WASHINGTON — With town hall meetings being held across the country allowing citizens to weigh in on health-care reform, residents of North Carolina’s Fifth District aren’t getting that opportunity — at least not in the “traditional” sense.

A spokesman for Virginia Foxx said Wednesday that the representative who serves Surry and other counties in northwestern North Carolina tentatively has scheduled what he called a “districtwide telephone town hall” meeting for next week.

“It’s basically like a giant teleconference,” explained Aaron Groen, communications director for Foxx, a Republican who lives in Banner Elk.

With Congress now in recess, members on both sides of the aisle are using the opportunity to meet with constituents to drum up support for their positions.

However, the event planned by Foxx’s office will be conducted strictly by telephone — with no “video” element involved — in which constituents will dial a toll-free number to pose questions to the congresswoman on health care or any issue, said Groen.

“Obviously, most people want to talk about health care,” he said.

In contrast to the format chosen by the Fifth District representative, other members of Congress have opted to lead town hall meetings in person at conference centers and similar locations before crowds interested in that issue. However, reflecting the emotion surrounding reform, some of those gatherings have become heated, including protesters with signs and audience members heckling speakers.

When asked if Foxx considered hosting such a face-to-face meeting in light of what’s been occurring elsewhere, her spokesman replied, “That was on the radar screen. I think that she decided this (the telephone format) was a way to reach out to everyone at once.” Foxx’s sprawling district stretches across sparsely populated mountain counties in addition to Piedmont areas including portions of Winston-Salem.

Groen said the accessibility factor envisioned by Foxx takes into account that most citizens possess a telephone.

“This is a method she’s been doing a couple of years now,” Groen said of the telephone format. “In the past, it’s gone over well.”

The Foxx spokesman stressed Wednesday that by choosing that method, Foxx is not mirroring concerns about possible confrontations in a traditional town hall setting. People who call in still can ask the “heated questions,” Groen said.

He also addressed the question of how easy it will be for a typical citizen to get through on the telephone, given that the 12 counties of the Fifth District contain about 890,000 residents. “In the past, it’s gone well over an hour,” Groen said of similar telephone conferences. In comparison, some of the traditional town meetings recently have spanned two hours or more.

Additional details about Foxx’s telephone town hall meeting tentatively set for next week, including the toll-free number to be used, will be announced by the end of this week. Groen said Wednesday that details still were being worked out with a company that assists with the conferences.

Foxx will be stationed at one of her district offices to field the questions, either in Clemmons or Boone, the spokesman said.

She is co-sponsoring health-care reform legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives which would expand access to care, the centerpiece of which is tax credits for the uninsured. It also would provide federal incentives for states to create high-risk insurance pools for Americans who have difficulty securing coverage.

Burr: No Meeting Set

A spokesman for Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem resident who is one of two U.S. senators representing North Carolina, said Wednesday that Burr also has not scheduled a town hall meeting on health care.

“Not right now,” said Bill Albritton, a staff assistant to the senator.

Albritton added that Burr’s schedule is set one week at a time, and while no such meeting is on tap now, one could be soon. “Check back with us,” the spokesman said.

Burr’s updated schedule of appearances also is listed on the Republican senator’s Web site, Albritton said.

As of Wednesday, Kay Hagan, a Democrat who is North Carolina’s other senator, was considering a town hall meeting on health-care reform.