Medical foster home offers aging veteran a family

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NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — When Jeanette Drayton decided to sign up as a caregiver under the VA hospital's medical foster home program, she knew she'd be welcoming a stranger into her North Charleston house.

She didn't expect that this patient, 71-year-old Ronnie Pruett, would become part of her family.

"He is," she said. "He is everywhere I go. If he's not with me, they ask, 'Where is Mr. Ron?' "

The VA's medical foster home program was established at the federal level about a decade ago, but it's relatively new in Charleston. The program accommodates elderly patients who can't live by themselves anymore, but don't want to, or can't afford, to move into a nursing home.

Pruett, who served in the Air Force for three years in the early 1960s and suffers from dementia, pays $1,900 in VA benefits to live with Drayton. Nursing homes, on average, cost more than $6,000 a month.

Natasha Simeon-Major coordinates the medical foster home program at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston. Five medical foster homes have been established in the area, but she hopes to grow the program to at least 25 homes.

Simeon-Major said she gets three calls a week from veterans or their family members who want to find a placement. Right now, there just isn't enough room to accommodate all the requests, she said.

It takes a lot of time for her staff to vet each potential home. Caregivers must demonstrate that they have space to accommodate a veteran, that they have other sources of income and that they can offer around-the-clock supervision. Their homes must be inspected several times.

Caregivers must have experience dealing with patients or certain ailments. Drayton, for example, works part-time as a certified nurse assistant.

"I've been taking care of patients for 40 years," Drayton said.

Also, Simeon-Major said, "We are looking for someone with an actual heart and passion to do this."

Pruett is an ideal patient for the program, she said, because he is self-sufficient. He folds his own laundry, makes his bed and has no problem walking or bathing on his own. But he can't be left alone because his memory is so limited.

He can spell his name, for example, but can't remember his age. He doesn't talk much, but enjoys watching old Western movies in Drayton's living room. Sometimes, they play cards together.

Pruett spent six months at the VA hospital in Charleston last year after his wife died. She was his primary caregiver and they had no children.

"We couldn't find a placement for him," said Simeon-Major. "We couldn't just discharge him onto the street."

So he lived in the hospital's acute care unit until space opened up in a medical foster home. He moved in with Drayton more than a year ago. Graves Wilson, Pruett's court-appointed guardian, said Drayton's home is ideal.

Unlike a traditional nursing home, "this is more like a family setting," Wilson said. "I had never heard of medical foster homes, especially through the VA, and I use veterans' benefits myself. ... I'd much prefer this."

When they met for the first time at the hospital, Drayton said Pruett's kindness was obvious.

"He always said, 'Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am,' " she said. "He seemed like a very good fit. ... He was what I wanted, really."

Now, Pruett and Drayton travel around town together: to the grocery store, on various errands. They have even taken out-of-town trips. They went to Disney World with Drayton's grandchildren and to Baltimore and Greenville. Her family celebrated his birthday with cake and ice cream.

"We have a ball," she said. "We have a real good time."

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com