A local healthcare system is seeking caregivers in southwest Missouri to open their homes to veterans.
The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (VHSO) serves veterans in 23 counties in the 3-state area. Its Medical Foster Home Veterans program is an alternative to nursing home care.
Cynthia Sugg currently cares for two veterans and a veteran’s widow in Lincoln, Arkansas.
“It’s like being a mother,” Sugg said. “You take these people in that don’t have family maybe sometimes to take care of them and you make them a part of your family and you just take care of their needs like they’re your children.”
Robert Patrick, a Korean War veteran, is cared for by Sugg. He described the medical foster home system and his care as “fabulous.”
Homes selected for the VA Medical Foster Home program go through a screening and inspection process and must have an interconnected smoke-fire alarm system that can be monitored remotely and onsite.
Interested applicants must have caregiving experience, complete an application, give references, reside within the home where the caregiving will take place and live within a 50 mile radius of the Mt. Vernon Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC).
If you would like more information about the program visit this link or call Ron Bauder, LCSW at 417.466.4000 ext. 61138.