Wounded vets applaud new plan for caregivers

With the touch of a button, Russ Marek's easy chair lifts him to a standing position.

He takes specially fitted crutches and walks down the hallway of his home in Viera, Fla. Then with a slow unsteady gait, but with a sense of accomplishment and smiling, he walks back with the help of only one crutch.

"The prosthetic leg doesn't give you any feedback," he said.

Marek, a staff sergeant, was serving in Iraq with the 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, when he was critically wounded Sept. 16, 2005, by a roadside bomb. His injuries included the loss of his right leg and right arm, brain injury and burns over 20 percent of his body.

Marek, 40, said he slowly has learned to compensate and do more for himself. But he still cannot live on his own without assistance.

"He can't cook and do a lot of things," said Rose Marek, his mother and principal caregiver. "It's 24-hour care right now."

The Mareks have been approved for the VA's new Family Caregiver program for post-9/11 veterans that provides benefits for the first time to designated family caregivers of eligible severely wounded service members.

The program includes monthly stipends, health insurance and other benefits for the family caregiver. It also provides counseling and travel benefits when the wounded veteran must go for specialized treatment and other services. Quarterly visits from VA social workers help to ensure the veterans are getting appropriate care.

"In the past, caregivers had been seen in the shadows of the veteran," said Mearlene Filkins, caregiver support coordinator for the VA Orlando office, which covers several Central Florida counties.

Filkins said that eligible caregivers could receive between $400 and $2,000 per month based on need, whether they provide full-time or part-time care, and based on what it would cost to pay a home health care aide in the area.

Of the 2,003 applications the VA received from across the nation as of Aug. 25, 907 have been approved with an average monthly stipend of $1,800.

The program recognizes the efforts of family caregivers, some who have lost income, insurance and other benefits because they left jobs to care for their loved ones. The program helps compensate for that and allows the veteran to be cared for in the comfort of home by a family member.

"It's obviously a better way to care for veterans," Filkins said.

Rose Marek said the benefits are a great help, especially to younger struggling families.

She and her husband, Paul, have been caring for their son since he was injured about five years ago. The program will help them cover their own insurance and other expenses they incur while caring for their son.

"It might help my husband and I do something we want to do without putting a strain on our budget," she said. "To a young couple, it's going to mean everything. If she has to quit work and stay home, it puts a terrible financial strain on that young couple."

Rose Marek said she heard about the new VA Caregiver program from a veterans' organization.

The Mareks take turns, splitting time between their home in Satellite Beach, Fla., and their son's home in Viera. Though Russ Marek pushes himself to do as much as he can on his own, he needs their help.

"It's unfortunate, but the arm is very limited," Marek said as he tried to sweep his left arm over his head. "I use my left hand to eat. I use my left hand to do a lot of things."

Marek walked with crutches to the kitchen cabinets and slowly showed how he could grip a plastic cup with his left hand, which is missing most of his thumb.

"There are so many things that people don't think about being a double amputee," he said.

Despite the assistance he requires for some basic needs, Russ Marek remains upbeat and accepting of his condition as he struggles to improve. He sometimes pushes to rely less on the walker and crutches to get around.

While many injured veterans are like Marek and require help from caregivers, some resist help with day-to-day activities and can get along without assistance.

John Stearns, a 22-year-old Marine lance corporal who was critically injured on his birthday, Sept. 14, 2010, in Afghanistan when an explosion tore away his right foot and shattered his left leg, doesn't want assistance. He is undergoing treatment and therapy at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and is expected to be there until February.

"I want to be able to do everything on my own," he said. "I want to get out of here as soon as I can."

Stearns, of Palm Bay, was on foot patrol in a field when he stepped on a device that triggered an explosive. He had plans of continuing in the Marine Corps for four years. Now his plans are to attend the University of Central Florida to study radiology, a career he became interested in after undergoing many X-rays while hospitalized.

He also has other plans.

"I have a fantasy goal," he said. "I want to be a boxer. I always wanted to be a boxer."

Still in therapy, it will be months before Stearns knows how well he'll do on his own.

Filkins, from the VA, said the needs of each applicant to the program are evaluated.

"The response I've seen has been very positive," she said. "(Families have) been very happy."