Murray, former Chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, oversaw implementation of the Caregivers Program, led passage of its expansion, and has been a longtime advocate for improving support for veteran caregivers including leading the Helping Heroes Act
***VIDEO of Senator Murray’s Q&A HERE***
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, attended a Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on improving services for veterans and their caregivers and asked witnesses—including veteran caregivers and advocates—about what improvements are needed to the VA’s family caregivers program (the Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, or PCAFC), the mental health challenges facing caregivers, and her bipartisan Helping Heroes Act that would support the families of disabled veterans, including children who take on caregiving roles.
Senator Murray, the daughter of a WWII veteran and Purple Heart recipient who was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during her childhood, has been a longtime advocate of veterans and has placed an emphasis on expanding benefits and support for veteran caregivers. Murray was the first woman to ever sit on the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and the first woman to chair the Committee. During her time as Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Senator Murray oversaw the initial implementation of the Caregiver Support Program in 2011, fought successfully to pass legislation to greatly expand the program and has been closely following its implementation since then to ensure it is in line with congressional intent.
“I appreciate the testimony from everyone, and Mr. Townsend, I want to particularly thank you—your story was my family’s story. My dad was a World War II veteran, diagnosed with MS when I was a young teenager, 7 kids in our family, and our family went through what your family is—so I want to thank you for your service and sacrifice for our country… that’s why I worked so hard to get the Family Caregivers Act passed personally, because I know what so many people struggle with,” Senator Murray said at the hearing.
“As Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Committee at the time, I worked really hard to implement it to make sure it actually was in line with what our Congressional intent was. So, this hearing is really important as we evaluate it now… while the VA continues its review now of this program, what do you think we need to particularly focus on?”
“Particularly with regard to eligibility for the comprehensive program,” Mr. Townsend replied, “VA’s current interpretation of the eligibility criteria and requiring assistance for the performance of activities of daily living each time that activity is performed is unrealistic. And as a result, it excludes a tremendous number of veterans and caregivers from what otherwise is a very, very valuable resource.” Murray replied, “I appreciate that and I totally understand that; that is really helpful.”
Next, Senator Murray asked witness Hannah Nieskens, a caregiver of a post-9/11 veteran, about mental health challenges among caregivers of our nation’s veterans. Murray noted a RAND study that found that caregivers note higher levels of stress and depression than non-caregivers. This is especially true for post-9/11 caregivers, 40 percent of whom met criteria for major depressive disorder—that’s twice the amount as pre-9/11 caregivers, and nearly four times the rate than that of non-caregivers. “That is really a heartbreaking statistic—I really think it’s something we need to focus on,” Murray said. “Can you talk a little bit about what services are currently available for caregivers who need mental health treatment, and what we need to do to really address that?”
“I agree that that is a startling statistic,” Ms. Nieskens said, and noted that she thought the rate might be even higher, given her experience being in the caregiver community. “One of the things I think is so important about the PCAFC is the support it does provide to caregivers. There are community functions where they host abilities for caregivers to actually interact with each other, to meet other caregivers, and that allows caregivers to feel less isolated. Being a caregiver at a young age is something that most people don’t expect. That greatly is in contrast to people who are caring for someone who is geriatric, and we certainly expect people of a certain age to have mobility needs or supervision protection and instruction needs. However, to have to care for someone who is in their 20s who has those same needs just is difficult when you’re in your 20s yourself. That certainly is something the PCAFC attempts to do is to support caregivers in learning how to become a caregiver, and to connect with each other to provide educational resources. There’s also outside organizations like Quality of Life and the Elizabeth Dole Foundation who also provide caregiver communities, and resources, and educational calls for these caregivers.
“Ultimately, something that Mr. Townsend spoke to was the CHAMPVA benefit… if you are just in the program of general care, and you do not have a 100 percent permanently and total disabled person, you do not have access to that CHAMPVA or perhaps that insurance that would allow you to seek those mental health therapists.”
Finally, Murray spoke briefly about her bipartisan Helping Heroes Act, which she introduced with Senator Boozman (R-AK) last March. “2.3 million children live in a household with a disabled veteran… Senator Boozman and I have a bill called the Helping Heroes Act to help establish a new program to support kids who live with a disabled veteran and give them the support they need, and I hope we all look at that as well.”
The Helping Heroes Act recognizes the work done by children living in households with a disabled veteran and would provide critical support and assistance to these children in accessing local, state, and federal resources. These children provide invaluable support to their veteran family members. In doing so, these children face unique challenges and often take on responsibilities that their peers do not carry. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) currently has limited authority to support veteran families with healthy development, especially when it comes to children who take on these caregiving roles. Veteran families could benefit from access to mental health care, peer support, and recreational opportunities, and other experiences that can help these children lead healthier lives.
The Helping Heroes Act would help meet the unmet needs of these children and would:
- Require a full-time Family Coordinator at each VA medical center to assess the needs of veteran families in their catchment area and refer them to available local, state, and federal resources;
- Establish a Family Support Program to provide supportive services to eligible family members of disabled veterans;
- Ensure transition assistance curriculum includes information on services for children in veteran families adjusting from Active Duty to veteran status;
- And require VA to collect data on the experiences of disabled veteran families to better identify and understand their needs.
More about this issue can be found in a 2021 report commissioned by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation on supporting the healthy development of children from military and veteran caregiving homes. The Helping Heroes Act is supported by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), The American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Blinded Veterans Association (BVA), and American Veterans (AMVETS).
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