I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) for the VA Community Nursing Home (CNH) Program which involves providing oversite visits and case management for our Veterans in VA Contracted Nursing Homes.
One of our Veterans in a VA CNH in Corpus Christi needed to travel to VA Harlingen Outpatient Clinic for an appointment at the wheelchair clinic. As this Veteran has difficulty ambulating, he needed to travel by wheelchair. Due to this Veteran's need for assistance with some activities of daily living he could not travel to this appointment alone. This Veteran has limited family support and did not have a family member to accompany him to this appointment. Also, the nursing home did not have available staff to accompany the Veteran to this appointment. Other options were considered including the Veteran hiring a private sitter to accompany him. It should be noted that the Veteran needed to physically present to this appointment as he needed to be assessed for independent armchair controls for his powerchair. Prior to this appointment, the Veteran had to rely on nursing home staff to control his powerchair.
As this need for the Veteran was circulated to other VA programs, Mr. King understood the circumstances of this Veteran following through with this appointment. As a result, he selflessly volunteered to accompany the Veteran to this appointment via VA transportation. Not only did Mr. King accompany the Veteran, but he also assured that the Veteran arrived to his appointment in a safe and timely manner and provided the Veteran with support en route, during his appointment, and in travel, returning to the nursing home with the Veteran as well as giving report to nurse at the nursing home.
Lastly, the Veteran reported being satisfied with the outcome of his appointment as noted above which was possible through the efforts of Mr. King.
Mr. King is a DAISY Nurse for his commitment to serving Veterans including a Veteran who was not even in his program.