A proposal by two veteran services agents to provide medicalcare transportation was met warmly by Lincoln County supervisorsMonday.

Erle Drane, the Adams County Veteran Services Agency officer,and Garland Fort, the Lincoln County Veteran Services Agencyofficer, informed supervisors they had become aware of a programthat could provide elderly veterans with transportation to medicalfacilities at minimal cost to participating counties.

Drane said he would organize a shuttle service that would runthree days a week from Natchez to the Veterans AdministrationHospital in Jackson, making stops in Meadville and Brookhaven.

The service could be funded through a Veterans Administrationprogram that would include the purchase of a new 10-passenger vanand cover maintenance and fuel costs. Volunteers would be used todrive the van, Drane said, and he already has several of them.

A $12,500 co-pay would be required to begin the program, Dranesaid. The payment would be split equitably among the threeparticipating counties, based upon veteran population.

Both Adams and Lincoln counties have approximately 2,500veterans while Franklin County has only an estimated 650, Dranesaid. He recommended Adams and Lincoln counties split 90 percent ofthe payment.

Drane told supervisors he was not seeking an immediate answer.He did want to inform them of the program so when he was ready toask for funding they would know of it.

The program would provide safe passage for aging veteransseeking needed medical attention, Fort said, while also increasingsafety for other drivers.

Fort said he “was shaken to my bones” one day at the hospital totalk to an elderly veteran who could barely walk or move and haddriven Interstate 55 to the hospital from Crystal Springs.

“It’s scary to think about what could happen on the roads,” hesaid.

When the veterans have no one who can take them, Fort said theystill have to get there.

The nearest Veterans Administration hospital or nursing home isin Jackson, Drane said. Many of the medications veterans receivemust be signed by VA doctors for them to get their discounts.