In the USA, Veterans Day is more than just a holiday because of the closing of the banks. It is a special day in the USA to pause, remember, and reveal the significant sacrifice veterans, as well as the active members of the military, have made. Undoubtedly, there are many veterans in every town in the USA, who may need support and appreciation. There is a Veterans Association Usa, which takes care of each and everything for veterans. Ahead of this special day, there are many ways that can give you a chance to help veterans. First of all, let’s understand what kind of challenges veterans may face.
Know the issues
Veterans had to deal with physical, emotional, and personal stress in military service, especially related to fight-related duty. They may suffer from various issues, including
Mental health issues
There are different mental health-related problems; veterans may have to deal with such as post-traumatic stress disorder. This problem comes from memories of combat violence and many other life-threatening and traumatic experiences. Around 20 percent of veterans have PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder than 7% of adults in the normal population. This number is even more than for veterans who had served in the Vietnam War.
Homelessness
Homelessness has a huge impact on US veterans. It has been seen that there are more than an average of 37k veterans in the USA who are living without shelter between 2018 and 2020.
Other struggles
Apart from that, veterans also have to deal with many other mental and physical health struggles like loss of limbs, limited mobility, and severe or traumatic brain injuries. Veterans who have such impairments face many surgeries and exhausting rehabilitation sessions.
In addition to that, veterans also have a lack of understanding from loved ones as well as the general public about what military service was like. They also have challenges to meet, which are linked to incorporating into life back home.
Ways to help veterans
There are lots of programs, which are designed to provide Veterans Assistance. If you are interested in helping vets or those who are in active military service, then you can go with the below-mentioned ways:
Providing medical care and other resources
One of the best ways is to consider DAV or Disabled American Veterans. It is a non-profit method that attracts veterans to medical appointments. This is how they will get support in filing benefits claims with the government such as VA Medical health insurance or health benefits. This program assists veterans with employment, medical, and other general needs. You can consider yourself a volunteer and help veterans with DVA by:
Driving veterans to appointments at any nearby Veterans Affairs hospitals
Volunteering at VA hospitals
Assisting them in your community with their different needs like running errands, grocery shopping, or assisting with yard work.
Providing a service dog for a vet
There is another way by which you can help veterans. You can provide service dogs, which are helpful for vets. Veterans who have brain injuries, PTSD, physical injuries, and vision impairments, can take advantage of a service dog. Many veteran-related communities have organizations or associations offering service dogs for veterans. Check out the list of such organizations online and you can become a part of any organization in the USA. You can become a volunteer in any organization or donate a service dog to a similar organization in your surroundings. All you can do is go online and look for ‘service dogs for veterans in your community.
Providing shelter to a veteran
There are lots of organizations, which are designed to build new homes for veterans. They also help veterans with severe injuries to adapt to existing homes. If you are a tradesman or contractor, you can use your skills to build new or modify old homes for injured vets. Becoming a part of an organization dealing with the provision of shelters for veterans can be a great thing. If you do not know how to build homes, then there is nothing to worry about. Still, you can get engaged in donating funds to help veterans. You can also donate land or goods and services for them.
Helping homeless veterans
Take an active part in the programs for veterans who are homeless. Veterans Association Usa has many programs to offer, which are run by them. Under these programs, they are providing a single spot for veterans to get food, health screenings, shelter, and other needs. By going online, volunteers can check if there is any Stand Down event in their surroundings. This is how you can directly support veterans to meet their survival needs.
Last but not the least; make sure you are a part of any veteran association working on different projects such as Wounded Warrior. Do your research work carefully and then decide whether or not you want to do volunteering.
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