Issues facing veterans after they return home from active duty may haunt them for a number of years. Veterans have performed an enormous service for our country and at least one day a year (Veterans Day), Americans are proud to pay tribute to Veterans and honor them. But what happens on the other 364 days of the year?
Many veterans fine themselves in need of assistance for living. These people face so many problems after returning home that sometimes they cannot cope. There is a high degree of homelessness, some are living in poverty, and others are burdened with post-traumatic stress. Some came home to a broken family and find they have nobody. To add another dimension of heartache, there can also be a lot of physical pain and suffering.
The aging veteran deserves to be looked after and well taken care of. The Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension may not be well-known, but it is a pension that veterans can apply for in order to get help with funds to have a caregiver attending to their needs. Application forms can be obtained through a Veteran’s office, online, or through some senior care agencies.
The aging veteran may also need some therapy to help heal the emotional wounds of war. It’s quite common for them to suffer from PTSD at least for a while, and they may need some counseling to learn strategies to deal with and eventually overcome these stresses.
If you know an aging veteran, see what you can do to help. Maybe it’s a member of your close family or extended family. Or perhaps it’s the neighbor down the street. You never know how lonely they may feel. Maybe they just need a friend.
For the aging veteran in your family, enlist the help of some family members to take over until he can get funding for a caregiver. If several of you take turns helping him a few times a week, that could really make all the difference in the world to him and also lift up his spirits tremendously. It only takes a little kindness to change someone’s life. If you think that your aging Veteran can qualify for the pension, get the paperwork filled out as soon as you can, because it has been known to take quite a while to be approved. If he can afford to start paying for a caregiver, then the approved pension is retroactive and will pay him back for caregiver expenses up until that time, starting from when he applied.
For more information on the VA Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit that helps senior veterans pay for in-home care services, or if you have a general question about VA Home Care, please don’t hesitate to call Veterans Home Care at 888-314-6075
