http://www.emilitary.org/article.php?aid=12999
VA Announces $4.7 Million to Help Caregivers
Department Enhancing Education, Training and Resources2007-12-11
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WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced it will provide nearly $4.7 million for “caregiver assistance pilot programs” to expand and improve health care education and provide needed training and resources for caregivers who assist disabled and aging veterans in their homes.
“This funding will enhance support and training for the family members and other caregivers who sacrifice to care for disabled and aging veterans,” said Acting VA Secretary Gordon H. Mansfield. “At VA, we’re committed to looking after caregivers who dedicate their own time and well-being to take care of loved ones who are veterans.”
The pilot programs will support eight caregiver projects across the country. In addition, VA provides support and assistance through a variety of programs such as care management, social work service, care coordination, geriatrics and extended care, and through its nationwide volunteer programs.
Among the key services provided to caregivers are transportation, respite care, case management and service coordination, assistance with personal care (bathing and grooming), social and emotional support, and home safety evaluations.
Education programs teach caregivers how to obtain community resources such as legal assistance, financial support, housing assistance, home delivered meals and spiritual support. In addition, caregivers are taught skills such as time management techniques, medication management, communication skills with the medical staff and the veteran, and ways to take better care of themselves.
Many of the projects use technology, including computers, Web-based training, video conferencing and teleconferencing to support the needs of caregivers who often cannot leave their homes to participate in support activities.
The VA pilot programs announced today include:
At the Memphis (Tenn.) and Palo Alto (Calif.) VA medical centers, a project will provide education, support and skills-building to help caregivers manage both patient behaviors and their own stress. This intervention will be provided in 14 Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) programs across the country and also to caregivers in non-HBPC settings at the Palo Alto VAMC.
At the VA medical center in Gainesville, Fla., caregivers will take part in a Transition Assistance Program to provide skills training, education and supportive problem solving using videophone technology.
At the VA Healthcare System of Ohio, headquartered in Cincinnati, caregiver advocates will be available around the clock to coordinate between VA and community services.
At the VA Desert Pacific Network and the VA Sierra Nevada Healthcare System, VA will work with a community coalition to provide education, skills training and resources for caregivers of veterans with traumatic brain injury using computer-based telehealth, including Web, telephone and videoconferencing.
At the VA medical center in Albany, N.Y., a pilot project will convert a three-hour workshop developed by the National Family Caregivers Association called “Communicating Effectively with Health Care Professionals” into a cost-effective multimedia format.
At the Atlanta VA Medical Center, use of computer-based technology will provide instrumental help and emotional support to caregivers who live in remote areas or to those who cannot leave a patient alone.
The Tampa VA Medical Center and the Miami VA Healthcare System are working on a collaborative project. In the Tampa area, the current program will be expanded to provide 24-hour in-home respite care to temporarily relieve caregivers up to 14 days a year. In Miami, the program will coordinate comprehensive community-based care services, including respite, home companions, adult day care and use of emergency response system.
The VA Pacific Islands Health Care System will use the “medical foster home” model of care, in which caregivers in the community take veterans into their homes and provide 24-hour supervision. This program will take place on the islands of Kauai, Hawaii, Maui and rural areas of Oahu.
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I am not enthused by the level of VA healthcare today, over the past five years I have watched it degrade from excellent care to now where it just barely provides enough.
Examples when I started PTSD counseling I was seen monthly from Jan 2003 - May 2005 then it went to every 3 months May 2005 - May 2006
May 2006 they switched me to every 4 months, I started having problems, my wife talked to my shrink and he went back to every 3 months, this last visit I was informed they were going to every six months for med reviews since I am 100% P&T. I am not happy with this.
Regular Medical care since I am a chronic and severe patient with multiple extensive medical problems considered severe and life threatening I started out being seen every 3 months by primary care, I have CHF, a failed triple by pass, a stroke, COPD, GERD, PTSD, Hyperstension, autoimmune problems, I am in a power chair due to the severity of my heart disease ejection fraction of LVEF of 25%, when DR Duquette left in 2005, they started switching my primary care doctors about every 6 months, and ended up arguing with all of them when they tried changing my meds to generics that did not work, and would have to go to patient advocates and complain and chief of clinics to get Prevacid rewritten it's the only med that actually works on my GERD. My cardioligists and my Primary Care doctors agreed that due to the severity of heart diseae and the fact they can NOT operate on the blockages, that I should stay on Plavix but the VA pharmacy rewrote the rules that you could only get it for a year after a hreat attack or stent placement. It keeps blood slippery so it doesn't clot, it gave me a feeling of comfort that it was less likely that a clot would form and cause me another heart attack, hey after 7 of them you worry about #8 take my word for it.
The most ludicrous idea they came up with, the cardiac clinic wanted me to agree to have an http://http//aolsearch.aol.com/aol/redir?src=websearch&requestId=ed38c0077c78808f&clickedItemRank=2&userQuery=ICD&clickedItemURN=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FImplantable_cardioverter-defibrillator&title=%3Cb%3EImplantable+cardioverter-defibrillator%3C%2Fb%3E+-+Wikipedia%2C+the+free+%3Cb%3E...%3C%2Fb%3E&moduleId=matchingsites.jsp.M&clickedItemPageRanking=2&clickedItemPage=1&clickedItemDescription=WebResults
implanted, instead of refilling the Plavix. I asked them about the risks, they minimized them and finally admitted when pressed that yes, in about 5-6 years it would have to be taken out and a new one put in. I asked what the cost of this would be, the VA doctor estimated about 50-60,000 every 5 years, yet the VA refuses to pay for a mdeication that would run about 1800 a year that keeps my blood thin, go figure that nonsense? I have never had a problem with irregular heart beat, my heart attacks have been caused by clots and stress not an out of whack muscle.
The VA would save a hell of a lot of money issuing those portable defib machines for the home and car that run about 2,000 and when the vet dies, have the family turn them back into the VA and ressiue them to another veteran, now that makes fiscal sense. Why waste a 100,000 or more on a machine I will more than likely never need. Now to me this is waste.
Instead of getting me into one of the caregiver programs to more closely monitor my failing health, I was told yesterday that instead of seeing my primary care doctor every six months, it is now being switched to every 8 months, they are just adding more patients to each doctor so the vets will have to wait longer between appointments, this is not getting to be better treatment, it is getting worse.
The VA employees are oberworked and stressed out and they have every right to be, they have managers wanting more work for no extra pay, they have veterans mad at them bedcause healtcare is getting worse, and vets are dying from missed cases of cancers, lung problems, PTSD, and suicide because no one is listening.
they are blowing in the wimds...........
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