VA Funded In-Home Care
If you're like most folks living in the United INs, 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 cityname 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 Lydick, IN
Veterans Aid and Attendance Program in Lydick, IN
Veterans Agent Orange Program in Lydick, 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 cityname 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 cityname. 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 cityname 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.
LYDICK — If you are going fast along Edison Road in Lydick, you may not see Holy Smokes Pizza's small, white wood frame building with a sign and vertical banners that sit nearby the red bus that serves as its food truck.Jerry Aufrance has taken a local landmark — the town's former ice cream parlor, complete with the parlor's original multi-mixer that used to — and still does — handle multiple shakes — and has made it his own pizza parlor.Aufrance leased the building for his restaurant in the early ...
LYDICK — If you are going fast along Edison Road in Lydick, you may not see Holy Smokes Pizza's small, white wood frame building with a sign and vertical banners that sit nearby the red bus that serves as its food truck.
Jerry Aufrance has taken a local landmark — the town's former ice cream parlor, complete with the parlor's original multi-mixer that used to — and still does — handle multiple shakes — and has made it his own pizza parlor.
Aufrance leased the building for his restaurant in the early summer of 2021. The building he now occupies has had a myriad of tenants, including an insurance agent, a pest control company, a bait shop, a sweet shop and others.
A year earlier, he and a friend were going to try to lease a church and start a barbecue place near New Carlisle, in a similar fashion to the Beer Church Brewing Co. in New Buffalo.
When the lease was up in 2021, Aufrance offered to teach his friend the restaurant business and set up a commissary for the bus Aufrance had purchased in 2020 for a startup.
Play the USA TODAY Quick Cross now.The deal fell through, and Aufrance then began to wonder whether he should try again in the restaurant business, where he has worked for most of his life, including when he started his own as owner, a sandwich shop, in Ohio in 1977.
"It takes a certain kind of crazy to work in a restaurant," he says. "I got hankering again. I really liked the idea of talking to people, asking them, 'How was your dog? How's your grandson? Is he playing ball?' Family-type talk."
The name Holy Smokes came from a friend, a real connoisseur of pizza.
"He would go to all the mom-and-pop places and eat pizza," Aufrance says, adding he would order a pepperoni pizza.
At the time, Aufrance was making pizzas in the basement of the church.
"He's down there and I had made a pizza, and he says 'Holy smokes, that's good pizza!'" Aufrance says.
The name also is emblazoned on the uniforms of Aufrance's softball team for players 62 and older that he's played on for 11 years.
The result of his urge to return to running a restaurant has begun to show up on social media comments on Holy Smokes Pizza, and Aufrance is pleased.
Comments say the place is cozy, and the people at Holy Smokes are easy to talk to.
"That's part of our allure," Aufrance says. "Some say it's cozy here, or it's laid-back."
Because of its size — the parlor seats 36, including the counter stools — Aufrance says there are times the menu items may not be available. "That doesn't mean I cannot make it up," he says.
Despite the fact that Edison Road dead-ends near Holy Smokes, Aufrance says they still get people off the Indiana Toll Road at times that come over. Most of the clientele has been local.
His signature go-to sandwich is his popular Ham, Salami, Provolone (HSP) sandwich, also known as the HSP Special. It's no coincidence that the HSP also represents the restaurant's name, he adds.
"We make a super Coney. We make it out of our Italian pizza sausage and our sauce," Aufrance says.
The milk shakes served at Holy Smokes are made on the same mixer that originally was in the ice cream parlor.
Aufrance said he has had to maintain the mixer over the years, but several shakes can be blended at the same time if needed.
Abby Lord, who works behind the counter along with Aufrance, says the original equipment goes with the place.
"We're serving milk shakes on the same mixer that was originally here in the '50s," Lord says. "It's (on the) same shelf, the same mixer on the same spot."
Aufrance also touts his East of Chicago hot dog.
"I use the ingredients that are on a Chicago hot dog. I change it a bit. Put the mustard, relish and onions on the bottom of the bun with the hot dog on it, and I make a sauce of the rest of the ingredients with banana peppers," he says. "You take a bite and you get a bit of everything when you take each bite."
When asked about his main food, Aufrance says it's the technique of preparing the crust that makes his pizzas a hit with customers. He said in devising his own pizza style, he got his ingredients and wanted to figure out for himself what kind of pizza he wanted to produce.
He recalls hearing stories about people kneading dough for 10 minutes. While in college learning restaurant management at the University of Houston, he took a professor's advice.
"The more you work the dough, the harder it gets. So we don't do that here," he said.
The restaurant is located near the Indiana Invaders soccer fields near Lydick, and Aufrance said customers from Chicago came in two weeks ago from a tournament and raved.
"They said 'You know, we're from Chicago,' where pizza is important, and he says they liked both the sauce and the crust. Those are the two things I can control," Aufrance says. "We can by vegetables anywhere and cheese anywhere, but the two things that set you apart are the crust and the sauce."
To bolster the bottom line, Aufrance has been invited to join several food trucks at the Amazon data center worksite near New Carlisle to serve workers who need lunch services there.
Aufrance said a customer recommended he begin offering food to workers, many who are in need of variety of offerings, the owner said.
For the bus food, Aufrance says, he makes the pizzas on the bus, calling them fresher than other food trucks that he says are bringing cooked pizzas from their restaurants in the city to the site.
"We have a lot of advantages, and I have a unique food comprehension mind," he says.
He said he also may dabble with three-course lunches for the workers, a sort of "brown bag special."
He is even considering coupons and marketing to the Amazon employees, giving the workers discounts. "We're two turns, right down the road," he says. He feels they may become regular customers after sampling his food offerings.
With the food bus business for lunch on weekdays, Holy Smokes' Lydick hours of operation will be mainly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. That can change, however, depending upon the success of the remote operation.
"The biggest thing is you have to change," Aufrance says. "You have to keep changing."
? What: Pizza, sandwiches, hot dogs and shakes
? Where: 26222 Edison Road, west of South Bend near Lydick
? Hours: Fridays 4-9 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 2-9 p.m. Closed for food bus Mondays through Fridays for now
? Prices: $27-$5.25
? For more information: Call 574-440-6555 or go to https://holysmokespizza.com/
If you know of a restaurant that should be featured in an upcoming Taste column, email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at [email protected].
