Announcement, Press Release |
During a recent visit to the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center, staff gave the Hon. Michael Hood a tour of the organization’s Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) which, when deployed, provides health care to unhoused veterans by mental health clinicians, social workers and other health providers.
Judge Hood, who presides over the Veterans Treatment Courts in Skokie, said he immediately saw a benefit to having the MMU visit the Skokie Courthouse in the Second Municipal District.
“I have some contacts at the VA and on my last visit they showed me the unit,” Hood said. “I said you should come to Skokie, and they said they would. (It was) as easy as that.”
The Jesse Brown MMU will be available to all veterans, who qualify for VHA healthcare, from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, July 11, at the Skokie Courthouse, 5600 Old Orchard Road, in Skokie.
“With a medical unit, we have the unique opportunity to expand our community outreach and boost our efforts in Chicago and Northwest Indiana to reach our Veterans,” said Sergio V. Grajeda, PhD, LCSW. “We are also prepared to offer medical, mental health and substance use disorder services; provide support to our transitional housing sites, contract residential service facilities, and local community shelters; and enhance collaboration with other Veteran community organizations.”
The MMU will be staffed, Friday, to provide real time medical and social work visits, blood pressure checks and medical education. Staff will also be on hand to enroll eligible veterans in the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“The VA is the most powerful asset we have in the Veterans Treatment Court. They are the engine that drives this court,” Judge Hood said. “The mobile unit at the Skokie Courthouse will provide extraordinary access to those veterans who cannot easily get to one of the larger VA facilities.”
The Skokie Veterans Treatment Court is part the Circuit Court of Cook County’s network of 20 Problem-Solving Courts operating in the Leighton Criminal Courthouse and the five suburban municipal district courts.
The mission of the Cook County Veterans Treatment Court is to assist those who have served in the United States military to reduce their risk of further involvement in the criminal justice system in the future and to improve their overall quality of life. This mission is achieved through the combined efforts of the Veterans Treatment Court Team and the community, under the supervision of the Court.
The ideal outcome of this program is for the participants to remove themselves from the criminal justice system and self-destructive behaviors in order to become productive members of society with a renewed sense of self-respect and dignity.
Photo Courtesy of the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
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