Supporting Service Members and Their Families in Meaningful Ways

Military service members and their families make significant sacrifices. Supporting them as they transition back into civilian life is a meaningful way to show gratitude. Whether it’s offering practical assistance or emotional support, there are many ways you can make a positive impact.

As Memorial Day 2024 drew near, this blog interviewed a 98-year-old World War II veteran who landed on Normandy beach with his brother and two high school classmates when he was 18 years old. He was the only one who survived.

The Wounded Warrior Project is one of the most thoughtful, incisive, patient-centered nonprofits in the country. Its support for veterans is carefully designed around the unique injuries that military veterans suffer while in service to their country. Combat inflicts both physical and mental injuries on veterans of all ages and genders, and the regimented military lifestyle itself often imposes its own unique traumas on the veteran’s psyche. The WWP seeks to provide veterans and their families first-class treatment tailored specifically to their needs and individualized care to support their unique journey. All treatment and accommodations are provided at no cost, and financial assistance is also offered to help cover everyday expenses like groceries, utilities, and housing.

A social worker from Kentucky who corresponds with this blog on a regular basis recently shared her unique journey with us. She started her career as a case worker in the Veterans Administration helping vets find housing and manage addictive behaviors. After only a year on the job, she felt the need to continue her education and got her degree in psychotherapy while working full time at the VA. She began to specialize in cases of PTSD and eventually was introduced to a unique therapy known as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. 

• Veteran's Day is not Memorial Day. They are often confused.
• Memorial Day was established in 1868 to honor all those who gave their lives defending our country in military service.
• Veteran's Day was established as Armistice Day in 1911 by President Woodrow Wilson to commemorate the cessation of hostilities and the allied victory ending World War One.
• In 1954, President Eisenhower asked Congress to change the name to Veteran's Day to honor all veterans, living and dead, who served our country in the military.
• Today there are 18,592,457 veterans living in America who all need some assistance coping with the injuries they suffered, both physical and psychic, while serving in the military.
• The front line of defense for these veterans are the social workers at the VA and many community not-for-profit veteran's service agencies.
• The VA is the largest employer of social workers in the nation, totaling more than 18,000 strong.

In our ever-evolving digital age, leveraging technology to improve and optimize services has become a necessity. One area where technology can have a profound impact is in enhancing the services provided to our veterans. These brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country deserve the best support possible. Innovative case management software is playing a pivotal role in achieving unparalleled veteran services.

There are more than 20 million veterans in our country, and more than half of them are over age 65. While about 1,800 veterans die each day, few receive hospice care at end of their life. Social workers remind us that veterans have specific needs due to their time in service that hospice teams are specifically trained to address. While many veterans suffer chronic pain, presumptive disease, and traumatic injuries, a wider range of issues and concerns may also exist that may complicate end of life for veterans:

• PTSD (which may not surface until this point in life)
• Anxiety
• Traumatic grief
• Depression
• Survival guilt
• Troubling memories resurface.
• Reluctance to seek help for pain causes many to reject hospice care because they feel they need to be stoic and “fight on.”
• Anger due to pain, injury, or illness caused by war.
• Psychological issues of guilt, shame, or need for forgiveness and understanding due to having participated in war.

The US Government Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) partnered with Google last year to increase Veterans' access to services and data. This initiative was hailed as an achievement in a sector that, at times, seemed hesitant to fully embrace technology. 

However, VA's program delivered a clear message: the US government and non-profit sector serving former military personnel are ready to begin on a digital journey. One with numerous benefits for veterans and the opportunity for improvement in veteran case management. 

Another component that has recently acquired traction among government and private non-profit organizations is the gathering and analyzation of data for veteran services. Veteran services caseworkers realize the value in leveraging data's power to improve their services, and many organizations are eager to invest in data analytic technologies.

Let's look into the seeming simple but huge impact data driven analytics can change the way veteran service organizations operate.  

According to Department of Veterans Affairs estimates, there are more than a hundred registered veteran service organizations in the United States. These social service organizations have assisted numerous former veterans and their families by providing services to this distinguished group. 

However, as the number of veterans continues to rise, these non-profits are becoming overburdened. Veteran services are in desperate need of reforms to continue serving millions of former military personnel and families. 

On any given night, approximately 553,742 people in the United States are homeless, according to national data. And around 38,000 of these are veterans. This means that veterans account for approximately 8% of the total homeless population.

This is a sad state of affairs, given that these people have spent a significant portion of their lives serving the country, only to find themselves homeless on the same country's streets.

Men, women, and people of all races and backgrounds are among the homeless veterans who have given their best year to this country. So, why are they homeless during their most vulnerable years?