Wanted: Angels for VA Foster Care Program

September 1, 2010 - Where Heroes Meet Angels is the name of a new medical foster home program sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Huntington, West Virginia. The program matches up veterans with host caregivers who have volunteered to take the veteran into their home while providing care for them. Ideally, the veteran will be incorporated into the family and included in their family activities.

The VA is subsidizing the program with a grant totaling $260,000. The Huntington site is only one of 30 offering the foster care program for those who prefer it to living in nursing homes, but can no longer live independently. Because of the success of the pilot programs, there are 66 more VA sites nationwide setting up their own foster care programs.

As the programs are established individually, they each evolve independently. However, VA surveys have shown veterans reflecting a 97% satisfaction level with the program. Being a part of a home and in the community is almost always going to be favored over institutional living. Not feeling isolated lessens a person's chance of becoming depressed.

The program's guidelines mandate certain things from both the caregivers and their home. These demands include:

• Upholding fire safety standards;
• Offering veterans private rooms;
• Undergoing FBI background checks;
• Being able to provide CPR and first-aid assistance;
• Participation in semi-annual training;
• Living within 40 miles of the VA medical center; and
• Allowing the program director and the medical team full access to the home and the veteran.

Caregivers are held to such a standard because it is imperative the veterans receive stellar care. Veterans qualifying for this program will require supervision 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some caregivers are former nurses and some are just compassioned civilians. In the end, the most important thing is taking care of this country's veterans.