Speaker tells veterans about available home-care options
MARS — Webb Hawthorne medically retired from the Navy in 1981 at the age of 31. He now is looking at a senior care living facility and starting the process of utilizing the veterans benefits that he earned.
Hawthorne wishes he would have looked into benefits much sooner.
“When I was working for Westinghouse, I had heart problems, and I had to have surgery,” Hawthorne said. “Westinghouse insurance paid for everything but $3,000. I probably could have got that $3,000 paid for by (military insurance), but I didn’t know it was available.”
On Thursday, May 25, St. John Specialty Care Center hosted an open house with John Mozdzien, co-founder of Veterans First, to let veterans and their spouses know the options that could be available to them and their families as they navigate home care options.
“They have served our country and have done such a service to our people,” said Janet Casciato, corporate director of sales, marketing and residential operations at the center. “We are very privileged to be able to care for them and hear their stories. They’re special people.”
Veterans First is a Western Pennsylvania-based organization that helps veterans and their surviving spouses obtain in-home care that is fully funded by the aid and attendance pension benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We are a conduit that helps guides a veteran or surviving spouse to remain in homes,” Mozdzien said. “They don’t have to wait for the benefit to be approved.”
Mozdzien, a Navy veteran, is familiar with the challenges that aging veterans face. According to the Federal Trade Commission 163,000 fraud reports have been filed by military retirees and veterans since 2015. Of that total, 12% have come from retirees and veterans reporting a financial loss from the fraud.
“The challenge is having a strong next of kin for us to work with,” Mozdzien said.
The staff at Veterans First is focused on helping veterans obtain both funds and home health care.
“One-hundred percent of the funds that we help my fellow veteran or his or her surviving spouse is to pay for in-home care with our contracted network providers,” Mozdzien said. “In order to be a provider with Veterans First, there’s a strict criteria that they have to fall under.”
As far as vetting home health care, transparency is a major factor that the Veterans First organization looks for.
“It’s not that difficult to open up a home-care agency. What’s difficult is to maintain a quality one,” Mozdzien said. “We’re about quality over quantity. We want to partner with the right home-care agencies — that the veteran’s best interest is put forward.”
According to the VA website, “In general, no individual or organization may charge you a fee to help you file your initial application for benefits.”
Veterans First, based in Kennedy Township, Allegheny County, funds its operation based off billable hours.
“We make our funds when a caregiver is in the home and after the case has been approved,” Mozdzien said. “We charge the client, depending on what type of case it is … anywhere between $30 to around $36 per hour. We reimbursed our home care agencies an agreed rate around $25 to $26 an hour. So we gross that small margin in between and that’s off of billable hours.”
According to the most recent census data, during 2017 to 2021, there were just over 12,000 veterans living in Butler County. That number does not include surviving spouses.
