Are there "secret benefits" for veterans?


The Veterans Administration (VA) often makes it very difficult to easily find the benefit you need. And then, if you find the information, you have to then try and decipher the government lingo. These factors combine to make most people believe that there really are secret benefits for veterans. Or at least secrets from the common everyday person!

Let's look at one of the most infamous "secret benefits for veterans" - the veteran disability pension benefit. It is not a retirement benefit that one normally correlates with the word "pension." It is the most misunderstood benefit available from the VA.

Your Everyday Guide from the National Institute on Aging

Like most people, you’ve probably heard that physical activity, including exercise, is good for you. If you’re already active, keep up the good work. It may even be time to push yourself a little harder, try a new activity, or find new ways to add exercise to your daily life.

New programs are being created this year with the senior millage funds, most interestingly Ride Link, a transportation network that connects senior citizens to transportation opportunities in their community. The service coordinates with the Rapid and several other senior social services agencies throughout Kent County to provide rides to seniors.  The program’s goal is to keep seniors active and involved in the community.

To schedule a ride, residents should call 1-866-425-3848. It can take up to five days after registration to receive services, and the most accessible times are from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M.  All residents of Kent County, sixty years or older, are eligible for the service.

Visiting nurse services are booming in Michigan. Guardian Angels, for example, was founded in 1997,  and now has seven locations in Michigan and seven more in other states. I have no doubt that they provide high quality care, but why are they so successful?

Their versatility must be one reason. Beyond home nursing they provide services as diverse as physical and speech pathology therapy, counseling, and occupational therapy.

One factor must be the growing population of non-English-speaking residents in Michigan. Guardian Angel is not only good about providing translators; like many visiting nurse organizations, they’re dedicated to developing good relationships with each of their patients. So the patients get to stay on their turf, the nurses aren’t rushed, and there’s minimal bureaucracy for patients to deal with.

According to the CDC and other sources, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over is projected to increase from 12.4 percent in 2000 to 19.6 percent (or 1 out of 5 Americans) in 2030. And the age group of 85 and over is the fastest growing segment of the population. 

Risk of Heat-Related Problems Increases with Age

As we age, our ability to adequately respond to summer heat can become a serious problem. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has some advice for helping older people avoid heat-related illnesses, known collectively as hyperthermia, during the summer months.

In the past, elderly people didn't have a choice but to stay in nursing homes when they could not support themselves anymore. Despite the good intentions behind nursing homes, they soon gained a bad reputation as a place to stay for the elderly. Many people dreaded to have to stay in a nursing home for many reasons. Some of these include loneliness, lack of freedom, and even lack of privacy. Yet the fact remains that there are many good nursing homes in existence today. However, many elderly people prefer not to leave the comfort of their own homes for a nursing home.

Fortunately for them, there is a very viable option called assisted living. In the most basic terms, assisted living is for people who need some help to go about their daily lives as normally as they can. In essence, assisted living is the bridge between independent living and a nursing home it is basically having home care. In this home care set up, there is a specific person who will provide the assistance to the client. As such, we have one of the biggest advantages of in-home care extremely personalized service.

Everybody get old; it's a simple fact of life that can be hard to face. The truth is that muscles and bones get weaker and the home can slowly become a dangerous place. However, making some minor modifications to keep your loved ones safe is a very easy process.

Having elderly parents can be a medical challenge and a lot of stress for the children. In fact some elderly parents seem to think life is about having the best doctors and their self worth is actually determined by the number of doctors and specialists that they see--a subject that deserves it's own article.

Depression in the elderly is...unfortunately, a common occurrence due to loneliness, lack of family support or because of chronic illnesses. Very often depression in the aged is not reported and treated due to the social stigma attached with this condition or due to plain ignorance on part of the family of the elderly person. This not only doesn't help them, but can worsentheir condition and make them susceptible to other ailments...including sometimes suicide.

You just spent 30 years making reports, fielding phone calls, filing papers, and pacifying your boss at the office. At the end of each day, you find your energy gradually waning as you reach that point wherein you wanted to declare the last part of your work -- retirement.

Once you reach your late forties and early fifties, you are bound to think of retirement. You want retire at an age when you are not too old to enjoy your golden years.

This is the point in life when you look back at your achievements. If you feel satisfied with what you have accomplished so far, you will get to focus more on what it is that you exactly want to do with the rest of your life - which you did not have time for when you were young and busy raising kids and money.