Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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Give VA BENEFITS Veterans & Help Stop School Shootings on Memorial Day-

May 25, 2021

On this coming Memorial Day and every day, geriatric care managers can be a huge help to older veterans to get VA benefits.

With nearly 10 million veterans in the U.S. who are over the age of 65, older vets are usually good candidates for geriatric care management services both now and in the future.

Unfortunately, navigating the services supports, and  VA benefits available to older veterans can be a challenge for geriatric care managers and clients alike. Services and supports for this population are available at the federal, state and local level addition to the service navigation complexity. The configuration of services received by veterans and their families is likely to consist of federal services provided by the Veterans Administration in addition to more localized services for older adults in general like those provided by senior centers, area agencies on aging, etc.

VA Benefits available to veterans and their families range from federal VA home improvement grants, burial benefits, medical care, respite, housing programs, pension, and even local benefits like business loans and discount programs.

 Like most clients served by geriatric care managers, this population will need both VA Benefits and personalized assistance in meeting their care needs. For this reason, it is important to note that services and supports designed for older adults, in general, are also key resources for veterans.

While the VA is a great resource, don’t overlook the value and expertise in VA Benefits offered by local organizations like local healthcare centers, senior centers, and Area Agencies on Aging, among others.

Find the many ways care managers can access hard-to-find VA services and serve retired vets.

This memorial Day remember “More Americans have died from guns in the United States since 1968 than on battlefields of all the wars in American history.”

In the US there have been 2,032 school shootings since 1970 and these numbers are increasing. In the US  948 school shootings have taken place since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012. 

Yesterday the shooting death of 19 3rd,4th, and 5th graders-  at Robb Elementary School in Uvale Texas added another slaughter of US children in their schools.  

As President Biden said “As a nation, we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Mr. Biden said. “When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?” 

So on this memorial day stand up for common sense gun laws. Call your Congressperson  and state senatorand ask them to pass Backgound Checks for purchasing guns.

A House-passed bill, HR 1446, backed by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, would close what’s known as the “Charleston loophole,” which allows some licensed gun sales to go through before a required background check is donehttps://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/gun-laws-us-congress/index.html.But the legislation is stalled in the Senate. Write or call your State Senator and ask them to pass this bill. On this memorial day make the death school children ( your kids , your grandkids , now dying more than people who go to war, less likely by a background check that 90% of Americans believe in

/Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition includes a new chapter that will help you help vets  Maximizing the Health and Well-Being of Older Veterans by Dr. Lenard Kaye, director of the Center for Aging at the University of Maine and Glenn Osbourne, director of the National Veterans Legal Aid Group . As an aging life or geriatric care manager, or senior advocate, learn how to to get elder veteran’s VA benefits they so deserve.

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Filed Under: Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Blog, elder care manager, geriatric care manager, nurse care manager, VA benefits and geriatric care management, VA Benefits PTSD, VA Caregivers, VA GRECC Program, VA Home Care, VA Hospitals crumbling, VA PTSD Tagged With: aging life care manager, aging parent care, aging professional, Biden's VA Infrastructure Plan, care manager, case manager, finding VA military services, geriatric social worker, Memorial Day, Memorial Day WWII Vets, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Qualifying for VA Benefits, VA, VA Accredited Attorneys, VA Claims Denied, VA home based benefits, VA Homemakers Health Aide

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

May 24, 2021

 

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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Filed Under: Aging, Biden Infrastructure Bill Passing, Biden's VA Infrastructure Bill, Blog, COVID-19 VA deaths, Dysfunctional aging family, Emergency Plan, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, Memorial Day, Memorial Day and Aging Veterans, National Veterans Legal Aid Group, VA benefits and geriatric care management, VA Benefits PTSD, VA Caregivers, VA GRECC Program, VA Home Care, VA Hospitals crumbling, VA PTSD, Veterans Administration, Written Geriatric Assessment Tagged With: aging life or geriatric care manager, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, Biden's VA Infrastructure Plan, COVID-19 VA Facilities, geriatric care manager, GRECC Program, Memorial Day, Memorial Day WWII Vets, National Center for PTSD, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, PTSD adult children, PTSD Family Caregivers, PTSD in Vets World War II, Stalag VII A Moosburg Bavatia, VA Homemakers Health Aide

On Memorial Day – To Honor Disabled Vets -Do You Understand VA Aide and Attendance ?

May 26, 2017

My Dad Harry Cress had Aide and Attendance as he was 100% disabled by PTSD from being held in  German Prison Camp. Aat the end of his life developed vascular dementia, a direct side effect of  PTSD

Many do not yet know  VA Aide and Attendance even exists. In addition, even professionals have a hard time accessing this benefit.  It is difficult to unravel how to find it. So a veterans day weekend- take some time to help a veteran who is alive by understanding what the VA offers

The Aide and Attendance and housebound payments are designed to provide financial support to offset the cost of providing in-home or residential care to a veteran and/or their spouse. Benefits payouts can range from a little over a thousand dollars per month for a spouse to over two thousand dollars per month for a combined payment the household. It is estimated that these benefits are currently severely underutilized by older veterans and their families who qualify for these payments but are not yet accessing them.

The application process for these programs is facilitated by regional VA offices and requires medical documentation of care needs.

The VA has proposing changes in VA Aide and Attendance , so  social workers, Aging Life and geriatric care managers should understand these changes   

Geriatric Care Managers need to access and do research on how to apply for them for an older veteran. 

In the 4th edition of the Handbook of Geriatric Care Management , we include chapter on GCM’s accessing VA benefits by Dr. Len Kay and author including myself and many members of the University of Maine faculty. . The chapter talks about a benefit that is hyper-frustrating to access for Aging Life Care and geriatric care managers not to mention elder advocates the older vets and families who support them.

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Filed Under: Aging, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, care manager, case manager, elder care manager, Families, Geriatric Care Management Business, Geriatric Care Manager, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging family, aging life and geraitric care manager, aging life care, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, Biden's VA Infrastructure Plan, care manager, case manager, Dysfunctional PTSD VA Family, eldercare manager, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4th edition, National Center for PTSD, nurse advocate, nurse care manager, Older vets, PTSD in Vets World War II, VA Aide and Attendace, VA Aide and Attendance, vascular dementia, Vascular dementia & PTSD, Veterans Day

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