Veteran Caregiver Program Support Benefits How To Apply

That's huge. I mean, having that access to the support and the mental health professionals, I've heard of a lot of the different caregivers that really need that kind of just opportunity to work through some of the concerns and stresses that they're having in their activities as a caregiver. Okay, before, I don't want to cut this off, but I know this exists and I don't want anybody to get any surprises out there. If you're going to enroll in the caregiver program, one of the aspects that is part of that program is that you have to have a home inspection, correct? And so homes, it's every 90 days, is that correct? Or is it once a month? I don't remember. It's, there's an initial one and then it's every 90 days. Okay. Now the home, we call it a home evaluation. We really try to not make it an inspection. Right. And I don't even want to get you in trouble before I start talking. Listen, everybody, the home evaluation is not a bad thing. They're not going to be going through your drawers and looking under your bed and all this kind of stuff. Basically in my interpretation, what the home evaluation is, they're just making sure that that warfighter is actually being taken care of and nobody is taking advantage of the warfighter and taking their money and leaving them unassisted. So that's my opinion, but we'll let Byron answer the question. Byron, tell me about the home evaluation. What is entailed in it? Yeah, that's a good summary. Home evaluation is basically an activity that we come out to the warfighter's home, the veteran's home. We meet with the caregiver and the veteran. They both got to be there. It involves a mental health nurse. If there's mental health issues, if it's just physical issues, it can be another nurse, but there's got to be a nurse. And it doesn't always require a social worker. The caregiver's caregiver coordinators do not always go to those evaluations. I do here for a variety of reasons, mostly because it really helps me keep in contact and have that relationship with the caregiver and the veterans. From what I understand, you really do a good job at establishing and maintaining a good rapport because you're talking about a family. Exactly. Yeah. And we want to support that person's family as they experience it. If their family is their landlord or if their family is people that we don't normally look at as providing that kind of resource, we want to encourage them to nurture that relationship and for the caregivers especially to learn to take care of themselves. And going out and seeing people in there where they live as opposed to having them come into a hospital and an office really provides that context. And when you come out to the home and you do the evaluation, I just got, this is what people are going to wonder real quick, just yes or no answers. Are you checking to find out if there are any weapons in the house? We asked that, but it's not going to preclude anybody from being part of the program because every veteran I know has a weapon. Okay. Do you inspect for weapons? We do not. Do you check in and see if there, you go through people's computers? No. Do you go through people's cabinets? Absolutely not. Okay. Are you basically there in a plain view capacity sitting in the living room having a conversation? Is it any more than that? That is dead on. That's what we do. We come out. We don't want to make sure that the veteran and the caregiver are living in a safe place. We don't want them to have to deal with stuff. For instance, if a veteran has a wheelchair or a walker and can't get through the house because of cords along the floor, that kind of thing, we're going to talk about safety issues and that kind of thing. Recommendations, right. But it's not an assessment of how you live at all. It's supportive, it's nurturing, and it really is to develop that relationship so that the veteran and the caregiver can feel comfortable. Outstanding. Hey, thanks for your time. We're going to move on to some other guests. Everybody else, we got to go to the commercial break. This is KKFT 99.1 FM Talk. Honey, I know that you are just so extremely impressed with, let's say, like my construction. Yeah, your MacGyver style prowess. Yeah, the MacGyver style. I mean, pretty much some vinyl, sheeting, duct tape, and shoe goo, and we got a house, right? Yeah, pretty much. Oh, you forgot zip ties everywhere. That's right. You don't want me doing work at your house, but I'll tell you what. Rick Schoohler there in Fayetteville, North Carolina, just outside of Fort Bragg. Remember this right here. You do not want me working at your house, but Rick Schoohler at veteransroofing.biz, not dot com, not dot org, dot biz, veteransroofing.biz. He's doing everything home improvement just outside Fayetteville, North Carolina. Metal, all sizes, interior, exterior painting, window replacement, vinyl siding, all flooring. That's the way you save money on your energy cost. Don't have me come to your house because what will happen, honey, if I do? A lot of Gorilla Glue duct tape. There you go. So don't do it with Gorilla Glue duct tape. Keep it in the family. If you're a warfighter, visit veteransroofing.biz. And if you're not in the warfighter family, help out a warfighter. Visit Rick Schoohler at veteransroofing.biz. Once every 45 minutes, one of our military veterans attempts to take their own life. Every 80 minutes, one of them succeeds. The Tranquil Valley Sanctuary located in southern Idaho provides a safe place where broken horses and broken veterans can heal together and hopefully reduce this horrific number. Through the use of equine therapy, America's veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression, as well as chemical addiction now have a second chance at a normal civilian life free from the shackles of PTSD, depression, drugs or alcohol. They can't do it without your help. Your generous gift of $100 will feed one horse for an entire month. A mere $25 will sponsor a therapy session for one veteran. The Tranquil Valley Sanctuary provides hope, healing and recovery for those veterans who feel they have no place left to turn. Make your donation online today at TranquilValleySanctuary.org. The Tranquil Valley Sanctuary is a 501c3 organization. Visit online at TranquilValleySanctuary.org. There may be some of you listening right now that have post-traumatic stress disorder or what they refer to now as a post-traumatic stress injury and you're also not a combat veteran. Many, many people in America like to hang out with warfighters even if they're not a warfighter because they have PTSD either from maybe a sexual trauma or a car accident or natural disaster. Well, there's a place for you too and that's PTSD Survivors of America. It doesn't matter if you're a combat veteran or you were in a natural disaster or a victim of rape. PTSD Survivors of America is here to help. I want you to go to PTSDSurvivorsOfAmerica.org and find out more. Come one, come all. If you have PTSD, that is your rally point. PTSDSurvivorsOfAmerica.org is here to help. We have Patty Catter. Let me talk to you about Patty Catter a little bit. She's not only a caregiver, she has a husband who's a warfighter from the current war. She's in the program but she does so much more. She's also the founder of Voice of Warriors or VAO. If you follow me on Facebook, if you follow me on the internet, different organizations I've spoken out for, public service announcements, VAO is one of the organizations. It's a dot org does a fantastic job of actually disseminating information on what's happening inside the warfighter community. Once you go from that active duty step into the civilian world, a lot of literature, a lot of videos, some good stuff out there. Check out VoiceOfWarriors.org if I'm not mistaken. Is that right, Patty? You can go there via dot com dot org or dot net. Okay, VoiceOfWarriors.com dot net or dot org. Patty, welcome to the show. How are you doing? I'm doing really good. How about you, Boone? We're doing good enough. I hate that I don't have the entire show for you. We're going to have to make this a little bit brief, but we just had on Byron Parks, who is the caregiver coordinator at the local VA in Northern Nevada. He explained the entire program, but let's get some grassroots. Let's get some street cred perspective on the whole situation. You're a caregiver to your husband. Injured, was it Iraq or Afghanistan? In Iraq, 2007. In Iraq, 2007. How long have you been in the caregiver program and how has it, what are the benefits in your family? What's happening with that? Just tell us about it and how it's made a difference. Well, honestly, I have a little secret you didn't even know. I went with the Wounded Warrior Project back in 2010. We petitioned the White House, and actually, I'm one of the caregivers who helped to get this bill implemented for caregivers. I've known about it for a long time, but I really didn't apply for it until, oh boy, I think it was the end of last year. Okay. Well, first of all, thank you for doing that. It's a pivotal program. I think the program makes a huge difference in families. In your particular family, have you run into any snags? Because those out there listening right now are going to be like, oh, that's a bunch of crap. They're going to make it hard. They're going to put me through the mill, all this other kind of stuff. How difficult was it for you and your family to get into the caregiver program? Well, you know, honestly, for us, it was very simple, but my husband has a long documented history of medical problems and medical care that he's been through. I don't know if that particularly has anything to do with it, but it was quite simple. I filled out an application, and I think it was about 30 days. I went through, did some classes online, and was approved within a month. So it went very quickly for us.