Hawaii veterans, caregivers get $507,000 grant
By Dennis Camire
Advertiser Washington Bureau
Veterans and their caregivers in Hawai'i will receive a $507,000 grant, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced Thursday.
The money will be used for a pilot program targeting veterans in rural O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands. Hawai'i has about 102,000 veterans.
The program will provide adult daycare, transportation, caregiver training, respite and hospice care. It will also provide other forms of long-term care and coordination of readjustment and rehabilitation services.
It also will use a medical foster home model of care in which veterans are brought into the homes of caregivers who provide 24-hour assistance.
"Families and other caregivers are on the front lines of our fight to care for veterans who have served this nation bravely," said Sen. Dan Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. "I applaud the development of these pilot programs to provide caregivers with better education, training and other resources."
Last year, Akaka, then the top Democrat on the veterans affairs committee, sponsored the bill that set up the VA grant program to help those who are caring for returning war wounded as well as aging and disabled veterans from earlier wars.
The Hawai'i grant was among eight grants, totaling $4.7 million, for caregiver assistance programs across the country.
"This funding will enhance support and training for the family members and other caregivers who sacrifice to care for disabled and aging veterans," said Acting VA Secretary Gordon H. Mansfield.
In requesting the grant, the VA Pacific Island system, based in Honolulu, said Hawai'i has a shortage of nursing home beds while the need for them continues to grow.
More than 10,000 veterans enrolled in the VA Pacific Island system in 2005 were age 65 or older, and about 2,400 were eligible for long-term care, the grant application said.
Home care, at a cost of about $4,000 a month, is used as an alternative to nursing homes, which may cost about $6,270 a month, the Hawai'i VA said.
Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.
