Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1191054
4 UCW DECEMBER 11-17, 2019 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly. com ASSISTANT EDITOR Jenna Shackelford jenna@upandcomingweekly.com HOPE MILLS AND SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Baker art@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, Karl Merritt, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Prudence Mainor, Avery Powers, Elizabeth Blevins, Crissy Neville ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200 FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2019 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. PUBLISHER'S PEN HIGH HIGH 64 64 LOW LOW 49 49 HIGH HIGH 60 60 LOW LOW 47 47 HIGH HIGH 53 53 HIGH HIGH 62 62 HIGH HIGH 61 61 LOW LOW 41 41 LOW LOW 44 44 LOW LOW 37 37 DECEMBER 16 DECEMBER 15 DECEMBER 13 DECEMBER 14 DECEMBER 17 Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Sunny Showers Rain Showers DECEMBER 12 HIGH HIGH 45 45 LOW LOW 33 33 Humidity 84 47 67 75 77 67 Taking care of those who care for our veterans by REP. RICHARD HUDSON Taking care of Amer- ica's veterans is a tough job. This week, Publisher Bill Bowman yields his space to Rep. Richard Hudson to address this important topic. There is no place like home. This expression always reminds me that family is the most im- portant thing in my life. Family will be there for you through thick and thin, and you can always count on them. Our veterans especial- ly have to rely on their families. They come back home bearing the scars of battle after putting their lives on the line for our country and often- times need help from family and loved ones. The Department of Veterans Affairs has programs to support these caregivers, like the Program of Comprehensive As- sistance for Family Caregivers. Through my discussions with many veterans, I've learned of the great benefits of the VA's Caregiver Program, but also of some of its shortcomings. We made a lot of improvements with the VA Mission Act, making it easier for our veterans to obtain care and open- ing up the VA Caregiver Program to pre-9/11 veterans. There is still room for improvement to ensure our veterans — and their families — can get the care they deserve. Wanting to get some broader input, I decided to host a caregivers roundtable in Salisbury with Sarah Verardo, the CEO of The Independence Fund and a caregiver to her veteran husband, Mike; the Director of the Salisbury VA; social workers from the VA; and local veterans and their caregivers. I wanted the roundtable to be an informative event — both from what the VA provides and what caregivers go through. And I also wanted to see if there are areas we could work (on) together to improve the program. When I get back to Washington this week, I'll be introducing legislation that incorpo- rates a number of the ideas we dis- cussed at the roundtable. My legislation, which I will be calling the Care for the Veteran Caregiver Act, will make several meaningful improve- ments and further modernize the VA Caregiver Program. It will: • Extend the stipend payments re- ceived by caregivers to 180 days after the death of their veteran. This allows the caregiver sufficient time to adjust af- ter the death of a loved one, aides their transition back to work and allows them opportunities to pursue education • Eliminate burdensome re-evalua- tion requirements for critically injured veterans who require the most significant levels of care. Right now, veterans have to reapply annually for benefits, even if they have little to no chance of ever needing a lower level of care. This change will allow them to focus on treatment and living a fuller life. • Equalize the ap- plication process and evaluation criteria for the determination of eligibility for the program. Right now, the application process and evaluation criteria is a patchwork across the different VA service areas. This has resulted in veterans in differ- ent parts of the coun- try having different ratings for similar requirements or being given different ratings if they move to a new part of the country. This is both inefficient and unnecessarily jeopardizes benefits and services. It's my hope this common-sense legislation will be enacted quickly so we can start cutting through the red tape for our veterans and their caregivers. If you are a veteran and need assistance with the VA, please do not hesitate to reach out if we can help in any way at our Concord office at 704-786-1612, our Fayetteville office at 910-997-2070, or our Pinehurst office 910-246-5374. I'm here to serve you and will work hard to help in any way I can. Through my discussions with many veterans, I've learned of the great benefits of the VA's Caregiver Program, but also of some of its shortcomings. REP. RICHARD HUDSON, R-N.C. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200.