Caregiver Support From Lost To Leader Hope Found

We've built this network of, of strong relationships, information, support, you know, just it can be found on Facebook or anywhere. Right. How is the, how is it growing? Well, I think that there's a lot of, of the veterans themselves who are a little leery about the program, afraid to let the VA in their home. Right. And I see some of that going away. I see some of, some of the veterans who are involved in the program, speaking out and, and quelling a lot of those veterans and helping them understand better, you know, what the program's about. I see the wives finding each other. Now, you know, there are, there are female wounded, combat injured, but it is generally, it's very rare we find a male out there. We have a couple in our group. It's generally the wives, our girlfriends and mothers. Right. But, you know, we, we find each other and if we, if we run in, especially, you know, I've seen this program change the lives of so many people. They're destituted because a lot of times the wife can no longer work. Yeah, right. She's, she's really staying at home. It's more than just being a stay at home wife, stay at home mom. That war fighter needs that, that care. And it's as simple as, you know, are they going to forget to turn off the stove? Are they going to miss some, you know, a medication time? And for those guys with TBI, yes, you can set up reminders and alarms and all this other stuff. But as quick as that alarm goes off is as quick as you'll forget. The alarm went off to take your medication. So I say out there how important the caregiver is for even the simplest of things like, Hey honey, here's your medication and I'm going to stand here and watch you take it because if you don't, it just starts to this downhill slide. So it's simple things and it's very, very difficult things. And, you know, finding this connection with each other, reducing the paranoia that the caregiver program is some sort of big brother program, because they're going to come to your house. All these things I see as being very, very positive and proactive. Now inside the caregiver community, when you're getting this feedback, how have you seen, I mean, let's take, you were there when Samantha, 22 years old, two babies, caregiver to her husband, you were there when she came into it. You've been designated as her mentor. Now, how have you seen this, the mentorship between caregivers help? I mean, what, what specifically have you seen with her? Well, Samantha is a natural leader and being that she's young and, you know, just first, this is her first few years of experience as a mother, a new experience as a wife, and, you know, just out of her teen years, a new experience with the combat injuries that many marriages, you know, have a lot of difficulties adjusting to she, she is a leader in the community in reaching out to other people already, but she had a lot of trouble, you know, just because she has such a heavy load on her. And it, and it wasn't that she doesn't have the right, you know, I mean, you, you, you hear her, she's got the right idea about everything. She's got the right concept. Where, where, where did she start though? I mean, let's get a contrast, compare contrast. Where did she start out? What was her mind? What did she need? What was she not getting? And where is it now? Cause now we see a very capable person able to articulate it, you know, the proactive points of the program and, and what she's getting and how she's being connected, what was it like when she came in? I mean, just tell me what it, what she was like then and what she's now, how has she grown? Well, you know, she has mountains of paperwork. She doesn't have support. This is all in the beginning. None of these things. Now that she has support and contact, we have just about daily contact. You know, she is a positive influence for me too. So I encourage her to write. She's got a gift for writing. And you know, we, I, we take the opportunity to just lift each other up and support each other. Samantha has grown from somebody entering a world that's difficult for somebody my age to enter and, and with the help of all of the people around her and her own, you know, ability to adapt, she's a leader in the community. Now it's, it's a big difference. So is it fair to say that originally when, when she first came into the program, she was somewhat lost, disconnected, and now she's found a sense of empowerment, she's coming to her own. So she's more capable to handle her situation because of the caregiver program. Definitely. Outstanding. This is Tipping Point Boone Cutler. Remember every war fighter needs two things to survive in any operational environment, that's a battle buddy and a mission all the way, make it happen.