our drivers out. We want them to be volunteers and not tied down to this position.”

Robert Mondt, a Floyd County Veterans Affair commissioner, has been a volunteer van driver since 2011.

“A friend of mine was doing it when I retired and moved back to the area,” Mondt said. “I started, a friend introduced me to it, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Word of mouth between friends has helped increase the driver numbers in the past.

“Most of us are retired guys because a lot of times it takes all day,” Mondt said. “‘Working people have a hard time getting on the schedule” because of the time needed.

Mondt went on a drive Tuesday of last week.

“Some days it’s a short day,” Mondt said. Other days Mondt has been out from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. “It depends on the appointments.”

Some drivers aren’t veterans, but they want to support veterans.

“They’re just willing to help because they were not able to serve,” Deike said.

Drivers don’t have have to be veterans and only need to have a valid driver’s license and proof of insurance on a personal vehicle to show they can be insured.

From there drivers need to have a physical in Iowa City and have their fingerprints taken.

Many sick and disabled veterans lack transportation to and from VA medical facilities. The DAV is a nationwide transportation network to meet this need.

“We’re definitely gaining more riders,” Deike said. “We’re not only supporting our own county, we’re supporting some veterans that are riding from other counties.”

Vietnam-era veterans are coming to an age where they are in need of the rides.

“The good thing about our van is it is a stepping stone for when a veteran is going to use the VA health care system, and they’re questioning where the location of the VA  is,” Deike said. “Sometimes we’ll take a veteran to their initial primary care appoint so they can get acquainted with the location.”

After that first visit some veterans don’t use the van again.

“Spouses can ride as well,” Deike said. “If you want someone to listen on where your health care is, you can bring a rider.”

The VA uses a Dodge Caravan with 59,000 miles on it.

“We just got it last year. It’s a 2016,” Deike said. “We certainly put some miles on it.”

“We’re taking guys down to the Veterans Hospital there, or go down to the University (of Iowa) hospitals,” Mondt said. “We do a lot of runs there.”

Occasionally the rides will go to the VA Hospital in Des Moines or clinics in Mason City or Waterloo.

“Floyd County does not own that van,” Deike said. “We lease it through voluntary services out of Iowa City.”

Those services take care of maintenance and gas, and replaces the vans after so many miles.

The network is administered by DAV Hospital Service Coordinators (HSCs) at the VA’s 172 medical centers.

The local Veterans Affairs office takes drivers and spouses out for quarterly breakfasts.

If interested in volunteering to help drive local veterans, contact Maria Deike, Floyd County Veteran’s Affairs Executive director, at 641-228- 1850.