VA, Independent Living teaming up for veteran-directed care in 9 WNY counties
Focus will be to reach underserved rural parts of region
A partner of the Veterans Administration Medical Centers (VAMC) in Buffalo and Batavia, Western New York Independent Living, Inc. received the sole contract for Veteran Directed Care (VDC) with the VA.
While the Veteran Directed Care model is new to WNY, it has demonstrated success in self-directed care by veterans across the nation. VA Medical Centers partner with non-profit Independent Living Centers to empower Veterans to employ their own aides (often already being provided by family members).
WNY Independent Living CEO, Douglas Usiak shares, “As an aging service-connected disabled veteran myself, I am excited to know that my brother and sister veterans will have the comfort to direct their own homecare needs and remain in their home of choice as long as possible.
“A secondary satisfaction to being involved in the launch of this program is the opportunity to work with the VAMC in the capacity of a partner, and not just one of their consumers of services,” Usiak said. “This partnership gives me the opportunity to advance my lifelong passion of promoting the Independent Living philosophy that believes that we all have a right to live in our homes, work in our communities, and engage in society as a person with a disability.”
A focus of this program is to reach the underserved rural parts of WNY where veterans face provider shortages, geographic and distance barriers, limited broadband coverage which impairs their ability to participate in telehealth, and social determinants of health relative to rural living experiences (i.e., access to transportation, employment).