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The West Spring Street entrance to the VA Connecticut Health Care System's West Haven Campus photographed on July 20, 2021.
Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media.jpg)
MILFORD — To paraphrase a well-known recruiting slogan, the Veterans Administration is looking for a few good families.
Recently launched in New England after widespread growth in the south, the federal foster care program's clients, veterans, will pay homeowners on average $2,500 to $3,500 per month for housing and care for veterans, most from the Vietnam era. Ideally, the homeowners are families and both sides develop bonds so that the veterans become part of the family, said Sarah Jane Dailey, a licensed clinical social worker and medical foster home coordinator for the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.
The system is based in West Haven and has more than a dozen clinics and centers across the state.
"Veterans are aging and there are alternatives to institutionalized care," Dailey said during a recent presentation at the Milford Public Library. "They need connection to the community and the homeowners can provide it. It gives (veterans) more security, a feeling of belonging. It is for people who really want to open their arms and help people."
Dailey's biggest challenge may be getting the word out. She started her job in September, and the Milford presentation was her third. She knows she has a lot of work to do. Her job includes recruiting foster home participants and veterans, who are usually Vietnam War-era but might also be younger, put the homeowners and their homes through an inspection process to qualify as medical foster homes, place veterans in the homes, then coordinate the support teams who will work with the home providers to care for the veterans, she said.
Dailey also wants to seek legislative aid in expanding state law to allow more than one veteran per home, she said.
The program is pretty simple, Dailey said. It runs in a similar way to traditional foster care programs geared toward children. Medical foster home hosts ideally will have care-giving experience. They must have a household with at least one person age 21 or older, be able to provide 24-hour monitoring and personal assistance support to the veteran, and must live in the home full-time, she said.
The caregivers must get CPR and first aid certifications, participate in monthly training, pass background and financial ability checks and make alterations to their homes to suit the veterans. These home modifications could include things like ramps, and the need for modifications could change as the veterans age, Dailey said.
The caregivers must agree to unannounced inspections and acknowledge that they are taking on someone at risk of needing nursing home placement or other advanced care. They also should have some type of history of working with others.
The homes themselves must also pass VA inspections, including fire and safety standards and local housing codes.
The veterans, meanwhile, must have sufficient private funding to afford the care. If they can't, they might qualify for special monthly pensions the program provides. The rate they pay is negotiated with the homeowner, Dailey said.
The program provides care for the veterans with an interdisciplinary team — a nurse, physician, social worker, pharmacist, and physical therapist — to supplement the care provided by a caregiver.
"Every vet is followed by primary care team that provides assistance and creates a care plan in the home," Dailey said.
Nationally, the first foster caregiver program for veterans began in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1999 when two VA hospital social workers piloted it. In 2004, similar programs began in Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Congress endorsed the idea in 2009 and by 2018, more than 1,000 veterans were housed nationally in more than 690 MFHs.
New England is just getting started with its program. Maine is the most advanced New England state, with about a half dozen MFHs established. Massachusetts just hired two program coordinators. New Hampshire has a program launched. Vermont is planning one and Rhode Island is doing a different program, veteran-directed care instead of foster-home approach, Dailey said.
Dailey's coverage area is vast, more than 30 Connecticut municipalities from Fairfield to New London and inland as far as Meriden. So far the program has one applicant — sent in earlier this month from a veteran in Bridgeport. The goal is to get three veterans established in homes this year, and to grow from there, she said.
"It's very exciting," she said. "I am very passionate about caring for veterans. It is great to offer them an alterative to institutionalized care."
