Veterans Ride: Rural Transportation Program Gets New Look

The Texas Veterans Commission awarded handicap accessible vans to seven highly rural counties in Texas to provide veterans with transportation to and from medical appointments. Recently, the TVC bolstered its efforts in advertising the program to these counties’ rural veterans needing transportation. In order to get the program more visibility, each county van was wrapped in an attractive design to reach needy veterans with this mobile advertisement. Other marketing efforts to inform the highly rural county community include local newspaper ads that run weekly and large 36’x4’ banners that can be seen in public or communal areas. Jim Hogg was one of the first counties to have the wrap installed by SIGNCO Wraps and the community’s response to help was almost instantaneous.

“With this new moving advertisement we hope to provide transportation to more and more deserving veterans,” said Jim Hogg Project Administrator, Javier Zambrano. “Now knowing the program exists, the community has reached out to find those veterans who do not have the ability to get to a health care facility.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established the Highly Rural Transportation Grant (HRTG) program to help address the lack of transportation resources Veterans face when trying to access medical care. The grant targets Veterans in highly rural counties where travel times are typically longer or arranging transportation to their VA medical appointments or VA-arranged, non-VA appointments may be difficult.

Contact information for counties providing VA medical transportation is below. If you have any questions, contact

, Grant Officer, by phone at 512-463-8863 or by email at ervey.leos@tvc.texas.gov for more information.