Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

My DAD’s PTSD – Support Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Rebuilding VA Hospitals

 

Stalag-VII-A Moosburg Bavaria

My father was held in a prison camp during World War II. He was an officer and his camp only housed the higher ranks. He never spoke about the war. He was a World War II navigator shot down in Poland and transferred to Stalag-VII-A Moosburg Bavaria.  He returned home a broken man with PTSD, never took a bus, drove or flew on a plane again. His disability, like so many vets was untreated for 50 years. He worked as an advertising agent ala Mad Men and drank like Don Draper. Our family crumbled into a dysfunctional maelstrom, as most families do. Literally saved by the Palo Alto VA GRECC Program in his late 60’s, he lived a very good life with my family for his last 25 years.

He never sought VA  treatment for his severe PTSD for for 5 decades.

VA Hospital Changed My Dad’s Life After 50 years of Untreated PTSD

.When he came to live with me, after my brother and mother’s death, I got him enrolled in the VA and the incredible  GRECC  Program and he was treated at the  Menlo Park VA Hospital Menlo Park Division (MPD) campus where they  provide a  broad range of Veteran services, including a National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and San Jose VA Hospitals  for the rest of his life.

They turned his life around and made his last 2r years joyful ,mentally and physically health, plus allowed him to die at home through the  VA Homemaker and Home Health Aide Program

 The VA Hospitals  where he was treated do not need renovation but many many VA hospitals are falling apart.This led me to write an entire chapter in the 4th Edition of Handbook of Geriatric Care Management to help care managers to navigate through the VA.

Biden To Liberate $ to Rebuild aging VA Hospitals

President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan includes $18 billion to upgrade and replace aging Veterans Affairs hospitals, but the agency needs five times that much to bolster facilities and medical staff, a Democratic lawmaker said on Thursday.

Mark Takano, chairman of the House of Representatives Veterans’ Affairs Committee told reporters   , the VA’s 1,700 hospitals, clinics and medical facilities had a median age of 58 years, compared with just 11 years for private hospitals in the United States, he said, noting that 69% of VA hospitals were more than 50 years old.

Support Biden’s Infrastructure Plan to help caregivers and rebuild the VA

The infrastructure package, which must be approved by Congress, would also help the roughly 200,000 veterans who leave military service each year to transition to civilian jobs, and boost funding to help the estimated 2.5 million veteran-owned small businesses, officials said.

As so many geriatric care managers and Home care agencies serve aging Vets , take this memorial day to contact your congressman and senators to support Biden’s infrastructure plan , to help rebuild the crumbling VA hospitals,which is now going to The Senate after being passed in the House. The Senate republicans are not going to allow it into law. Support this plan with it caregiver infrastructure Plan, so that you have more resources to help your aging clients.

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