VA Still Arbitrarily Cutting Caregivers From Program, Even As It Aims To Expand

Chris Kurtz Is Trying To Keep His Sense Of Humor. Even After The VA Told Him Last Summer That He No Longer

Chris Kurtz is trying to keep his sense of humor. Even after the VA told him last summer that he no longer needs a caregiver.

“Apparently my legs grew back, I dunno,” he says with a laugh, and sinks into his couch in Clarksville, Tenn. And then he mentions that he probably can’t get out of the couch without help from his wife.

In December 2010, a bomb blast ended his Army deployment to Afghanistan. He lost both legs above the knee and half of his left hand. Heather, then his fiancée, joined him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the VA suggested she apply for their new caregiver program.

The program was set up to support family members of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. They’re mostly wives and mothers who receive a VA stipend to provide home health care that would otherwise cost the VA millions of dollars.

When it started in 2011, vets signed up in huge numbers, quickly overwhelming the VA staff assigned to the program.

In recent years many VAs have drastically cut theirrolls — often with little explanation to the caregivers.

The cuts come at a time the program is supposed to be growing. Congress approved a major expansion of the program in May, though implementation could take years.

Congressional sources confirmed that the VA has missed its first deadline in October to implement new information technology for the caregiver expansion — raising serious concerns of further delay. VA says the department will not deploy the new system until it is ready and has been tested thoroughly.

But VA also recently blew through a deadline to fix the IT for a new GI bill rule, and did so without initially telling Congress about the delay.

Chris and Heather Kurtz had been getting the highest level of support — Tier 3. That meant a stipend, health care for Heather and quarterly visits from a nurse. But earlier this year, Heather Kurtz was told her standing in the program was being evaluated. And without anyone from the VA even coming to see them, the Kurtzes got dropped in July.

Not reduced to a lower tier, but simply told that Chris no longer needs any help from Heather.

VA Still Arbitrarily Cutting Caregivers From Program, Even As It Aims To Expand

Photos: Erica Brechtelsbauer for NPR

8 Things to Stop Worrying About

1. Other peoples’ expectations of you. At the end of the day, it’s your life not their life - so just be yourself and set,and go for, your own goals.

2. What other people say and do. It’s not up to us to control other people, or to change how they act, or to make their decisions.

3. Expecting perfection. It’s unrealistic to aim for perfection. You’ll just be disappointed and discouraged all the time.

4. Getting it wrong. We all make mistakes in our journey through this life. That’s simply part of learning, and being normal and human.

6. Fitting in. Although social skills matter, and it’s good to think of others, you also need to be yourself - a special, unique individual. Beware - conformity can kill individuality.

7. Being right. This is highly over-rated and can cause a lot of stress. If you’re confident and real you don’t need to prove you’re right!

8. Life being out of control. At the end of the day, there’s not much we can control – except our own reactions and our attitudes to problems. So change what you can – and then relax and enjoy life.

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drtanyasinghsworld

6 years ago

Leaving Abuse: How It Feels, How to Do It, and How to Get Through It.

How It Feels

Being in an abusive relationship is like trying to hold the ocean in a fishbowl, and feeling guilty when it cracks. Leaving is like drinking the water. It’s nasty and overwhelming. Part of you feels like you won’t be able to survive it, and when you do you still feel it in your stomach for days to come, but at least you’re not holding it anymore. Eventually, it will become diluted by everything else in your life, and all that will be left is the pain that comes from the knowledge of what you once tried to hold, and the after-effects of the scaring the salt water left on the lining of your stomach.

It’s messy, and it’s painful. It will be one of the ugliest things you’ll ever go through, but in the end, you’ll be proud of yourself for making it through. You may not even know until you decide to leave that it counts as abuse. It can be a lot like sitting blindfolded, as your house burns around you. There is a period, when you think the smoke is just bad cooking, but then you feel the fire.

How to Do It

From emotional to physical abuse, the emotions and recovery tend to ring the same, but if you live with your abuser, the first initial steps will be different.

If you live with your abuser, it’s best to make a plan to leave, including where you will be staying after (whether it be a friend’s house or shelter). If your abuser is physically violent, you may want to pack in secret. Take any personal belongs, and important documents such as school records, birth certificates, etc. One way to do this more discreetly would be to…

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drtanyasinghsworld

6 years ago

romanticizing mental illness is dangerous and misleading

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drtanyasinghsworld

6 years ago

“When truth is replaced by silence,the silence is a lie.”

— Yevgeny Yevtushenko

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drtanyasinghsworld

5 years ago

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drtanyasinghsworld

9 years ago

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