ALL COLORADO TOTALLY DISABLED VETS NEED THE DISABLED VETERAN PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION: dav

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Letter to Congressman for Veteran-Directed Home & Community Services

It takes your support to get their support! Let your Congressional representative know you want and need their support for expansion of Veteran-Directed Home & Community Based Services (VD-HCBS) throughout Colorado. Their names are below this sample letter.

(home address)

(date)

(To One of Colorado’s Congressional representatives)

Dear Representative (or Senator,)

I urge your strong support for expansion throughout Colorado of the Veterans-Directed Home & Community Based Service (VD-HCBS.) The program helps veterans avoid nursing home care, and live safely and independently at home for as long as possible. 89% of veterans in VD-HCBS reported that the program is decisive in keeping them out of nursing homes.

That's why this program is so strongly supported by Disabled American Veterans, AARP and other organizations.

VD-HCBS is offered by the Veterans Health Administration to all honorably discharged veterans upon approval by their local VA social worker. There are no requirements as regards service-connection disability or income level…only the need.

Correction: There is one more requirement: to be eligible a veteran must also be enrolled in a VA regional medical system offering the program. Denver has it. Cheyenne does not. The Rocky Mountain Healthcare System doesn’t participate in VD-HCBS. Over 34 states now have VD-HCBS, as does Denver and the Eastern Colorado VA Healthcare System. Dr. Shulkin told Congress all VAMCs would offer VD-HCBS by 2019. I don’t know why Rocky Mountain hasn’t implemented the program yet…whether it is budget, priorities, or another obstacle.

What I have learned is that I can have access to the vital services I need from VD-HCBS only by moving to Denver and enrolling there. What I also have learned is that Cheyenne can, if it wishes, implement a program for our veterans in Northern Colorado. Mr. Dave Roberts, Director of the Cheyenne VAMC intends to push for the program.

To appreciate the importance of VD-HCBS to veterans like me, just consider that it can help with removing ice and snow from my sidewalk, without which I’m stranded inside my home. Other services it covers include meal preparation, transportation, housekeeping, laundry, and more – vital services keeping me safe, and independent. It can delay an end-of-life trip into a nursing home more effectively than my present palliative care alone.

I ask that you help on a couple fronts. First, can’t NoCo veterans somehow enroll in Denver to be covered without having to move there? Also, please urge Mr. Roberts and Mr. Ralph T. Gigliotti at VISN-19 to promptly implement VD-HCBS throughout Colorado. The need is great and the need is obvious, certainly from my perspective as a disabled veteran.

Sincerely,

(signature)

Colorado’s representatives are: