MORE GOOD NEWS: CHEYENNE VAMC TO WORK ON EXPANDING VETERAN-DIRECTED HOME & COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICE

Today brought a most welcome phone call from Cheyenne! Veteran-Directed Home & Community-Based Services is poised to expand. Nothing locked-down just yet, but the biggest goal I had this year was to win VA administrators' agreement to get the process started.

The specific news was about the medical center anticipated development of their own VD-HCBS program to serve elderly and disabled veterans in that part of VISN-19 territory.

Very welcome news, indeed. Our thanks not only to Cheyenne but to all the state, federal and local leaders who voiced their opinion about how valuable this program is to vets otherwise facing nursing home placement.

UVC...THANKS!

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:

1st District

Diana DeGette

Democrat

Since Jan 7, 1997

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2nd District

Jared Polis

Democrat

Since Jan 6, 2009

View District Map

3rd District

Scott Tipton

Republican

Since Jan 5, 2011

View District Map

4th District

Ken Buck

Republican

Since Jan 6, 2015

View District Map

5th District

Doug Lamborn

Republican

Since Jan 4, 2007

View District Map

6th District

Mike Coffman

Republican

Since Jan 6, 2009

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7th District

Ed Perlmutter

Democrat

---------------Colorado's Congressmen---------------------------

  

(signature)

Veteran-Directed Home & Community Based Services (VD-HCBS) - home care for veteans

VD-HCBS

This program uses VA funds to help elderly or disabled Vets remain home with loved ones instead of needing nursing home care

•  WHAT? VA HELPs VETERANS AVOID NURSING HOMES AND LIVE INDEPENDENTLY!

•  REQUIREMENTS: ONLY A NEED FOR THE PROGRAM & AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE

INTRODUCTION

Here in Colorado, this terrific program is currently available to only to Veterans living in these counties: City and County of Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Douglas, Gilpin and Jefferson, and the City and County of Broomfield. Colorado's other 56 counties must do without because administrators in VA's Rocky Mountain Healthcare System opted not to provide this valuable Veterans benefit. Why? You'd have to ask them...I've had no success finding out why.

Veterans Health Administration (VHA) launched Veteran-Directed Home & Community Based Services (VD-HCBS) in 2008 to help Veterans with disabilities of all ages and their families pay for needed services in their own homes and communities. VD-HCBS is an exciting and comprehensive VA program, open to all Veterans where the program is offered, regardless of service-connection disabilities or income.

VD-HCBS delivers home and community-based long-term service and support, giving Veterans more choices and control over nearly all types of care they receive in their homes and communities. This program combines the hands-on experience and skills of local medical and service providers with the VA’s extensive resources to provide additional opportunities to avoid nursing home placement and stay independent in your own home.

Under the VD-HCBS Program, Veterans (or their caregivers) manage their own flexible VA-provided spending budgets, hire and supervise their own workers, including family or friends, and purchase what’s needed to live independently. The key point again: VA gives the Veteran a budget to pay for this!

Thousands of Veterans in 34 states have already signed up with VD-HCBS, including the elderly, and younger, severely injured Veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn. The keys to this program are an Honorable Discharge, the need for it, and availability of VD-HCBS where you live.

A Veteran in the VD-HCBS Program is supported by: a VA program coordinator to oversee quality, satisfaction and service delivery; a person-centered counselor from an Area Agency on Aging (AAA), Aging & Disability Resource Center (ADRC) or Center for Independent Living to assist in finding and/or training workers caring for the Veteran’s needs.

ENROLLED VETERANS:

• Receive a comprehensive assessment and care planning assistance

• Decide for themselves what mix of goods and services will best meet their needs
• Manage a budget. VA fund are used by the Veteran to remain independent at home

• Hire and supervise their own workers, including family or friends

• Get financial management and support services

• Use traditional service providers, or a contractor or palliative care to coordinate

      TARGETED VETERANS IN VD-HCBS
All honorably discharged Veterans enrolled in a system offering it are eligible to participate in the VD-HCBS program when the Veteran is “in need of nursing home care” and interested in self-directed care. The determination of whether a Veteran is “in need of nursing home care” is made by the VAMC.
The VD-HCBS Program is targeted to Veterans whose home care needs exceed the average number of hours generally available through the Homemaker/Home Health Aide (H/HHA) Program. (If the need is more modest than VA-HCBS requirements and if the Veteran is service-connected, ask about this homemaker support.)
To be considered for the more comprehensive VA-HCBS, a Veteran usually would have/be:
•     Three or more activities of daily living (ADL) dependencies

      •     Significant cognitive impairments
•      Receiving hospice or palliative care

      •    Two ADL dependencies and two or more of the following:

  o   3 or more instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) dependencies
  o   Recently discharged from a nursing facility
  o   75 years old or greater
  o   3 hospitalizations or 12 outpatient clinics or emergency evaluations
  o   Clinically depressed
  o   Lives alone

IS VD-HCBS FOR YOU?
Do you want the control and flexibility to live more independently by choosing how and when you purchase your goods or services? Can you or a trusted person be responsible for recruiting, hiring, and dismissing your workers and services providers? If so, the VD-HCBS Program might be for you!

Interested? See your VA social worker or email veterandirected@acl.hhs.gov