News From the Cause
Wounded vets applaud new caregivers plan (FLORIDA TODAY, BREVARD, FL)
September 06, 2011
With the touch of a button, Russ Marek's easy chair lifts him to a standing position.
He takes specially fitted crutches and walks down the hallway of his home in Viera. Then, with a slow, unsteady gait -- but with a sense of accomplishment and a smile -- he walks back with the help of only one crutch.
"The prosthetic leg doesn't give you any feedback," he said.
Marek, a staff sergeant, was serving in Iraq with the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, when he was critically wounded Sept. 16, 2005, by a roadside bomb. His injuries included the loss of his right leg and right arm, a brain injury and burns over 20 percent of his body.
Marek, 40, said he slowly has learned to compensate and do more for himself. But he still cannot live on his own without assistance.
"He can't cook and do a lot of things," said his mother and principal caregiver, Rose Marek. "It's 24-hour care right now."
The Mareks have been approved for the VA's new Family Caregiver program for post-9/11 veterans that provides benefits for the first time to designated family caregivers of eligible severely wounded service members.
In a speech Tuesday to the American Legion Convention, President Barack Obama talked about the caregivers program as part of his plan to help veterans.
"We're giving unprecedented support to our wounded warriors, especially those with traumatic brain injury," he told the Legionnaires. "And thanks to the veterans and caregivers legislation I signed into law, we've started training caregivers so that they can receive the skills and the stipends that they need to care for their loved ones."
The program includes monthly stipends, health insurance and other benefits for the family caregiver. It also provides counseling and travel benefits when the wounded veteran must go for specialized treatment and other services. Quarterly visits from VA social workers help to ensure the veterans are getting appropriate care.
"In the past, caregivers had been seen in the shadows of the veteran," said Mearlene Filkins, caregiver support coordinator for the VA Orlando office, which covers several Central Florida counties, including Brevard.
Filkins said that eligible caregivers could receive between $400 and $2,000 a month based on need, whether they provide full-time or part-time care, and based on what it would cost to pay a home health care aide in the area.
Since the program started in May, one additional family in Brevard besides the Mareks has been approved for the program and another is awaiting approval. The Orlando area has seen 40 applications, with 21 approved so far, according to the VA.
Of the 2,003 applications the VA received from across the nation as of last Thursday, 907 have been approved with an average monthly stipend of $1,800. Click here to view more
