VA Funded In-Home Care
If you're like most folks living in the United States, chances are, someone in your family or someone you know has served time in the military. Veterans truly deserve our deepest love, support, and care. Yet, many of these selfless men and women experience feelings of isolation and struggle with everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning, and self-care. After all the hard work and bravery these soldiers dedicated to our country, they have earned the right to have a caregiver assist them with their daily needs.
Fortunately, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a range of home care services tailored to support both Veterans and their family members. These services are carried out by trained in-home caregivers who visit clients daily to provide essential care. As a home care company that truly values our Veterans, we are proud to connect Veterans to expert franchise owners who can help them get the essential care they need.
If your loved one is a Veteran and needs Veterans community care funding in Hamlet or funding for another VA home care program, know that we are here to help. All it takes is a call to Always Best Care to get started. From there, we'll put you in touch with a local Always Best Care franchise owner who will do all the work needed to get your family member the funding they deserve.
VA FUNDED In-HOME CARE
The VACCN Homemaker/Home Health Aide & Respite Care is a benefit offered to Veterans who require assistance with activities associated with daily living. Homemakers and Home Health Aides, while not nurses themselves, are trained professionals who can provide support and care to Veterans in their own homes.
They are supervised by an Always Best Care registered nurse who assesses the Veteran's care needs and supervises each individual case.
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VA Funded In-Home Care
Taking a holistic care needs approach, the VA can authorize Always Best Care to relieve family caregivers through three different programs:
Veterans Community Care Program in Hamlet, IN
Veterans Aid and Attendance Program in Hamlet, IN
Veterans Agent Orange Program in Hamlet, IN
Helping family caregivers remain healthy is key to keeping Veterans safe, happy, and independent in their own homes. The specific services provided by the Home Health Aide & Respite benefit depend on the individual's assessed needs. Examples of daily activities include:
Home Health Aide & Respite hours are authorized by the VA in hours per week and can be as high as 40 hours per week, depending on qualifications.
THE Next Steps
Whether you are a Veteran and need in-home care services or you're a family member of a Veteran, it's important to qualify for our VA Community Care Network. To qualify, consider the following:
You should be aware that any home care services that are authorized depend on you or your loved one's physician's assessment of needs.
How To Enroll In
Gaining access to VA senior care requires a three-step enrollment process. Those steps include the following:
First, request an Assessment for Community Care Network (CCN) services from your VA Physician. From there, the VA Physician will conduct an assessment and write an order accordingly (based on eligibility and needs). After that step, request that your VA Physician specifies which VA home care provider you would like to use, such as Always Best Care.
During this step, a Community Care Coordinator from the VA will contact you after the VA Physician writes your order. After making contact, the Community Care Coordinator will inform you of the type of care and quantity of hours per week authorized by the VA.
If you have not selected a specific provider, the Community Care Coordinator will provide options in your area. Once a Community Provider like Always Best Care is selected, the Community Care Coordinator will send the authorization to the selected Community Provider that you request.
Should you choose Always Best Care as your Community Care Provider, a home care claims manager will call you to arrange a care consultation, complete the intake paperwork, and schedule in-home care services. After the care consultation, the Community Care Provider performs a final assessment of your needs.
After the final assessment is complete, a Care Plan is created for you by the Community Provider. The Community Care Provider will arrange for a caregiver to come to your home for the number of authorized hours allowed each week.
Note: Veterans may choose their in-home care provider and are under NO OBLIGATION TO SELECT Always Best Care.
At Always Best Care Senior Services, we are dedicated to offering Veterans exceptional care and helping them secure the funding necessary for their services. The Always Best Care Veterans Assistance Program supports some of the nation's most deserving individuals in staying in their homes longer while enjoying a healthier and safer way of life.
Here's how a VA home care funding expert in Hamlet from Always Best Care helps:
Finding information on home care programs funded by the VA is challenging. At Always Best Care, we want to make access to this crucial care as accessible as possible. That's why, when a Veteran is interested in Always Best Care's VA Community Care Network, our VA home care funding specialists manage all the paperwork and other hurdles that may prevent a senior Veteran from reaching out.
If you're unsure whether senior care paid for by the VA is right for you, keep reading to learn more about the programs offered.
As a Veteran, you may be eligible to get care outside the VA. This means the VA will pay for the cost of your care from a health care provider in their community care network. Long-term services offered within this program may include:
To learn more about Veterans Community Care Funding and how our VA home care funding specialists help provide the care you need, contact Always Best Care today.
VA Aid and Attendance benefits offer additional monthly payments on top of a monthly VA pension for eligible Veterans and their survivors. If you require assistance with everyday tasks or are confined to your home, you might be eligible.
In order to qualify for this program, one or more of the following must be true:
To learn more Veterans Aid and Attendance and how our VA home care funding specialists help provide the care you deserve, contact Always Best Care today.
Many U.S. Veterans returning from Vietnam began to report health issues almost right away, linking them to exposure to Agent Orange and dioxin. This connection sparked controversy from the outset and persists to this day. Veterans suffering from exposure to Agent Orange may be eligible for in-home care funding from Always Best Care.
One common misconception about this program is that Veterans must have served in Vietnam or were directly exposed to Agent Orange to qualify for funding. The truth is that a soldier DOES NOT need direct exposure to Agent Orange to benefit from quality in-home care.
However, to qualify for this type of funding, the Veteran must have served in the military when the government was using this harmful chemical herbicide. So long as you or your Veteran loved one served in the military during Agent Orange use, they may qualify - even if they did not serve in Vietnam.
The following cancers and illnesses are proven to have been caused by Agent Orange:
Whether you served in Vietnam and were exposed to Agent Orange or you are a Veteran who served our country while the herbicide was used, you deserve personalized in-home care from expert caregivers. Unfortunately, securing VA funding for these services can be difficult - especially for older Veterans. That's why many soldiers contact Always Best Care for help.
Our franchise owners are experts when it comes to VA home care claims management in Hamlet. When you call your local Always Best Care location, you can expect tailored service, expert guidance, and reliable help throughout the qualifying process.
The VA provides various programs that deliver both medical and non-medical home care services for eligible Veterans. These initiatives are part of the VA's home and community-based services. They're aimed at enhancing the well-being of Veterans facing chronic illnesses or service-related disabilities.
Non-medical home care encompasses services such as companionship, assistance with household tasks, and personal care. In contrast, home health care services focus on medical needs and include skilled nursing, medication management, and rehabilitative therapies.
The homemaker and home health aide program includes a trained caregiver visiting the Veteran's home to assist with daily household tasks, like grocery shopping or personal care. The frequency of the caregiver's visits can vary based on the Veteran's requirements, whether they need support daily or just occasionally. Veterans can keep receiving help as long as they need assistance with everyday activities. This program enables Veterans to remain in their homes instead of relocating to a nursing facility. It also supports family caregivers by alleviating their stress and physical demands.
The financial support provided by the VA for Veterans' home care can differ significantly depending on the program utilized by the Veteran, their disability status, and various other factors. In the case of spouses or family members of Veterans, the VA's payment for home care will be determined by their eligibility and the specific care requirements they have. Working with a VA home care funding specialist in Hamlet may help Veterans and their families understand eligibility requirements. Working with an expert may also help to clarify how much the VA will pay for in-home care.
Possibly. Whether a spouse or surviving spouse qualifies depends on their specific circumstances and their ability to fulfill eligibility criteria. For instance, a surviving spouse who enters into a new marriage loses eligibility for TRICARE, which is the military's health insurance program. If a spouse or surviving spouse does not qualify for TRICARE, they might still have access to VA health care benefits through programs like The Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA).
Request More Information About our VA Funded In-home Care For Veterans
At Always Best Care, our mission is to provide quality in-home care services for Veterans and to help them obtain the funds needed to pay for the care they deserve. As part of our program, we want to help Veterans and their families understand what VA programs are available.
That's why, when you or your family reaches out to our VA home care claims managers, we'll work diligently to educate you about VA-funded home care. Qualifying for this kind of care is difficult, which is why we help with every aspect of the eligibility process. From filling out paperwork to researching your unique history and even preparing written legal opinions, we handle the hard work so you can focus on your health.
To contact an Always Best Care VA home care funding expert to learn more about our VA Community Care Network, or to arrange a no obligation care consultation, contact us toll-free at 1-855-520-CARE.
Interested in becoming a caregiver, please click Here.
As is usually the case at the National Theatre, the set (Ben Stones) is impressive, and on that basis alone, this show would be a good candidate for the ongoing NT Live series, where people can book to see a live or a ‘recorded live’ performance at a local cinema. Indeed, it is to be screened in cinemas in late January 2026. The royal castle, Elsinore, looks appropriate for the functioning headquarters of a monarchy: perhaps some people might have preferred to see more portraits and artefacts, as though it were a National Trust v...
As is usually the case at the National Theatre, the set (Ben Stones) is impressive, and on that basis alone, this show would be a good candidate for the ongoing NT Live series, where people can book to see a live or a ‘recorded live’ performance at a local cinema. Indeed, it is to be screened in cinemas in late January 2026. The royal castle, Elsinore, looks appropriate for the functioning headquarters of a monarchy: perhaps some people might have preferred to see more portraits and artefacts, as though it were a National Trust visitor attraction. At least to me, the murals looked good, and I am led to believe the wall paintings portray key events in Danish history. Some of the costumes (also Stones) are curious, however, with characters more often than not dressed in contemporary garb. The title character even sports a T-shirt in one scene. It felt, to be blunt, half-arsed, and it would have been better if the production had stuck to more traditional outfits or otherwise have gone the whole hog in terms of modernity and had, amongst other things, the new king Claudius’ (Alistair Petrie) security use closed circuit television to patrol the perimeter, even if it has been done before.
Hiran Abeysekera is a gifted actor, and his 2022 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance in Life of Pi was justified. But he is rather miscast here as Hamlet – it is difficult to believe he is Danish royalty, or indeed part of the establishment in any country, jumping and bouncing around in a way that was at odds with his character’s supposed melancholy, and sometimes talking far too quickly, such that some of the soliloquies felt very rushed, and in turn somewhat devoid of nuance. Francesca Mills’ Ophelia was the standout for me, convincingly plumbing emotional depths and reaching for emotional highs (this being a tragedy play, there was inevitably more of the former) with an engaging stage presence.
A briskly paced production, it finishes the ‘right’ side of three hours (or the ‘wrong’ side, if you’re a Shakespeare purist) and yet it isn’t the speediest rendering of Hamlet I’ve ever come across – that accolade, for the record, belongs to a production at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, which lasted seventy-five minutes. Here, Rosencrantz (Hari Mackinnon) and Guildenstern (Joe Bolland) were, at least initially, so indistinguishable from one another that Claudius getting them mixed up felt understandable. Geoffrey Streatfeild’s Polonius was quite brilliant, varying his manner of speaking depending on who he was talking to – an address to his children, Laertes (Tom Glenister), and Ophelia had an altogether different tone to his conversations with the king.
Certain shows are frequently revived for a good reason, namely that they are worth watching. The marketing for this production claims it is a ‘reimagining’ – I’m not sure I agree, as there are no major surprises for anyone already familiar with the play. To me, this is another serving of Hamlet, serviceable and satisfying, nothing less and nothing more.
Review by Chris Omaweng
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Are you watching closely?
Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question – you know the one.
CAST in alphabetical order Hamlet – Hiran Abeysekera Guildenstern – Joe Bolland Marcellus / Captain – Phil Cheadle Gertrude – Ayesha Dharker Ghost / Player King / First Gravedigger – Ryan Ellsworth Laertes – Tom Glenister Osric / Voltemand – Mary Higgins Nurse / Priest – Liz Jadav Fortinbras – Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer Rosencrantz – Hari Mackinnon Ophelia – Francesca Mills Cornelius / English Ambassador / Second Gravedigger – Sophia Papadopoulos Claudius – Alistair Petrie First Player – Siobhán Redmond Francisco / Reynaldo – Seb Slade Polonius – Geoffrey Streatfeild Bernardo – Noel White Horatio – Tessa Wong Supernumeraries – Adil Akram, Yemisi Bello, Henry Brackenridge, Toni Brooks, Dominic Farrow, Ting Fung, Rachelle Grubb, Choy-Ling Man, Derek Oppong and Selina Patankar
CREATIVES Director – Robert Hastie Set and Costume Designer – Ben Stones Lighting Designer – Jessica Hung Han Yun Sound Designer – Alexandra Faye Braithwaite Composer – Richard Taylor Movement Director – Ira Mandela Siobhan Fight Director – Kate Waters Casting – Alastair Commer CDG and Martin Poile CDG Voice Coach – Shereen Ibrahim Associate Director – Georgie Staight
HAMLET By William Shakespeare National Theatre 25 September to 22 November 2025
You can be daunted by Hamlet…. if you let yourself.Giles Terera, our Hamlet in Chichester Festival Theatre’s first-ever production of the play, prefers to approach it as a blank canvas. It runs in The Minerva Theatre from September 6-October 4, directed by CFT artistic director Justin Audibert.“I have always loved the play,” Giles says. “I remember reading it at drama school. I didn't see a lot of Shakespeare at school but at drama school I had a teacher that really turned me on to Shakespeare. An...
You can be daunted by Hamlet…. if you let yourself.
Giles Terera, our Hamlet in Chichester Festival Theatre’s first-ever production of the play, prefers to approach it as a blank canvas. It runs in The Minerva Theatre from September 6-October 4, directed by CFT artistic director Justin Audibert.
“I have always loved the play,” Giles says. “I remember reading it at drama school. I didn't see a lot of Shakespeare at school but at drama school I had a teacher that really turned me on to Shakespeare. And Hamlet was one of the first plays that I read and at that point in life you realise that you find yourself having these thoughts yourself and having these feelings and these passions yourself. It means something. You recognise it, and I fell in love with the play.
“But the way that I choose work and the way that I think about roles tends to be that I look for things that are engaging and for things that I've never done before. And also the more work I do, the more I'm interested in working with different directors and in hearing their thoughts and in seeing their work. It is less and less about having a shopping list of characters I want to play, but in a way Hamlet was always there.
“I love Shakespeare and I don't like being away from Shakespeare for too long. The last one I did was Othello a couple of years ago. But I don't think there was an inevitability about doing Hamlet one day. But I would say that I have been in preparation for it. I was in a production once before. I was Horatio at the National Theatre when Rory Kinnear played Hamlet and you tend to think that you know the play well but once you are in a production you realise that you don't, that there is so much more to discover and to explore.
“And also Shakespeare speaks to us in a different way depending where you are in your own life. If you read Romeo and Juliet at the age of 16 it's one thing but then if you see it again at the age of 60 then it will be something else again and that's the same with Hamlet – there are infinite ways of looking at it.
“Justin and I had worked together before, and we were looking for something to do. We just picked up on that conversation but I think with anything that I do, I'm always thinking ‘Why are we telling the story now? What is the reason for doing this now?’ If I do a piece of theatre, I'm always looking for something that will resonate with now. But actually Shakespeare will always resonate. That's the genius of Shakespeare.
“But even so you have to think ‘Why now?’ and when I read the play again, I was really interested in the fact that the characters are all of them discussing the social climate within Denmark, the state and the mood within society. Everyone's discussing it from the most influential people right down to the grave diggers. Everyone is analysing what is going on within the world of the play and I think that reflects where we are now. Hamlet is the heir to the throne of what? What is this country and what is this society that he is potentially ruling? And in the middle of this play there's a revolution. Laertes storms the castle with a riotous mob and calls for the king to be overthrown.
“I've seen the play a few times and what is really striking me now is that everyone in the play is talking about what is going within this society.”
As for playing Hamlet, as Giles says it could be daunting if you let it: “But I've always thought with any play or any character, I want to come to it as a blank canvas. I want to have an open mind. Obviously the reputation of the play and the legacy of the play in people's thoughts and opinions are infinite but I want to come to it fresh.”
And what helps in that respect is the fact, as Giles says, that Shakespeare is always very mindful of what an actor has to do: “I saw that in Othello. The fact is that he has constructed the part very, very well in terms of the climaxes and of the peaks and the troughs. He’s done all the work for you. The soliloquies are very sound in their exploration of philosophy and religion and the human impulse. You can really appreciate the writing. It is all there. You just have to pick it physically. You just have to make sure that your mind is sharp.
“But I'm at a point in my career where I've been working for a while, where my goal is always to hone my craft. I'm always thinking that I want to learn something, and the next thing I do will have the benefit of the fact that I have played Hamlet.”
And that means a unique relationship with the audience, which is again a reason the production is being done in the Minerva: “The audience is so vital to Hamlet. The role that the audience plays is so important. I really wanted to be able to see every single one of them, every single person. It is about talking to the audience. You think of the soliloquies and these are speeches where Hamlet is trying to reach conclusions to the dilemmas that he is facing. And there are many points where the audience could respond. The fact is you have to feel that he is trying to work it out and what you want is really a two-way conversation with the audience. I really don't think the audience has a passive role in Hamlet.”
Eve Ponsonby, Monica in The Stepmother in Chichester’s Minerva Theatre a few years ago, returns to the Minerva now as Ophelia in Hamlet starring Giles Terera in the title role (Sep 6-Oct 4).“I absolutely loved The Stepmother,” she says. “It was a really great show, and it's one of those shows where we have still got the WhatsApp group going. We have stayed really, really close.”Now comes a completely different challenge – albeit a role she has touched before.“Years and years and ...
Eve Ponsonby, Monica in The Stepmother in Chichester’s Minerva Theatre a few years ago, returns to the Minerva now as Ophelia in Hamlet starring Giles Terera in the title role (Sep 6-Oct 4).
“I absolutely loved The Stepmother,” she says. “It was a really great show, and it's one of those shows where we have still got the WhatsApp group going. We have stayed really, really close.”
Now comes a completely different challenge – albeit a role she has touched before.
“Years and years and years ago when Rory Kinnear was doing his Hamlet I did the National Youth Theatre production of the play Prince of Denmark by Mike Lesslie.”
The piece served as a prequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet: “I played Ophelia in that so I suppose I've had Ophelia on the brain for a long time and I'm just really glad that I am now getting the chance to do it before I age up to play Gertrude! But actually Ophelia is really, really hard. You don't actually see that much of her and you don't actually see Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s relationship on the stage. Giles and Justin (Audibert, CFT artistic director, who is directing the production) and I have done lots of work using the text to try to work out what we think their relationship might be. I think it was great to begin with but obviously it doesn't end so well.
“I think Ophelia is a victim of the world, and it is a very, very misogynistic world. She's very good at being in this world at the beginning. She knows her place and she knows what to do and she knows how to be a young woman in this world. But I think what drives her to madness is not really what you would consider a psychotic episode. It is that she can no longer fit. She becomes a victim of this world.
“I think nowadays you can start thinking why does she obey her father, why does she do what she is told. You're trying to make sense of that, and there is that element that she believes her father that Hamlet has lied and doesn't love her as much as he says. I think she is obedient because she thinks being obedient is going to work.”
As for all the Ophelias that have gone before: “I'm very aware of them and of the brilliant choices that have been made but I think you have to put them out of your mind and to make them your own. I was a bit worried about that before but I think it's really just testament to how brilliant Shakespeare's writing is.
“Actually when I had my audition I dug out my old Hamlet which was a GCSE text and I found all the notes in there! I think I realised that I wanted to play Ophelia and it's great because this feels like it is the right time. I can bring what I've got to the role.”
And it is great that it is in the Minerva: “I'm really excited about that. Very often Shakespeare is done on the big stages because you feel that Shakespeare is epic. However there is a real intimacy to Hamlet, and in this version we're really trying to make it feel like a political thriller.”
Shakespeare might not have made Ophelia the main character, but it seems Taylor Swift is putting the heroine center stage on her 12th album, "The Life of a Showgirl."On the Aug. 13 episode of the "New Heights" podcast, Swift noted that "Hamlet" played a role in her newest era. And there's an argument to be made that the cover art and first title track, "The Fate of Ophelia," point towards the dark destiny of Hamlet’s love interest."(Travis) may not have read 'Hamlet', but I exp...
Shakespeare might not have made Ophelia the main character, but it seems Taylor Swift is putting the heroine center stage on her 12th album, "The Life of a Showgirl."
On the Aug. 13 episode of the "New Heights" podcast, Swift noted that "Hamlet" played a role in her newest era. And there's an argument to be made that the cover art and first title track, "The Fate of Ophelia," point towards the dark destiny of Hamlet’s love interest.
"(Travis) may not have read 'Hamlet', but I explained it to him," Swift said on the two hour podcast.
"Don't tell my middle school English teacher," Travis Kelce added to which Jason Kelce added, "SparkNotes."
"It's all right, I watched 'The Lion King,'" Travis responded and Jason replied, "Wait, 'Lion King' is based off of Hamlet.'"
Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.Swift, emphatically replied, "Yes."
If you haven’t read "Hamlet" or forgot the plot, here’s a brief synopsis. Ophelia is a young noblewoman whose fate is controlled by three men: Hamlet, the prince; Polonius, her father; and Laertes, her brother.
The love story between Ophelia and Hamlet collapses under pressure from her family and the rot of the Danish court. Hamlet kills her father and becomes emotionally distant. At times, he is cruel towards her. She descends into madness, and in Act IV, Scene VII, Queen Gertrude – the only other woman in the original play – delivers the news that Ophelia fell from a willow tree into a brook. Her clothes drag her under to her death.
Whether the death was self-inflicted or by accident is ambiguous. Literary experts can argue both angles, but her heartbreak is undeniable.
Swift may depict the Shakespeare scene with a modern twist. "Willow" is a song she wrote on her "Evermore" album at the time she was dating Joe Alwyn. The English actor cowrote three songs under the pseudonym William Bowery on that album: "Champagne Problems," "Coney Island" and "Evermore." Swift and Alwyn broke up before the Eras Tour and the singer referenced in her 11th era, "The Tortured Poets Department," that she could doing the record-shattering show with a broken heart.
She – like Ophelia – fell out of the "Willow" tree.
In the 19th Century in London, Sir John Everett Millais painted "Ophelia."
The Pre-Raphaelite artist took inspiration from "Hamlet" and splashed oil-based paint onto a canvas culminating in a masterpiece. Ophelia is seen with her head slightly above water in the moment before her demise. Swift's album cover is a present-day take of her in a bathtub. Her cat eye and bold red lip are just above the water line, while her body and sequined outfit is submerged.
There has been no confirmation of what the first track on "Showgirl" is about, but where Ophelia's and Swift's fates diverge is what happens next. No. 13 (Swift's favorite number) met No. 87 (Kelce's jersey number). The two add up to 100.
The ending is one that Ophelia never got and maybe the placement on the album is setting the scene for the pop-infused, upbeat and happy album that Swift said mirrored where she's at in life.
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Follow Taylor Swift reporter Bryan West on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
