Photo credit: Beaniebeagel/Dreamstime.com

After 9/11 many people started wearing American flag lapel pins – it was a show of pride in our country and in our troops who would soon deploy to fight the war on terrorism.  While wearing a pin is a great symbol – there are other ways for us to show our support for our nation’s veterans and their family caregivers.

The Department of Veterans Affairs states that there are 23 million veterans of wars ranging from WWII to Operation Enduring Freedom.  Many of those veterans require care from a family member.   In fact, 10 million Americans are caring for their loved one who is a veteran and seven million caregivers are actually veterans themselves.

In a landmark study released last Veterans Day by the National Alliance for Caregiving and underwritten by UnitedHealth Foundation, it showed:

• Veterans’ caregivers bear a higher burden than most, helping to manage emotional and physical conditions often for 10 years or longer.  In fact, compared to caregivers nationally, caregivers of veterans are twice as likely to be in their caregiving role for more than 10 years (30 percent vs. 15 percent).

• Caregivers of veterans are overwhelmingly women (96 percent) who sacrifice their own health, work and family life.  These veterans’ caregivers have twice the levels of stress (88 percent) or depression (63 percent) than typical caregivers.

• The study revealed that many veteran’s caregivers are younger – spouses of those having served in OIF/OEF but also revealed that Baby Boomer parents are caring for their injured adult children.  Many of these veterans are suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (60 percent), 70 percent with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety, and 29 percent with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Finding Help Online

For help with finding services to help the caregivers of veterans, there is a wonderful Web site which has over 11,000 resources.  It is called the National Resource Directory and is maintained by the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs.

In addition, a few months ago the VA launched a Caregiver Specific Web site (www.caregiver.va.gov) that includes an online caregiver tool box and connection to caregiver support coordinators in VA Medical Centers.  They also created a caregiver toll-free support line (1-855-260-3274).

Giving Back to Those Who Gave So Much

ReMIND – Stand Up for Heroes is the annual event coordinated by the Bob Woodruff Foundation and part of the ReMIND campaign to provide resources and support to injured service members, veterans and their families.  Held last night (November 10) in New York, you can check out photos of headliners Bruce Springsteen and Jon Stewart and donate to the cause through the ReMIND Web site.

Wounded Warrior Project – dedicated to those who were injured since 9/11, WWP has an online community for its members to share stories and volunteer to help one another at My Care Crew, they have hosted numerous Caregiver Retreats where caregivers get a weekend away to relax, recharge and reconnect with other caregivers going through similar challenges, and they support a host of career training and employment opportunities for veterans and their spouses.

You can help through the Believe in Heroes™ campaign that calls on Americans to recognize the enormous sacrifices made by our newest generation of veterans and to honor the service of these individuals between September 11 and November 11. The initiative challenges all Americans to show their support of veterans by hosting a Believe in Heroes party, supporting retailers and brands that support heroes or purchasing Believe in Heroes gear and apparel.

Joining Forces – this is a new initiative to encourage institutions, businesses and individuals to do more to help military families that is championed by First Lady Michelle Obama and wife of Vice President, Jill Biden. Here are some of the programs you can support:

• The YMCA, National Military Family Association and Sierra Club Foundation offered free summer camp to 7,000 military kids at camps in 35 states.
• Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club will guarantee a job at a nearby store for military family members who have been transferred to another part of the country.
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will hold 100 hiring fairs around the country to help 50,000 veterans and military spouses find jobs outside government

National Military Family Association – Operation Purple Healing Adventures is a family camp experience for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) military families.

Project Sanctuary – recently profiled in People magazine, this non-profit organization has a mission to provide therapeutic, curative, supportive and recreational activities to veterans, active military personnel, their spouses and children in a leisure environment.

God bless our troops, our veterans and their family caregivers.  And, on this Veterans Day (and every day) – thank you for your service, your courage, your sacrifices.

Note:  This week’s blog is dedicated to the veterans in my life – my step-father who is a Korean War Veteran and proud Navy man, my late grandfather who was an Army WWII veteran and my brother’s good friend, Major Tai Le, who has done two tours in Iraq and has returned to us in California where he is now at Camp Pendleton after being assigned to the Pentagon in the JAG office.