Partnering for Veterans Care
As a major provider of professional long-term nursing care for seniors and others coping with illness or injury, Volunteers of America is uniquely qualified to assist with many of the emerging issues affecting veterans. Offering a variety of services that include assisted living, memory care, nursing care, rehabilitative therapy and home health care, Volunteers of America is exploring new ways to expand its current veterans programs and services. By collaborating with government agencies and other organizations with like agendas, better solutions for the delivery of veterans’ long-term care are now appearing on the horizon.
Current Status and Strategies
There is a diverse veteran population—young and old, men and women, mentally and physically injured. This means there will be a growing demand for more flexible and consistent caregiver support for veterans across the nation. Although home and community-based care services are part of the basic medical benefits package for veterans, there is a growing need for a new model of veteran-centered care that has historically been focused on delivering institutional care in a traditional manner.
In a recent presentation made to the Volunteers of America Aging with Options™ Advisory Council, Jade Gong, Vice President of Public Policy for National PACE Association (NPA), and Daniel Schoeps, Director, Purchased Long-Term Care (LTC) Group, Geriatrics and Extended Care, Veterans Hospital Administration (VHA), spoke of the current health care models for veterans, the goals of delivering that care and what future health care for veterans may look like.
"The VA’s philosophy is to provide long-term care in the least restrictive setting that is safe for the veteran, and whenever possible, in home and community-based settings, in order to sustain the veterans’ contact with friends, family and their spiritual community," Schoeps said. "We also recognize we have to do much more for the caregivers."
Schoeps’ deep commitment to veterans’ health care has been fostered over his 30 years of service to the Veterans Administration. He was the senior staffer and principal writer of "VA Long-Term Care at the Crossroads," the 1998 report of the Federal Advisory Committee on the Future of Long-Term Care. The "Crossroads Report" has served as the blueprint for the VA’s expansion of home and community-based care services, something Volunteers of America has been doing for decades in programs across the nation.
"The VA’s mission is to honor America’s veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being," Schoeps said. "This mission is guided by the vision to be a patient-centered, integrated health care organization for veterans providing excellence in health care, research and education."
Schoeps added that the VA has been committed to expanding home and community-based care services for veterans for the past five years but this initiative has become more urgent with the younger veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the competing priorities within the VA health care system.
"The Veterans Administration has been redesigning the long-term care options it makes available to aging and disabled veterans," Gong said. "The VA is changing the care veterans receive by increasing partnerships with community providers, helping people stay in their homes and giving veterans the option to direct their own care."
PACEIn preparation for the growing health care needs 
associated with the rising number of aging individuals, including veterans, Volunteers of America has been very proactive in expanding its current senior services. Among these efforts is the pursuit of opening more PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) sites. PACE is a Medicare and Medicaid funded program for older adults, providing community-based care and services to people who would otherwise need nursing home level of care.
Peter Fitzgerald, Volunteers of America’s Senior Vice President, Integrated Strategies and former NPA Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, has been continuing his efforts to raise awareness and build infrastructure for supporting PACE services to aging veterans and all older adults.
"Volunteers of America can help veterans gain access to these new options and be a strong partner to the VA," said Fitzgerald. "Our experience providing housing, counseling and care support to veterans is a good foundation for developing long-term care services that support them as they age."
The VA has great interest in the PACE model as it continues to expand its own home and community-based services. With the start-up of purchased PACE services, PACE will be a part of the future home and community-based delivery system for our nation’s veterans.
Volunteers of America currently operates a PACE site in Colorado. In addition, the organization’s existing footprint of services all over the country, its large portfolio of senior housing and its long-established history of providing care to frail, low-income older Americans is a solid foundation for growing and establishing new PACE sites.
Recently, Volunteers of America partnered with On Lok Lifeways’ PACE site in Vermont. On Lok, founder of the PACE model more than 30 years ago, has more than 72 organizations in 30 states caring for older Americans. PACE Vermont serves the counties of Rutland and Chittenden, and operates two PACE centers in the towns of Rutland and Burlington. Current enrollment is 84, with five additional enrollments expected by December 1. The program has been in operation since April 2007.
Moving ForwardVolunteers of America will continue to partner and work in concert with organizations to find solutions for providing better medical care and support services for our nation’s veterans. Caring for veterans is an important part of Volunteers of America’s innovative Aging with Options initiative, and partnering with other organizations such as On Lok, VA and NPA unifies the collective efforts made by these groups in identifying and providing these critically needed services.
