By Dorothy Meindok
The Post Newspaper Veterans Consultant
Did you know that veterans can opt to live in a homelike setting as an alternative to nursing home placement? The program is the Veterans Health Administration’s Medical Foster Home Program (MFH) and is partnered with the agency department’s Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) team.
Our Hitchcock native Army veteran and Registered Nurse, Claudia Duran is working now to open her doors to help by becoming a foster care provider & developing a program suited for our local veterans in need. I certainly hope you will lend her your prayers and support. The need is great, right here in Galveston County.
Let’s begin with learning about what the HBPC is and does. “Home Based Primary Care is health care services provided to Veterans in their home. The program is for Veterans who need team based in-home support for ongoing diseases and illnesses that affect their health and daily activities.” (va.gov)
Most recently, Transitions Plus (a veteran support group led by USMC veteran Jerry Clark in League City) was honored to have a member of the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center HBPC team come and speak to the group that meets every Thursday night at Family Life Center at Bay Harbour United Methodist Church. Venus shared with veterans what the program was about and how much she enjoyed her job and you could tell it was true because not only was she smiling & laughing while she spoke, she was quite fluent in speaking “veteran”, a language so often mis-translated by persons in the medical and civilian community at large. Her ability to communicate amongst veterans calmly yet compassionately on difficult and often “hot topics” was apparent, evidencing the fact that she had earned the respect of not only her peers but her veteran patients, a factor very important to be effective in the veteran community.
HBPC serves veterans with difficulty making and keeping clinic visits because of the severity of their medical symptoms. Sometimes, a veteran is simply in a state of flux, perhaps rebuilding from the residual effects of homelessness & trauma healing where little things such as medication compliance need a little support. Other veterans may no longer be able to use the telephone because of vision issues and some may simply be suffering from long term or temporary agoraphobia or self-isolation due to personal &/or social overload that triggers PTSD, especially after the most recent pandemic, great political divides worldwide, the complex list goes on with many variables to each. The MEDVAMC HBPC Team meets those needs by meeting the veterans on their home ground and reminding them not only are they not alone, but help is available. The Houston based team is currently manned by 90 caring professionals that travel daily across Southeast Texas to care for veterans despite the heat and the traffic.
Some of the services offered include:
· Primary care visits at home by a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant
· Care management through a nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, or nurse
· Social Work
· Rehabilitation
· Psychology
· Nutrition
· Pharmacy
HBPC is also for veterans whose primary caregiver is experiencing burden. If you are a veteran that might benefit or know of one that might benefit, please pick up the phone and make a call to find out more, here is the number: 713-791-1414, hit Zero and ask one of the operators for Home Based Primary Care.
Home Based Primary Care can be used in combination with other Home and Community Based Services like the Medical Foster Home Program that Claudia Duran is developing here in Hitchcock, Texas. Duran headed several helpful veteran medical foster care homes in Kansas before returning home to Texas and knows firsthand the healing impact living in a home environment has on the quality of life of the veterans involved. Seeing the needs and that there wasn’t a lot serving this veteran population in Galveston County, Claudia has decided to continue to pay it forward, roll up her sleeves and get the job done, again.
Medical Foster Care is “an alternative to a Veteran who may be chronically or terminally ill with limited social support by offering a home and family setting for their long-term care needs. It is 24- hour supervision, protection, and personal care in addition to room and board with one-on-one attention provided in a family setting.” (va.gov) Unlike a nursing home or a skilled nursing facility, it is simply a caring, supportive home environment focused on healthy living and empowered by love with shared veteran family support to those of our family that would otherwise be alone and left vulnerable.
In my experience the vulnerability of our most disabled veterans is close in analogy with our senior citizens where predators seek them out, exploiting their loneliness to rob them blind of their pensions, compensations and social security benefits. Living with others, in a stable and supportive environment that empowers independence and focuses on quality of life, is a blessing. I am so happy to see this program coming to Galveston County. I certainly hope you will support Claudia Duran’s efforts with your good thoughts, prayers, and love.
I’ll keep you posted as progress is made.
Until next time, be safe, be kind to one another and enjoy your Sunday!
P.S. If you live in the City of Hitchcock – the city is forming a Parks & Recreation Board and taking applications now! There are some great developments in planning to make the city even better and more enjoyable, the committee needs five more people to serve, you can pick up your application to help make a difference in your community at Hitchcock City Hall on Highway 6.
Dorothy Meindok is The Post Newspaper’s Veterans Consultant. Ms. Meindok served her nation in the United States Navy and is currently a practicing lawyer advocating for our nation’s veterans. Her column appears on Sundays.
