Why Do Some PTSD Veteran Caregivers Matter More?

Why Do Some PTSD Veteran Caregivers Matter More?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 24, 2017

None of us should matter more than the rest of us. So why is it that only Post 9-11 veterans seem to matter more than all other generations? Do people simply assume the others have all they need? Do they think our generation has nothing to teach them?

There are no new wounds, no new heartaches, no new struggles for the veterans or the families they come home to. When we read about the younger spouses struggling to help their veterans, we are shocked that they still know very little. Shocked? Yes, because when our veterans came home, we had to learn on our own and lean on each other.

There is a story out of Ohio, "Veterans' spouses get pampered" but only OEF and OIF spouses seem to matter.

Read the article because it tells the story of what it is like when they come home to all of us. None of this is new but as social media seems to have inflicted oblivious reporters seeking an easy way of doing their jobs, they flock to what they see, instead of searching for the truth. Our generation and the ones before us feel as if we didn't matter then and we don't matter now.

“I didn’t know any of this,” Megan Cain said. “We had a young son. We were so grateful for my husband to come back. When he wasn’t the same, and he had all these issues, I was lost. It would be the middle of the night, and he’d walk the perimeter of our house with a baseball bat. He knew it wasn’t rational, but he felt they would come back to retaliate for what he’d done.”

We could have told her. After all, it is exactly the same thing all of us went through when no one noticed.

They still don't! We don't want them to have any less. Actually, we want them to have a lot more than we had, but we never planned on being left behind. 

Caregiver Support Program Resumes Full Operations...For Some Veterans

VA Caregiver Support Program Resumes Full Operations
July 28, 2017

WASHINGTON – Today the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it is resuming full operations of the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. The resumption follows an April 17 decision to temporarily suspend certain clinical revocations from the program to conduct a strategic review aimed at strengthening the program.

“VA has taken immediate steps to improve the program’s operations,” said VA Secretary David J. Shulkin. M.D. “Our top focus during the review has been to listen, evaluate and act swiftly to make changes that will better meet the needs of our Veterans and caregivers. This does not mean our work is done. We will continue to refine and improve this important program.”

VA’s three-month review indicated a need for better communication about clinical revocations, improved internal processes and procedures, and additional staff training.

Following the review, VA issued a new directive outlining staff responsibilities, Veteran and caregiver eligibility requirements, available benefits and procedures for revocations from the program.

VA also conducted mandatory staff training on the new directive and implemented standardized communications and outreach materials to educate Veterans and caregivers about the program.

Additionally, the VA will be formalizing additional ways to ensure that the experience of Veterans’ families, caregivers and survivors are understood and that, where needed, new, or additional, assistance is explored. The VA is committed to listening to the voices of those who care for Veterans of all eras and to collaborating to improve services, outreach and awareness.

The caregiver program website has also been redesigned, and now includes a section linking caregivers and Veterans of all ages to resources and home- and community-based services available through VA’s Geriatrics and Extended Care programs.

More information on the program is available at www.caregiver.va.gov.

Doing "For" Some Veterans Does Something "Not Good" To Them

Stop, Look Around and Think of What We're Doing to Most Veterans
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 26, 2017

This hangs on the wall right behind my computer to remind me of how long this has all been going on. It is faded, old and worn out, much like my patience over the last decade.

It seems as if everyone has pulled their head out of their...whatever-wherever, and discovered that veterans have a problem that they have the only solution for. It is almost as if they just woke up one day and decided they were the Messier of PTSD.

After all, if they had not heard of it before, it must be something totally new. (Gee, safe bet the folks thinking the earth was flat were stunned to find out suddenly it got round when they were sleeping.) Well, PTSD has been called that a lot longer than I've been doing this. 

How did you think I learned it almost 35 years ago? I learned reading clinical books with a huge dictionary because at least one word in every sentence was cringe worthy.

I learned from experts. One of them was this guy. What I want you to notice are the title and the date.

Forgotten Warrior Project: Identity, Ideology and Crisis - The Vietnam Veteran in Transition Paperback – 1977

The date is important because the pamphlet is something the DAV funded based on the work from John Wilson PhD and put together by Jim Goodwin PhD but all that work was pretty much forgotten about, ironically.

There is a commercial I hear on a daily basis while I'm at work, trying to enjoy the music, when I hear a guy talk about how bad it is to be forgotten about right after he lists all the things PTSD used to be called. He says "now it is called" at the same time he talks about OEF and OIF veterans. And that ladies and gentlemen is the basis for my rant being held in control while the vein pops out of my head.

The problem is, most of the charities out there have not just forgotten about the majority of veterans in this country THEY FORGOT THEY WAITED LONGER FOR SOMEONE TO REMEMBER THEY WERE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!

S. 1963 later became P.L. 111-163, the Caregivers and
Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010 (hereinafter,
``the Caregivers law''), on May 5, 2010. 

At the same hearing, Rick Weidman of Vietnam Veterans of America observed: "Many Vietnam veterans are alive today because their wives, or sisters, or other relatives have been taking care of them for decades. Heretofore there was never any recognition of the fact that these veterans would either have had to enter into long term care or would have been on the street if not for the extraordinary efforts of these family caregivers. Either way the additional cost to American society would have been extremely large, whether in fiscal cost or the societal cost of having many additional veterans among the homeless."

And Weidman was absolutely correct! Right now some in Congress are trying to do the right thing while others are saying the government just can't afford to do it for all families. So far no one has explained why they found the money to do it for the smallest population of those giving care to some of our veterans.

Gee do you think it may be a good time to actually think of what we should do for veterans instead of letting so many get away with doing it to them?

DAV fight for post-9/11 caregiver benefits

Disabled American veterans fight for post-9/11 caregiver benefits 
CBS Radio Connecting Vets 
Jake Hughes 
June 22, 2017 

“It’s bringing to light that a lot of pre-9/11 families, caregivers and veterans like our family, are under served by the VA,” says Jason Courneen, adding that he and their daughters are the only way his wife is able to get through her day.

In 1998, a horrible accident befell Alexis Courneen. While serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, Courneen was struck by a crane carrying a buoy that caused traumatic brain injury and other injuries, leaving her entirely reliant on her husband and caregiver, Jason Courneen.

Now, she’s fighting to ensure she can get the same benefits as a service member injured after 9/11.

“We spent a good 10 years very frustrated, very isolated, while I was learning that it was okay to speak up to the doctors,” Jason Courneen says.

Currently, the Department of Veteran Affairs has the Post-9/11 Comprehensive Caregiver Program, which offers enhanced support for caregivers of eligible veterans seriously injured in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001.

To qualify, service members must have sustained or aggravated a serious injury — including traumatic brain injury, psychological trauma or other mental disorder — in the line of duty, on or after September 11, 2001; and be in need of personal care services to perform one or more activities of daily living and/or need supervision or protection based on symptoms or residuals of neurological impairment or injury.

However, the program leaves out service members injured before 9/11, going as far back as Vietnam Veterans. A study released by Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families, highlights the disparity of care and attention given by the VA between pre- and post-9/11 veterans.

“It’s bringing to light that a lot of pre-9/11 families, caregivers and veterans like our family, are under served by the VA,” says Jason Courneen, adding that he and their daughters are the only way his wife is able to get through her day.

read more here

Glad someone is thinking about the Forgotten Warrior Generation and families like mine!

Glad my husband and I are life members of the DAV and the Auxiliary!

Senate Finally Figures Out All Generations of Caregivers Should Matter?

If you asked older veterans if Post-9-11 veterans should be treated like they have been, they'd say "hell no" but I have to tell you, they are pissed off they are being ignored in all of this.

Senators want caregiver benefits phased in for older veterans
Stars and Stripes
By Tom Philpott
Special to Stars and Stripes
Published: May 5, 2016

There are problems with the program, but the VA alone isn’t to blame, said Adrian Atizado, deputy legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, whose national service officers field caregiver complaints. Congress underfunded it. 

A showpiece of the Veterans First package that the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee unveiled last week is a multibillion-dollar initiative to phase in for older generations of severely injured veterans robust caregiver benefits first enacted in 2010 only for the post-9/11 generation.

Though it’s only part of a huge omnibus bill containing many veteran reform measures that senators previously introduced as separate bills, the plan to expand caregiver benefit coverage carries the biggest price tag. The early estimate is $3.1 billion over its first five years.

For in-home caregivers of thousands of vets with severe physical or mental injuries, it would mean cash stipends for their time and effort, health insurance if caregivers have none, guaranteed periods of paid respite to avoid caregiver burnout and training to enhance patient safety.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., prime architect of the caregiver expansion plan, negotiated with Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., the committee chairman, to secure a modified plan that could be funded with budget offsets and gain bipartisan support on the committee. That should improve its chances of becoming law despite still formidable obstacles ahead.
read more here

Older veterans came home with the same wounds and the same long waits for Congress to fix the VA. After all, Congress has had since 1946 to fix it. While you have salamanders running the show then running from their own records, at the same time they want to send veterans away from the VA while screaming about how bad civilian healthcare is, you get a predicted outcome. Much like salamanders can be used to protect, they can also be deadly and that is what we really need to talk about.

Did you know that older veterans are the majority of the backlog of claims? They are also the largest percentage of veterans committing suicide. Top that off with the fact that no wound created with military service is new and the toll on families is just as harsh for us, but we've been struggling for decades while fighting for the generations coming after us.

Seems like we did a pretty good job on that end but as for taking care of our own, we pretty much suck at it. We let the Caregivers Bill be pushed through Congress even though it didn't include us.  We let all these neophytes running around the country screaming about raising awareness when they didn't even bother to get a clue first that when it comes to the problems veterans face, they are new to the road all too well traveled.  There isn't much they have to teach us and they don't care about what we want to teach them so they have it all easier.

What makes all this taste even more bitter is that no one in our generation wants them to lose anything.  We want them to have what they paid for and what they wouldn't need if they did not risk their lives serving this country.

Given the choice between letting them have it all or no one getting anything, older veterans would step out of line but in a nation with so many bumper slogans about how much our veterans mean to the rest of the country, it seems reprehensible they would ever have to face a choice like that at all.

Do we really care about our veterans or don't we?

Veteran Caregiver Stipends Dropped 7,000 Families

Reminder; this program was for only post 9-11 veterans and their families. Older ones, waiting even longer for help were not part of this. We didn't matter.

Veterans’ caregivers lose VA stipends, struggle to understand why
The Olympian
Adam Ashton
January 29, 2016

So far, about 7,000 veterans who once were enrolled in the program no longer are getting stipends. About a third were cut because VA staff members determined they did not meet medical criteria for the support.

For some, caregiver stipends validated work at home with loved ones

Overall program growing at a fast pace, adding 400 caregivers every month

Advocates notice more complaints, but unsure what’s behind changes

Alisha McNulty of Olympia received a stipend from the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2012 to help her family care for her husband, Jared, an Iraq veteran with post-traumatic stress. The family lost the benefit in December. She and her husband do not understand why. Steve Bloom sbloom@theolympian.com

For three years, a monthly stipend of $1,275 from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs gave Sarah Jenkins the freedom to care for her husband without having to worry about resuming her career.

That let her keep a calm home and respond instantly if her veteran husband experienced one of the mood swings that have characterized his behavior since a group of mortars landed close to him on an Iraqi air field.

The checks abruptly stopped in August when the VA declared her family no longer needed them. Jenkins is still trying to figure out why.

“How am I going to keep him still feeling safe? That’s what the caregiver program has enabled me to do — to keep him feeling safe,” said Jenkins, 39, whose family recently moved to their hometown in North Idaho after spending the previous 17 years in Roy and Yelm.
read more here

Air Force Veteran Stuck Without Care for Alzheimer's

Air Force vet can't find care
Daily Press
Prue Salasky
November 8, 2015

The VA has developed "care sheets" for people who take care of veterans with Alzheimer's, PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Its website says bluntly, "Currently there is no treatment to stop or reverse Alzheimer's disease." It advises that a caretaker's life "may change dramatically as you adjust your already busy schedule to include increasing care needs for the veteran you care for."

At age 53, Jim Garner is losing his battle for his mind with Early Onset Alzheimer's. Garner was rejected as too young for clinical trials for Alzheimer's and is still too young for federally funded care. Garner was diagnosed by the National Institute of Health in 2011 with "mild cognitive impairment," the precursor to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. The genetically pre-determined disease has devastated his family--his mother died of the disease at age 61, his older brother at 52. (Kaitlin McKeown/Daily Press)

NEWPORT NEWS — He served honorably in the Air Force for 23 years as a radar tech. He didn't see combat and wasn't disabled when he retired.

As an enlisted man, Newport News resident Jim Garner qualified for a military pension. He supplemented that income with a civilian job that suited his fix-it talents, and continued working in retirement to support his family.

Half a dozen years after retiring from the Air Force, he was diagnosed with "mild cognitive impairment," a precursor to Alzheimer's, the degenerative brain disease that has no treatment or cure.

He was 48 years old and the father of two young children, daughter Frankie, then 9, and son Bradley, then 6.

How would the family manage without a breadwinner? Who would take care of Jim while his wife, Karen, went to work? What would happen when he could no longer live at home? What community programs could provide the care needed for a progressive chronic disease in someone too young to qualify for federally supported senior programs?
read more here

This is the Caregivers Act

Services for Family Caregivers of Post-9/11 Veterans

Family Caregivers provide crucial support in caring for Veterans. VA recognizes that Family Caregivers in a home environment can enhance the health and well-being of Veterans under VA care.

Under the "Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010," additional VA services are now available to seriously injured post-9/11 Veterans and their Family Caregivers through a new program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers. VA is now accepting applications for these services.

Who Is Eligible?

Veterans eligible for this program are those who sustained a serious injury – including traumatic brain injury, psychological trauma or other mental disorder – incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, on or after September 11, 2001.

Veterans eligible for this program must also be in need of personal care services because of an inability to perform one or more activities of daily living and/or need supervision or protection based on symptoms or residuals of neurological impairment or injury.

To be eligible for the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, Veterans must first be enrolled for VA health services, if not enrolled previously.

Services Available to Family Caregivers through this Program

The law will provide additional assistance to primary Family Caregivers of eligible post-9/11 Veterans and Servicemembers. Services for this group include:
Monthly stipend
Travel expenses (including lodging and per diem while accompanying Veterans undergoing care)
Access to health care insurance (if the Caregiver is not already entitled to care or services under a health care plan)
Mental health services and counseling
Comprehensive VA Caregiver training provided by Easter Seals
Respite care (not less than 30 days per year)

Disabled Veteran Loses Caregiver Wife's Benefits

4 tours in 4 years! Wow. There is a section in this article that sums up what has been missed all along.

“The stipend is not an entitlement or benefit but rather recognition of the care and support a caregiver provides to the veteran,” Meyer said in the email. “The stipend may change or be discontinued if the veteran’s care needs change.”

Thanks to Congress, they do not give the same recognition to older veterans families, offering the same care for the same wounds for a lot longer.

Hill County veteran, wife fighting loss of VA caregiver benefits
Waco Trib
By REGINA DENNIS
April 12, 2015

The couple lost their initial appeal of the decision. The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, which administers the caregiver benefits to veterans in this region, wrote in a decision letter to the family that Thomas Hopkins’ case “does not indicate a serious physical or psychological injury” that requires full-time caregiving assistance.

Staff photo— Jerry Larson
Kristina Hopkins kisses her husband, Thomas, on the forehead. The couple says they were wrongfully dropped from the caregiver program at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System despite that they say Kristina must stay home full-time to care for her husband due to his injuries.

A Hill County veteran and his wife think they were wrongfully dropped from a Veterans Affairs program that helped cover caregiver services he relied on because of debilitating service injuries.

Kristina Hopkins was accepted into the VA’s caregiver support program in 2011. She provided round-the-clock care and assistance for her husband, Thomas, a disabled Army veteran who completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2005, plus an 18-month stint in Iraq beginning in 2006.

The program grants compensation to the spouse or designated relative who provides full-time care to a veteran, presumably forgoing full-time job opportunities to do so.

But the Hopkinses, who live in Blum, were notified in June that they were being dropped from the program, despite Thomas Hopkins being confined to a wheelchair most days because of degenerative arthritis he says he developed as a result of his paratrooper duties with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Kristina Hopkins quit working six years ago to take care of her husband. Without the caregiver benefits, the family cannot afford the mortgage on their home and now must move.

For example, Thomas Hopkins said he suffered at least three traumatic brain injuries while in service, which has affected his memory and concentration. He said he also was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, sciatic nerve damage and post-concussive headaches.
read more here

Congress Decided to Start Class Warfare on Warfighters

This is what is wrong with Congress, among many other things,

To be eligible, a veteran seeking caregiver assistance must have a serious, enduring injury incurred or aggravated while on duty after Sept. 11, 2001, and require help with such basic daily needs as eating, dressing and bathing. Payment amounts depend on the degree of help needed.

This may sound good to some folks but in the Veterans community, we're not happy at all. Why? Because members of Congress decided to start class warfare on warfighters. Since when does one generation of veterans matter more than all others?

They spent decades listening to major veterans groups fighting for all veterans. The DAV, VFW and American Legion have been testifying year after year. In 2014 the DAV helped 340,000 veterans and family members with their claims. They fight for ALL VETERANS to get the benefits they not only need but paid the price for.

There is a saying among veterans

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America," for an amount of "up to and including my life."

Yet members of Congress decided since the OEF and OIF veterans were getting all the attention they could write a bill just for them. Forget about older veterans and families paying the price all the same much longer without any help. Forget about the families losing their homes and falling apart because they were not cared for going all the way back to 1946 when the first group of politicians sat in the chairs of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

They must have figured that if the press didn't care about the rest of generations, they didn't have to either. Yet as bad as that is, even when they decided to give out caregivers funds to the new generation of veterans, they messed that up as well. This is a story of families in Colorado losing what Congress promised them.

Veterans in Denver see cuts in caregiver funds
The Denver Post
By David Olinger
POSTED:03/15/2015

The Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Denver has generated more appeals than any other VA hospital for denials of financial assistance to those caring for injured soldiers in their homes.

The program, intended to help spouses and other relatives provide care to war veterans seriously hurt since 2001, has been growing rapidly nationwide.

Yet the Denver hospital and its satellite offices in cities including military-heavy Colorado Springs have reduced the numbers of approved caregivers since May.

Revocations — when the VA notifies caregivers that they no longer qualify for assistance — are occurring at a higher rate in the Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado, than in all but one of 21 regions in the nation.

To be eligible, a veteran seeking caregiver assistance must have a serious, enduring injury incurred or aggravated while on duty after Sept. 11, 2001, and require help with such basic daily needs as eating, dressing and bathing. Payment amounts depend on the degree of help needed.

As of last month, caregivers to 221 veterans in the region had been revoked since the program started in 2010, with 491 still getting assistance.

Jay "Jeryl" Adams of Colorado Springs is one of those veterans.

He enlisted at age 17 and deployed to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq. There, he befriended a barefoot boy who seemed able to supply almost anything a soldier might want.

The boy brought food and tea to Adams at the gate and sold him items from knives to a stereo. In turn, Adams decided to buy him a pair of shoes.

But on the day he intended to deliver them, he heard a ruckus outside the gate. Soldiers were yelling and pointing guns at the boy, who wore a new blue vest. Adams ran toward him. He got within about 30 feet before a suicide bomb exploded, splattering him with a child's body parts, leaving a crater where the boy stood.

His brain rattled, Adams walked around and around the crater. "I remember the sensation of guts on my skin, the smell of human flesh," he recalled. "I lost it. I went absolutely nuts."

Adams' life slid downhill from there. He survived two combat tours in Iraq but returned home a damaged soldier. A decade later he suffers seizures followed by bouts of incontinence. He attempted suicide by swallowing 54 anti-anxiety pills, compelling his wife, Lauren Adams Tkacik, to keep his medicines locked. His weight has ballooned from 180 pounds to more than 400. He relies on Lauren to help him take medicine, change clothes, shave and shower, make a sandwich, leave home.
read more here

It would have been better had they actually waiting until they knew what they were doing before they did it. It would have been even better if they stopped to think of all the other veterans out there with the same wounds, the same basic needs and the same family members giving up so much to take care of them. It would have been best if they listened to the service organizations taking care of all generation of veterans equally instead of the new groups getting all the attention from reporters. After all, they remember families like mine.

Idaho National Guard LT Accused of 10 Year Fraud

This person was a Lieutenant in the Idaho National Guard. Think about that for a second. This person also stands charged with fabricating wounds he did not receive while serving in Iraq. He did a lot more damage than just taking money, if all this is true. If all this is true, then the men under his command, really wounded and trying to get benefits for real wounds just suffered the ultimate betrayal.

Feds: Snoqualmie coach lied his way into Purple Heart
Former Idaho National Guard member accused of stealing $250,000 in government benefits SEATTLEPI.COM
BY LEVI PULKKINEN STAFF
January 29, 2015

Wright hired his sister, Karen Bevens, as his caretaker; Bevens, a 43-year-old Duvall resident, now faces a single fraud count.

A Snoqualmie man accused of duping the Army into awarding him a Purple Heart now faces fraud charges.

Federal prosecutors claim Darryl Lee Wright managed to steal $250,000 in government benefits during the past 10 years. Wright, 46, is alleged to fraudulently put himself forward as a wounded Iraq veteran to gain some of the money.

A federal grand jury returned a nine count indictment against Wright in November. The allegations were unsealed Wednesday; Wright is alleged to have defrauded the Veterans Affairs Department, the Army and the U.S. Commerce Department, among other federal agencies.

At the height of the fraud, Wright and his sister were receiving $10,341 a month in undeserved government benefits, according to the indictment. They did so while Wright worked, coached basketball and ran for public office.

According to the indictment, Wright claimed to have suffered traumatic brain injury during an Aug. 30, 2005, rocket attack while he was serving in Iraq as a lieutenant with the Idaho National Guard.

Wright ultimately received a Combat Action Badge – a decoration reserved for soldiers who’ve been under fire – and a Purple Heart signifying a battle wound.
read more here

Think about the stories we've read over the years about claims not being approved and wounded suffering for their service. Here's a reminder in case you forgot.
Some from Idaho killed in Iraq 2005

• Army Sgt. Kelly S. Morris, 24, of Boise, was killed by small-arms fire March 30, 2005, while patrolling in east Baghdad.
• Army Sgt. John B. Ogburn III, 45, of Fruitland, died May 22, 2005, in a Humvee accident near Kirkuk, Iraq.
• Army Staff Sgt. Virgil R. Case, 37, of Mountain Home, died June 1, 2005, in Kirkuk, Iraq, of non-combat-related injuries.
• Army Spc.Carrie French, 19, of Caldwell, died June 5, 2005, in Kirkuk when her vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Dustin V. Birch, 22, of St. Anthony, was one of five Marines killed in a roadside bombing June 9, 2005, in Haqlaniyah, Iraq.
• Army Sgt. Ivan Vargas Alarcon, 23, of Jerome, died Nov. 17, 2005, in Tal-Afar, Iraq, when the Humvee he was riding in flipped during combat operations.

The Denver Post has a reminder of some of what people have forgotten. Here are just a few of the images they collected of war in Iraq.

A U.S. soldier carries an Iraqi girl away from the scene of three explosions September 30, 2004 in Baghdad, Iraq. Three separate explosions near a U.S. military convoy which was passing the opening ceremony for a sewage station killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 100 others in southern Baghdad according to Iraqi police. (Photo by Wathiq Khuzaie/Getty Images)

Although wounded, Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, fires on an enemy position after being attacked with a car bomb, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo/Army Times, M. Scott Mahaskey, via USA Today)

U.S. Army Sergeant 1st Class Troy Hawkins of the 1st Cavalry, Task Force 1-9, falls to the ground after being wounded during a firefight while on patrol with an Iraqi Army unit February 16, 2005 in the Haifa Street neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq. After being tended to by a medic he continued to fight in the narrow streets. The U.S. Army was handing control of the volatile area over to the Iraqi military as they continued to decrease their involvement in the city. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

VA Approved More Than 15,000 Caregivers

Veterans Health Administration Overwhelmed by Caregiver Applications
Delays in applications due to outdated IT system
Free Beacon
BY: Ellison Barber
December 3, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to struggle to meet the demands of applications for a program intended to assist family members caring for wounded veterans, according to testimony at a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on Wednesday.

“The number of applications we’re getting every month is 500. We had anticipated that the number of applications would eventually reach a plateau, but that hasn’t happened,” said Dr. Maureen McCarthy, the deputy chief of patient care services at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The VHA’s Family Caregiver Program began in May of 2011, a year after the president signed it into law. Officials initially estimated that 4,000 eligible caregivers would enroll in the program within the first three years. By May of 2014, more than 15,000 caregivers were approved for the program—nearly quadruple the original estimate.

The Government Accountability Office released a report in September 2014 evaluating the program and found that in addition to “significantly underestimat[ing]” the demand for services, the program was hamstrung by an outdated information technology (IT) system.
read more here

'Nam vets rally Army of volunteers to help disabled comrade

'Nam vets rally to help disabled comrade
WCF Courier
By Pat Kinney
November 28, 2014

WATERLOO
Walter Sanders went into the Navy in 1968 expecting he wouldn't be sent to Vietnam. He was sent there anyway.

Now the veteran and his wife of 43 years, Karen, are encountering new battles they didn't bargain for: Walter's disability and other health issues make simply getting in and out of the shower a challenge.

Sanders is getting help from two fellow Vietnam veterans in a project supported by Wells Fargo Bank.

Building contractor Rick Reuter and Larry Walters of the Cedar Falls Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wells Fargo and an army of contractors and volunteers are expanding the bathroom in the Sanders home in the City View neighborhood on Waterloo's east side to accommodate his disabilities.

It's part of an ongoing Wells Fargo program to help veterans and includes a $10,000 grant.

"You don't know what a blessing this is. It's a blessing. I appreciate all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Walter Sanders, who along with Karen could hardly contain their relief.

"God works through people," he said.

Sanders was a Navy storekeeper in Vietnam at Camp Tien Sha near Da Nang. Part of his duties, for which he volunteered, involved moving supplies to frontline troops near Vietnam's demilitarized zone during his tour of duty in 1968. He was exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.

Over the past 10 years he has suffered prostate cancer, a stroke, diabetes and multiple brain tumors. He is now considered cancer free but is still being seen at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Iowa City. He has mobility and balance issues and uses a cane and a wheelchair. He requires substantial care from Karen.
read more here

PTSD Veteran Lost VA Benefit in Move Between States

After 4 tours Army veteran had what he needed from the VA. He even had financial help under Caregivers bill from Congress so his wife was paid to take care of him. I know that sounds strange but a few years ago that is what happened for OEF and OIF veteran families but not other veterans.

Where did his story go wrong? When he moved from Tennessee to Colorado so he could use medical pot to help with PTSD. In one state he qualified for a Caregiver but in another, poof, he didn't anymore.

Army veteran trying to get help from PTSD
KRDO.com
Greg Miller
Multimedia Journalist
Sep 24, 2014

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.
Jerry Hamilton was deployed in the army four times in nine years.

“I was in numerous explosions, we got mortared, we were targeted on a daily basis, in numerous explosions,” Jerry Hamilton said.

He's been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but his family thinks it could be something more.

"What the hell is wrong with my husband? What's going on? What is this? This is not just PTSD!,” Cissie Hamilton said.

What started as a small facial tick has led to seizures, Tourette syndrome, body shocks and dementia symptoms.

Eventually he and his wife qualified for the VA's highest level of caregiver assistance.

So his wife quit her job to stay with him.

The drugs the VA prescribed alleviated his symptoms somewhat, but not enough, as you can see from a video the family posted to Facebook.
read more here

Wounded Marine's Momma Caregiver To All

Marine Finds Hope, Recovery With Caregiver
Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment
Story by Cpl. Lisette Leyva
March 12, 2014

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Marine veteran Cpl. Richard Stalder, a 23-year-old former machine gunner with 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, began suffering from kidney stones and full-body tremors in early 2010. Richard’s mother, Claudia Stalder, or “Momma,” has been his caregiver ever since.

Richard has times where he doesn’t want to be with me. He would rather be with Marines and people his own age. Richard has to have his space and I understand that. But, he also knows he needs help. He says we’re the “dream team” and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It happened here. I was driving down the road in a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle doing some training. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to go to the bathroom but was screaming in pain. I knew something was wrong.

I didn’t want Momma to know. I tried to handle everything on my own. I called Momma and told her, ‘Hey, I got this.’ Humph … I didn’t.

I knew he didn’t “have it.”

Richard wasn’t able to stay with his unit; he wasn’t able to deploy with his Marines. Life as he knew it was over. He had a negative attitude and was getting worse. Something inside told me, “You need to go. You need to go help him.” Richard had given up and I wasn’t going to let that happen. He’s mine and I want him well.

One day Momma called and told me … she said… it’s like I cant even say it.

She just told me I needed to pick her up at the airport. After that, she never left my side. I went down a lot of dark roads — my guys left on a deployment and I couldn’t be there. Momma did what she did and kind of brought me back.

She brought him back.

Around here she isn’t Claudia or Mrs. Stalder or ma’am. She’s Momma. Some of the wounded warriors don’t have someone here to cheer them on or help them through these trials. But when Momma is here, they don’t have to worry about that. She helps make everything better. read more here

Members of congress forgot Veterans already paid the bill!

This is about treating all veterans and families the same, not just covering certain families of certain generations and certain wars! As for paying for it, some members of Congress must have forgotten that it was already paid for by the veterans when risked their lives!

Massive veterans bill heading toward Senate vote
USA TODAY
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
Gregg Zoroya
February 24, 2014

What has been characterized as the most sweeping veterans legislation in decades could reach the Senate floor for a vote as early as Tuesday.

The legislation authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, contains 143 provisions and would cost more than $30 billion.

With a long title — the Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014 — the bill, among other things, includes: restoring cost-of-living increases for military retiree pensions; expanding Department of Veterans Affairs health care, allowing the VA to acquire 27 new medical facilities and paying for reproductive services for 2,300 troops wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

It would expand compensation for family caregivers of disabled veterans — something now provided for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan — to families of veterans of all wars.

Nearly all veteran organizations support the bill.
read more here

Family Caregivers of All Severely Injured and Ill Veterans

Family Caregivers of All Severely Injured and Ill Veterans
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 9, 2014

Memorial Day is the day we remember all generations of war fighters we credit with obtaining the freedom of this nation and retaining it since 1775. We do not honor one generation over another. Veterans Day is the day we honor all our veterans no matter when they served.

If we can really say we support our veterans then it is vital to insure that all veterans are treated equally.

Independent Budget is a joint effort by AMVETS, DAV, VFW and PVA

"Our veterans have always stepped forward when we needed them to do the tough jobs, often in the worst conditions imaginable, and while making numerous personal sacrifices and enduring physical and emotional pain. Veterans have paid their dues in full. It is time that those sacrifices be repaid in kind."

Notice how this statement from those organizations do not separate generations but include all together equally? That has been the mission of most veterans groups. The problem is it isn't in the interest of all veterans groups.

Summary: H.R.2342 — 111th Congress (2009-2010)
There is one summary for this bill. Bill summaries are authored by CRS.
Shown Here:
Introduced in House (05/11/2009)

Wounded Warrior Project Family Caregiver Act of 2009 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as part of authorized Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home health care services for veterans, to furnish to a family member or other designated individual advanced instruction and training and certification as a family caregiver for a veteran who incurred serious wounds on active duty during, or in training for, Operations Enduring Freedom or Iraqi Freedom and is determined to be in need of personal care services.

Requires the Secretary to provide to such caregiver: (1) appropriate support services; and (2) a monthly family caregiver allowance. Authorizes the Secretary to provide medical care to such caregiver.

While Vietnam veterans families have endured and suffered longer, just as Korean War and WWII veterans had, all generations were fought for by the Vietnam veterans and their families.

We have been pushed out of the way for far too long. Let congress know they should never, ever support one generation of veterans over another.

Family Caregivers of Severely Injured and Ill Veterans

Many family members serve as lifelong caregivers to severely injured veterans. To respond, Congress enacted Public Law 111-163, the “Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act.” More than 10,000 families of veterans are now enrolled in this support program.

Over our objection, the law limits eligibility for full benefits and services to families of veterans who served on or after September 11, 2001. This comprehensive support program should apply to all service-disabled veterans on the basis of medical and other pertinent needs, not based solely on the period of military service involved. To make the benefit more effective, we urge Congress to authorize expansion of the comprehensive program to cover family caregivers of all service- disabled veterans, irrespective of a veteran’s period of service.

Our families do not deserve less from the Congress. We have waiting longer for the same issues the OEF and OIF families face. We have to take care of our disabled veterans the same as they do. Did members of Congress ever stop to think about how the Caregiver Act made us feel when we were excluded?

Special Report: Wounded Warrior Project

Special Report: Wounded Warrior Project
ABC 13 News
Updated: Wednesday, February 5 2014

One of the best known charities for Veterans is coming under criticism. Some are wondering if the Wounded Warrior Project is misusing donations. They've served thousands of wounded Vets through their 19 different programs.

The Wounded Warrior Project has experienced dramatic growth, but some question whether donors really know how their gifts are being spent. Their ads tug at your heart strings, pleading for your support to help wounded warriors. Their mission is to raise awareness and provide assistance to service members injuried after 9/11.

Alex Graham is a wounded Vietnam Veteran and columnist who writes for Veterans Today, a military and foreign affairs journal. He and other Veterans worry not enough of the millions of dollars raised by Wounded Warrior Project, is going to wounded Vets.

His biggest complaint is that WWP successfully lobbied Congress to fund V.A. caregivers for Vets wounded only after 9/11. Graham bases his complaints on figures found on the charity's IRS 990 tax form. It shows total revenue was $154.9 Million in the 2011 calendar year, ending in September 2012.

Total fundraising expenses were $20.5 Million and total management and general expenses were $5.4 Million. Graham feels too many top execs at WWP are making big salaries. From $150,000 to more than $300,000 a year, with CEO Steven Nardizzi receiving a handsome incentive bonus.
read more here

Military caregiver, the life some of us choose

This is a wonderful story but some do it by choice. I met my husband ten years after he left the Army and Vietnam. It was a choice for me and I didn't go into this marriage blindly. I learned what PTSD was over 30 years ago. I loved him and all that came with him was part of the man I loved and still do. There are families like mine all over the country doing the same thing. We choose this life willingly.

A job nobody applies for - military caregiver
Military caregivers speak out about need for support
By Jeanette Steele
JAN. 24, 2014

It can be an emotionally brutal "job," and one that nobody really applies for.

With more than half of U.S. troops married, the hard work of dealing with war injuries – both missing limbs and emotional scars – is falling to spouses and family members who are increasingly identifying themselves as “military caregivers.”

It's a population getting more attention since 2010, when the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was directed to begin offering a monthly stipend and health insurance to people caring for gravely injured Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The Pentagon quickly followed suit with a similar stipend for active-duty families.

A 2013 survey by the nonprofit Blue Star Families showed that 12 percent of members described themselves as military caregivers. Officials with the organization say they expect that figure to rise as more spouses and other family members realize the role they are playing.

Gina Canaday, wife of an Camp Pendleton explosives technician, was near the end of her ability to handle the stress of her husband's brain injury and untreated post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I didn't want to live like this anymore. The only reason that I'm still here is because I have children. That's not something you want to tell people, but it's the truth,” said Canaday, 44, a former soldier herself.

“I got married to stay married, but this isn't what I signed up for. When you feel that alone, it's easy to get so deep that you can't claw your way out of it.”

Canaday and another Camp Pendleton spouse, 31-year-old Shannon Duncan, describe living in a shadowy world of isolation.
read more here

For the Love of Jack When an article like the above comes out, it is important for us to know what life can be like for many military families. After all, they knew the risks and were willing to accept them but when reality hits and wounds occur things can, and all too often, change. Some relationships are just not strong enough to endure. Others thieve.

It is even more of an obligation when we enter into relationships with veterans after they leave the military. For us, we don't have to worry about deployments. We have to worry about what came after them. We don't have to "hold down the fort" while they are gone. We have to hold everything together.

Military families have an advantage because they did it together supported by other military families. For veterans and their families, too many enter into relationships they are not prepared for and when they understand they need support, they can't find it.

This isn't a contest about who has it harder or who does it better. I marvel at the strength of many couples I meet because they are still part of the military life. Still we cannot forget that for caregivers of veterans, it was a choice made out of love after military life.

With Veteran's Life In Peril, His Parents Take Up The Fight

With Veteran's Life In Peril, His Parents Take Up The Fight
NPR
October 12, 2013

Doctors said Erik Schei would be a "vegetable" for the rest of his life — and he was only 21. He had been shot in the head on his second tour in Iraq. But his parents choose to bring him home and give him another chance at life. Now, they say he's smiling every day and grateful to be alive.

In October 2005, 21-year-old Army Sgt. Erik Schei was shot in the head during his second tour in Iraq.

The bullet shattered the top half of his skull.

Christine and Gordon Schei got the phone call about their son's injury at around 4 a.m. Christine Schei says her husband was "white as a sheet" and shaking after answering.

A sniper had struck their son; a bullet "entered above his right ear and exited above his left," Gordon Schei says.

"They told us he'd be a vegetable his whole life — wouldn't be able to eat, wouldn't be able to speak," he says. "And prior to him going to Iraq, I had had a conversation with Erik. He had asked me if anything ever happened to him to pull the plug."

Christine Schei says she understood that promise, but she couldn't bear the idea of ending her son's life. She asked the doctor to confirm, to show her on paper that there was no brain activity.

"And he looked at me and he was really quiet. I said, 'You know what? There's no more talking about unplugging.' And at that point, we decided to take him home," she says.

And they've been his primary caregivers for the past eight years.
read more here

Secondary Posttraumatic Stress Population Gets Support

PTSD Caregivers: Secondary Posttraumatic Stress Population Gets Support

Heal My PTSD, an organization for posttraumatic stress syndrome education and support, launches complimentary PTSD Caregiver Teleseminars on Thursday, April 28, 2011, at 6pm EST.



West Palm, FL, April 01, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Studies estimate over 5% of all Americans struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at any given time. That means the number of PTSD caregivers is roughly equal, or larger, as the caregiver role can land on more than one person in a PTSD family. Heal My PTSD, an organization for posttraumatic stress syndrome education and support, launches complimentary PTSD Caregiver Teleseminars on Thursday, April 28, 2011, at 6pm EST. Facilitated by www.healmyptsd.com founder, PTSD Coach and PTSD survivor, Michele Rosenthal, these hourlong teleseminars will provide a place for PTSD caregivers to find community, connection and creativity in how to manage the posttrauamtic stress caregiver role.

Conducted via a telephone conference line, these groups will focus on topics unique to the PTSD caregiver perspective, including how to:

· understand PTSD symptoms
· practice stress reduction techniques
· balance caregiving and living
· choose Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment options
· talk to your PTSD loved one
· help your PTSD loved one learn how to manage and cope with symptoms
· avoid caregiver burn out

Each monthly call will offer a thirty minute presentation on an important PTSD caregiver topic and then incorporate thirty minutes of a group discussion so that participants can ask personal PTSD questions, talk to each other, avoid secondary posttraumatic stress and receive one-on-one coaching around specific issues.

“The unique challenge of PTSD caregivers is figuring out how to take care of themselves while also supporting their PTSD loved one. Plus, the confusion about symptoms of posttraumatic stress – and the lack of defined PTSD treatment – can make the caregiver role overwhelming,” says Rosenthal. “Our goal is to help bring clarity to caregivers so that they can maintain their own grounded lives while making good decisions and taking strong actions to help their PTSD loved one.”

After struggling with PTSD for over twenty-five years, Rosenthal, a Certified Professional Coach, is now 100% free of PTSD symptoms. Her work with survivors and caregivers includes individual clients and groups. She continues, “PTSD symptoms are universal, regardless of the individual trauma. In the same way, the PTSD caregiver experience is universal, too. This means every caregiver can teach and also learn by interacting in a strong, nurturing and supportive community.”

For more information about the Heal My PTSD Caregiver Teleseminar Series, visit: Heal My PTSD Teleseminar

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a wholly treatable condition that results from a life-threatening experience in which the trauma survivor felt helpless. PTSD symptoms include insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional numbing, hyperarousal and hypervigilance.

Michele Rosenthal is a trauma survivor who struggled with undiagnosed PTSD for twenty-four years. And then she was diagnosed and went on a healing rampage. A PTSD Coach and passionate advocate, she founded www.healmyptsd.com to provide information about Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, treatment and support. The site contains several complimentary resources including downloads, teleseminars, a healing workshop, and monthly radio programs.
Contact: Michele@healmyptsd.com, 561.531.1405.

For more information: Heal My PTSD.com