Impact of Homeless Veterans: Outline 2
- Impact of Homeless Veterans on Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center
It is noticed that veterans face a lot of challenges after their return from the war. One of the major problems faced by veterans is lack of homes to live. These homeless veterans are as well faced with other health problems that need attention to help them lead a normal life. As a result of their dedication to serve the country, many health centers have been formed to look into their problems through availing primary, secondary, and tertiary solutions to their complication. One of the health centers is the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. The hospital is located in Charleston in which it has 145 beds that enable it to provide, primary, secondary and tertiary medical care to the veterans so that they can get out of their traumatizing conditions. As a result of this, the veterans receive acute medical, surgical and psychotherapy from the center. They are given a place to sleep as the center seeks for a way of solving their joblessness. There is however congestion at the hospital due to lack of enough facilities that can support the large growing numbers of veterans at this center. As a result of the trauma that these individuals received from the war, they sometimes get unreasonable and hold other people and the community around hostage in the lieu of looking for medication (Perl, 2007).
- Proposed Solutions for Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center
Because of the growing numbers of homeless veterans, the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center should look for ways of expanding the center so that more veterans can be accommodated and be helped out of their challenges. One of the most important areas that need to be addressed is the Posttraumatic disorders that contribute to the challenges that are faced by the veterans. This is because such individuals are unproductive and can not take up jobs to support their livelihood. The basis of finding a solution to their problems is through the provision of medical services to them. More psychiatric services have to be available at the hospital so that the homeless veterans are counseled to accept the situation and change their perception on life. The center should be expanded to hold more beds for primary, secondary and tertiary medical care to the homeless veteran to curb the increasing number of homeless veterans that come to the center. It would also be better if the health support services are expanded beyond the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. This implies that it should support other centers away from its location so that some veterans are taken to such centers for the purpose of decongesting the hospital (United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 2010).
- Financial Impact of the Proposal to the Community Development Health Support Services
As a result of the increased number of veterans that seek help at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, the proposal would serve to reduce some of the problems at the center. This follows the fact that among the 154, 000 homeless veterans in the entire nation, about 80% of them suffer from brain injuries that are the root cause of their challenges. Psychotherapy therefore would help a great deal if heightened at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center (Tessler, Rosenheck & Gamache, 2002). However, it is realized that before such services are availed, there should be a source of funds that would support the programs. The community development support services are faced with financial shortage. The proposal though helpful is very expensive and will destabilize the financial standards of the community that supports the services that are given to the homeless veterans.
- Communication with Key Stakeholders in the Community or Government
There is need to communicate with major stakeholders of the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. The center is mainly run by the community which sees the necessity of helping people who have been patriotic and helped in the fighting for the country. Communicating with them will help in the making of better decisions that would open ways of getting funds to be used in the improvement of the center. The key stakeholders of the hospital might then seek for government intervention for the sake of these people who are suffering from PTSD emanating from distressing memories of the bomb blast that they experienced at the battle field (United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 2010). It is only when will the government channel funds to create more centers that would in turn decongest the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. Through the government, financial aid will be sought from non-governmental bodies.
- Financial Impact of the homeless Veterans on Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center over the Last 3-5 years
Over the last three to five years, the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center has spent approximately 1.2 billion dollars per year on the services offered to the homeless veterans. This large sum of money over a short period of time has been as a result of the constantly increasing numbers of homeless veterans seeking for help at the center. The homeless veterans require primary, secondary, and tertiary medical care particular in form of psychological counseling, acute medical treatment which entail availability of ant-depressants, surgery to those that had wounds resulting from bullets at the wars. Such homeless veterans have always required close examination following the immense effects of the trauma. They therefore had to be helped out of the memories so that they lead a normal life. Most of them lack families that can provide any support hence they entirely depend of the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center for their basic needs like clothing, food and shelter. This puts a lot of pressure on the centre as it tries to finance such programs.
- Effect of the Rise of Homeless Veterans at the Rate of 2-3% over the Next 5 years
Over the next five years, in case the number of veteran in the country continues to rise at the rate 3% there would be no space for the veterans at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. The rise would mean there should be more services like beds to be available for them. If 1.2 billion are spent each year on settling the homeless veterans without any rise, the total expenditure for the five years would require approximately 6billion dollars to settle the population without any substantial rise in the population (Bascetta, 2005). The rise of these individuals at the rate of 3% would raise the figure to approximately 8 billion dollars. In case the bed space could not have been expanded, more hostages would be experienced at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center as they fight to receive better services. It is not only the financial sector that would bet affected but also the social sector of the community leaving around the center.
References:
Bascetta, C. (2005). Homeless Veterans: Job Retention Goal Under Development for DOL’s Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program: Retrieved November 25, 2010, from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com
Perl, L. (2007). Veterans and Homelessness: RL34024. Congressional Research Service: Report, 1-27. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com
Tessler, R., Rosenheck, R., & Gamache, G. (2002). Comparison of homeless veterans with other homeless men in a large clinical outreach program. Psychiatric Quarterly, 73(2), 109-19. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from ProQuest database.
United States Department of Veteran Affairs. (2010). The National Center on Homelessness
Among Veterans. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from
http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/NationalCenter_Studies.asp
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. (2010). Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2010, from http://www1.va.gov/HOMELESS/docs/OpeningDoors2010FSP.pdf
