Services available to Veterans

gampiano

Hello,

Just wanted to mention that my husband is a vet with ALZ. He is receiving healthcare through the VA, and does not have a service connected disability. We live in a remote area, so he is under a program called Community Health Care, where the VA doc and staff come here once a month for office visits, and more often for vaccination clinics. The service is great, and although I found it difficult to navigate the system as a whole, i think I have a handle on it now.

Awhile back i posted about possible PT for DH, so that he could maintain his ambulatory abilities and improve his balance for as long as possible. There were a lot of unencouraging responses. I decided to mention this to his doctor, and VA immediately followed up , interviewed me, and now i have an order for PT at a complimentary medicine center here, all will be paid for by the VA. I was pleasantly surprised.

They have also reached out to me, as the care giver, to provide support, counseling, and possible respite care. The goal is to keep the Veteran at home as long as possible, hence the many support programs.

If you have access to VA care, its worth pursuing some of these options.

Maureen

Ed1937

Maureen, it's great that you found a good program. I wish they were all like that. PT can be problematic for many PWD, but hopefully it will work for you. Fingers crossed.

gampiano

thank you Ed!

We can only try!

SDianeL

So glad you are getting help from the VA. My DH is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran with Agent Orange exposure and qualified for care at the VA. He is getting excellent care at the VA facility although appointments are sometimes difficult to get in a timely manner. I found this article from the NIH that stated: "In a nationally representative sample of more than 300 000 veterans of the Vietnam era, we found that exposure to Agent Orange was associated with approximately a 2-fold increased risk of being diagnosed with incident dementia and an earlier age of dementia diagnosis." Although Dementia & Alzheimer's is not on their presumptive list, per an attorney website, the VA grants veterans who apply for disability for dementia or Alzheimer's a rating between 0% and 100%. Getting a disability rating could offer more help through the VA. If the patient is housebound, the Caregiver could get a monthly stipend and more hours of respite care, etc. Definitely worth checking into. Look for a county Veteran Service Officer who is employed by the county & not the VA. They will assist in filing claims. You can usually find a Veteran Service Officer at an American Legion or VFW or they know where their offices are.

gampiano

Hi SDianeL,

Thankyou for that information. I have met with VA agent and we discussed the Aid and Assistance program, So now i have a lot of paperwork to go through, but it is helpful to know that there could be more support for me. Im glad that your experience with VA has been generally positive. We have to be our own advocates in this situation, and I'm learning to speak up and ask for help .All the best to you.

Maureen

ButterflyWings

Glad to hear you all are looking into the options for Vets and their spouse-caregivers. It took the better part of a year, but I was able to look into all my DH's VA benefits and due to his not having a service-connected disability, plus his being just shy of the dates to qualify for a pension and spouse-caregiver's pension he and I are ineligible for any financial benefits. No Aid and Attendance unfortunately. The VA system had many hoops and people for me to work through to get to the final "No", which was computer generated based on service dates, only available AFTER all the forms, Dr's evals, and so forth were coordinated and completed. Sigh.

However, his VA health benefits alone are a blessing as I was paying out of pocket for all meds including many lost inhalers at $300 each, to keep his respiratory distress at bay. (Losing them due to emerging dementia, Sigh and scream silently as we did not have extra money to toss.)

***What you want to pursue is Catastrophically Disabled status for your veteran PWD LO. A dementia diagnosis with Dr. verification is key to your application for this status, and they will be approved if you just stick with it. Then once the Cat-Dis determination is made, almost everything is covered. A huge help for us financially and in terms of any drs or specialists, labs, procedures, respite, home health, PT etc. (except dental). I may be able to find a thread on that period when a few of us forum mates were going through that approval process with the VA. The dementia disability is enough to qualify even if there is no service-connection.

[Here are a couple of the links I found. 30-90 days to successful Cat. Disabled decision.

VA catastrophically disabled — ALZConnected

VA just designated DH as Catastrophically Disabled, Priority 4 — ALZConnected

Note: We had PT during stage 6, for 12 visits/6 weeks after DH had a serious downturn and hospitalization and I am very happy to say his VA PCP approved PT with a bit of (reasonable) skepticism after I advocated hard for it, and the PT was really successful. He went from suddenly bedridden, 2 person assist for everything, to fully back to his physical baseline after VA PT home visits. *I would highly recommend you try whatever services you feel your LO needs. It can't hurt, and just may help. Having him standing, walking, sitting up, feeding himself, etc again was SO worth it. Had he gone more than 2 weeks of being bedridden and unable to do any of these things, I doubt PT would have helped or his muscles may have just not been able to remember how to do the few things that keep him upright and so much easier to at least help me, help him.

gampiano

ButterflyWings,

Thankyou SO MUCH for taking the time to write all of that information. This is so helpful. I had not heard the term Catastrophically Disabled used , and I will definitely pursue it. Also, Im so happy to hear that the PT was helpful. My DH is still ambulatory, very slow, but thankfully still on his feet, and it would be great if we could keep him that way for as long as possible. I'm taking all of your good advice!

You are my angel for today!

Maureen

crabby43

you are very lucky that you have had a good VA experience. My husband has dementia and I insisted that he take their driver evaluation test because he has been in two accidents. They actually said he can still drive, even with a cognitive disorder. And it took six months for an appointment.

gampiano

wow, i am so sorry about that! My husband received his diagnosis after a series of tests, including a 3 hour virtual neuro psych evaluation (during covid), all done through the VA healthcare system. The VA doc told him straight out that he could not drive. Then i applied for a handicapped sticker through the DMV, and on the form, which the VA doc had to fill out, he stated that DH absolutely could not drive, and they took his license away. He resisted for a long time, but I just took all the keys and hid them.

i hope this helps.

Maureen

concerned_sister

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/179228#Comment_179228

Do you mind if I ask what state you are in, regarding the applying for the disability sticker. What state did your LO need to be in to qualify for that (and lose liscense).

marier

I am so grateful for the VA in Phoenix AZ. My DH is not service connected however he is considered catastrophically disabled. One thing I just learned was that once he is placed on hospice he qualifies for placement in a memory/nursing home care with no copayments. This is a relief for me and I am not sure I can continue to care for him if he becomes non ambulatory. He currently is with one foot in stage 6 and one foot in stage 7. So far the VA help has allowed me to continue to care for him at home.