In addition to TV, RADIO, PODCASTS, we also had BILLBOARDS around southeastern Wisconsin, and POSTERBOARDS at 34 gyms, clinics and YMCAs across the state!
We also received official proclamations declaring April as Parkinson Awareness Month from Governor Evers, and the mayors of Milwaukee, Madison, La Cross, Wausau and Appleton.
Starting Oct. 18, the VA will review not just current assets, but records from the previous three years when deciding a veteran’s asset-based eligibility for VA Pension benefits — commonly called Aid and Attendance (A&A) benefits. However, transfers of assets completed before Oct. 18 will not be counted against veterans or their surviving spouses.
A&A helps veterans and their surviving spouses pay for in-home care, assisted living-, memory- or nursing care as well as medical supplies and medicines. These pension benefits are available to service members (who are older than 65) or their surviving spouses. Additionally, the service member must have been honorably discharged after at least 90 days of service with at least one of those days during a wartime period.
A&A applicants must meet limited asset requirements, which will now be a little more complicated to calculate. On the bright side, the VA raised the net worth limit to $123,600, which is the maximum Medicaid Community Spouse Resource Allowance for 2018 and is indexed for inflation. Previously, the net worth limit was not firm, but was generally around $80,000 for a married veteran.
Net worth includes assets in bank accounts, stocks, bonds and commercial or secondary property holdings. But starting this month, it will also include one year’s Income for VA Purposes (IVAP), including disbursements from annuities or trusts. To calculate IVAP veterans and surviving spouses can deduct certain unreimbursed monthly care expenses, including skilled nursing, in-home care (even if provided by a non-spouse relative), assisted living costs, and long-term care and health insurance premiums.
Net worth does not generally include the veteran’s primary residence or vehicle. However, the new rules stipulate that the residence exemption only applies to homes on two acres or less, unless the additional acreage is unmarketable because of zoning or access restrictions, for example.
A family farm could be treated the same as a luxury estate. Also, if a veteran sold his home (because he was living in a nursing home) the sale could disqualify him from receiving A&A benefits. To avoid this outcome, an estate planning attorney can show you pre-planning tools that can protect your assets and your benefits.
If a veteran or surviving spouse applies for A&A benefits and gifted or transferred assets into certain trusts or annuities in the preceding three years, a penalty period will apply. The penalty period is calculated by dividing the value of the gift by the Maximum Monthly Pension Benefit, currently $2,169.
In light of the recent changes, veterans who may need nursing or home-health services should examine their finances at least three years before they are eligible for A&A. Nationwide, the median cost of long-term care currently ranges from $3,750 a month for assisted living to $8,121 monthly for a private room in a nursing home. These costs could easily wipe out your life savings.
As part of the new regulations, the VA is strictly enforcing its requirement that veterans only work with accredited attorneys or agents. A VA-accredited attorney can help veterans and surviving spouses navigate the VA pension process and evaluate how the pension may affect the rest of the veteran’s estate plan including Medicaid and Medicare benefits, income tax, inheritance tax and other financial factors.
The rising costs of long-term care are a burden our veterans should not have to bear alone. If you need help figuring out how to manage these costs, consult with a trusted, VA-approved elder law attorney about your options.
The whole Symposium was excellent from beginning to end, including the meals and the informational booths. It was the best program I have attended.
Thank YOU for all the wonderful educational and supportive events and resources you provide for us caregivers. It means to much to know you’re there for us too.
I so appreciate WPA offering a Parkinson’s Dance Class in our area. We really enjoy the opportunity to participate and reconnect with people we knew from our support group!
Through our surveys, conversations, and emails, you have shared some great feedback with our staff about WPA’s growth and expansion over the last year. We have increased the number of programs we hold throughout the year, and added new locations around the state where we offer these programs. The number of attendees who attend these programs has nearly doubled in just a year!
Additionally, WPA’s Annual Symposium in June had over 500 people register to attend! So many of you wanted to come, we moved to a new venue. And we’re looking for another – even bigger – venue for 2019! THANK YOU to our awesome sponsors and vendors who support that program, and who allowed it to be FREE for every attendee this year.
WPA’s office moved! Our new space in Brookfield is a warm, inviting space that allows for small meetings on site. We are close to I-94, which allows us to keep moving across the state to support YOU!
In order to realign WPA’s Mission Statement with our goals and program offerings, our Board of Directors revamped the statement: Providing hope, community, support, and resources for people with Parkinson’s and their loved ones. This new mission statement truly shows what WPA is able to provide for YOU. We are a broad and diverse organization, providing you with what you need as you navigate life with Parkinson’s – whether it’s your own Parkinson’s, or that of a loved one.
We hired Laurie Couillard, as director of group engagement. Laurie’s entire job is to work with our nearly 150 support groups and exercise groups around the state, connecting them with the resources they need. WPA is also helping new groups and exercise classes start up – watch for more classes and groups coming to your area!
THANK YOU for all the support and feedback you have provided to us over the last year. We are here to serve you, and we look forward to seeing you at a program or group meeting soon!
Gary Garland | Executive Director | [email protected]
Laurie Couillard | Group Engagement | [email protected]
Carolyn Hahn, Marketing Communications, [email protected]
Raven Hamilton | Administrative Services | [email protected]
Jeremy Otte | Outreach & Education | [email protected]
When Dale Luedtke retired from his job in IT at US Bank in October, he was looking forward to relaxing, enjoying more time with his family, and getting back to playing his guitar regularly. He started taking guitar lessons when he was ten years old, and then continued as a classical guitar major at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. He began performing in the early seventies, playing throughout the Midwest as a solo artist, and in several bands over the years.
After having some stiffness and tingling in his left arm and hand, Dale was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in spring 2017. “It was harder to play,” he said. “It would take three or four songs for my hand to loosen up and be comfortable playing.”
He took a break from playing after his diagnosis, but now that he’s retired, he’s picking up where he left off. While his stamina may not be quite what it was before Parkinson’s, his passion for music hasn’t diminished. He’s booking gigs at restaurants and bars in the area, and he’s looking to share his love for music with residents at some local assisted living communities as well.
You can hear Dale at WPA’s Annual Holiday Reception in Brookfield on December 5. Learn more about the Holiday Reception and register HERE.
By: Samantha Barbian
We came. We saw. We conquered. From March 19-21st my dad, Craig, and I attended the Parkinson’s Policy Forum in Washington DC. We were joined by approximately 300 other Parkinson’s advocates from around the country. The feeling of being one community and truly supporting each other was undeniable. I found it interesting hearing all the different stories how Parkinson’s has affected each persons life. No two stories in the room were exactly alike just like the disease does not effect each person’s body and mind the same.
One speaker who was so inspirational that I will never forget was New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. He told stories about his life growing up and the stories his father would tell. Near the end of his speech he revealed that his father had Parkinson’s. This quote from Senator Booker hit home with many of us:
“My dad showed me what courage was about, as he struggled with this foe of Parkinson’s, and more than that, he showed me what the power of the community is about. About people who were there for him, who counseled him, who laughed with him. About folks who understood the complexities of the challenges.”
Parkinson’s patients need that community to help them keep pushing forward and to never give up.
If you were unable to attend the Parkinson’s Policy Forum there are a few ways you can still get involved. One way is to check out the website www.parkinsonsforum.org for all the information that was shared at the conference. Another way that you can get involved is to contact your legislators and ask them to fund the National Neurological Surveillance System. This program is a database for all neurological diseases to keep track of the occurrences in our society. We are also looking for continued support of Parkinson’s research done on veterans who served in Vietnam by the Department of Defense.
If you would like more information about the forum, please contact me at [email protected].
Samantha with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker
Studies confirm that caregivers play host to a high level of compassion fatigue. Day in, day out, workers struggle to function in caregiving environments that constantly present heart wrenching, emotional challenges. Affecting positive change in society, a mission so vital to those passionate about caring for others, is perceived as elusive, if not impossible. This painful reality, coupled with first-hand knowledge of society’s flagrant disregard for the safety and well being of the feeble and frail, takes its toll on everyone from full time employees to part time volunteers. Eventually, negative attitudes prevail.
Compassion Fatigue symptoms are normal displays of chronic stress resulting from the care giving work we choose to do. Leading traumatologist Eric Gentry suggests that people who are attracted to care giving often enter the field already compassion fatigued. A strong identification with helpless, suffering, or traumatized people or animals is possibly the motive. It is common for such people to hail from a tradition of what Gentry labels: other-directed care giving. Simply put, these are people who were taught at an early age to care for the needs of others before caring for their own needs. Authentic, ongoing self-care practices are absent from their lives.
If you sense that you are suffering from compassion fatigue, chances are excellent that you are. Your path to wellness begins with one small step: awareness. A heightened awareness can lead to insights regarding past traumas and painful situations that are being relived over and over within the confines of your symptoms and behaviors. With the appropriate information and support, you can embark on a journey of discovery, healing past traumas and pain that currently serve as obstacles to a healthy, happier lifestyle.
Many resources are available to help you recognize the causes and symptoms of compassion fatigue. Healing begins by employing such simple practices as regular exercise, healthy eating habits, enjoyable social activities, journaling, and restful sleep. Hopefully, the information on compassionfatigue.org will be of use to you and help you jump-start your process.
Accepting the presence of compassion fatigue in your life only serves to validate the fact that you are a deeply caring individual. Somewhere along your healing path, the truth will present itself: You don’t have to make a choice. It is possible to practice healthy, ongoing self-care while successfully continuing to care for others.
Article from compassionfatigue.org.
WPA hosted our 6th Annual WPA Open Against Parkinson Disease on September 12, 2017 at The Legend of Merrill Hills in Waukesha, WI. This golf outing and dinner are the only fundraiser WPA coordinates, and the money raised supports outreach, education and services to people with Parkinson disease, their caregivers, family members, and health professionals.
Thank you to Financial Strategies, Inc., and HeatTek, Inc., our presenting sponsors, as well as all of the sponsors who made this event a success. To see photos from the day, click here.
One of the highlights of the outing this year was having Patrick Pelkey with us. Patrick is a Parkinson’s Support Group leader, and he is a woodcarver. He spent the day carving these beautiful “comfort birds” that we auctioned off. Patrick has Parkinson’s, and he has found that when he starts carving, his tremors subside.
The smooth texture and beautiful wood have a calming effect, and Patrick is proud to share his talents with children and adults who need comforting.
Thanks to all who supported the WPA Open!
Our Symposium draws attendees from far and wide to learn more about Parkinson’s treatments and resources, and to connect with others who have PD. Many attendees are involved in one or more support groups, so for the last several years, WPA has led a training for support group facilitators on the Thursday before the Symposium.
One of the most important goals of this year’s facilitator training was to hear directly from the facilitators on how things were going in their groups and to identify ways in which WPA can best support their efforts. Stemming from that discussion, here are some important ways in which WPA expects to increase our partnerships with these facilitators and the groups they lead:
We are so grateful for the commitment of these support group facilitators to their groups and to WPA!
The decision to share a Parkinson’s diagnosis at work is personal. Many individual factors contribute to if or when you’re ready to disclose this information. And once the conversation begins, recurring discussions may be necessary as symptoms change or the disease progresses.
In collaboration with Marti Fischer, a career and professional development consultant, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has developed a two-part guide to help navigate the ins and outs of talking about Parkinson’s at work. Part I, “Sharing Your Parkinson’s Diagnosis at Work,” provides practical tips and tools for crafting a personalized strategy to bring Parkinson’s into the workplace. “Talking about Parkinson’s at Work,” the recently released Part II, recommends strategies for continuing conversations, handling common reactions and situations, and managing long-term professional relationships.
Download Part I and Part II of the guide.
People with young-onset Parkinson’s — diagnosed at age 50 or earlier — may be more likely to be in the workforce when diagnosed. Register for the next Third Thursdays Webinar to learn more about the challenges and treatments of young-onset Parkinson’s disease.
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