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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Funding has been pulled for adult day care for Omaha and western Iowa veterans due to a $2.5 billion shortfall in the Department of Veterans Affair's health care budget.
The VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System will no longer cover adult day care and other forms of non-skilled nursing care after July 31, the Omaha World-Herald (http://bit.ly/1Hs1Tw2 ) reported.
"We recognize the inconvenience," VA spokesman Will Ackerman said. "But we also have to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and not spend money we don't have."
Ackerman said the VA will work with veterans' families to ease the transition. He wasn't able to determine Monday how many veterans are affected by the cuts.
For caregivers like Marcie Hoff, the news isn't welcome. Her father, retired Air Force Master Sgt. Bernie Childers, spends several hours each weekday in the Franciscan Centre Adult Day Service in Omaha. The 75-year-old is disabled from a host of medical conditions caused by exposure to a highly toxic herbicide called Agent Orange in Vietnam.
The VA had covered the $50-a-day cost of the program, which featured music, crafts and games as well as lunch.
At least 20 of Franciscan's 67 clients are veterans whose treatment is funded by the VA, said Julie Sebastian, president and CEO of New Cassel Retirement Center which hosts the Franciscan Centre program. She believes families of veterans likely will see higher costs because they'll end up hiring home-health aides or consider placing the veterans in nursing homes, which can cost around $7,500 a month.
Kimberly Dove said the adult day care program had allowed her to return to work.
Her father, Lylan Webb, is a 76-year-old Army veteran and suffers from Alzheimer's disease. She said she had in-home caregivers for a while, but her father didn't cope well with different people caring for him. The stability of adult day care had calmed him considerably.
"He's around people he's comfortable with. They play a little music, and that relaxes him," she said. "Without this, it jeopardizes my job. My life is on hold now."
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Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com
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