At a Wednesday Senate Aging and Veterans’ Affairs joint Committee hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock addressed structural lapses in caregiving programs for veterans and their families 

During the hearing, Senator Reverend Warnock questioned veteran Peter Townsend and veteran caregiver Hannah Nieskens about the need to invest in caregiving programs and the toll on families when the VA caregiving system falters

Senator Reverend Warnock: “[The witnesses] paint a picture of a fractured system where the constituent parts do not talk seamlessly to one another, clearly, there’s room for improvement in addressing the need for continuity of care, so veterans don’t fall between the tracks”

Watch Senator Reverend Warnock at Wednesday’s joint committee hearing HERE

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), a member of the Senate Aging committee, highlighted the urgent need to support veteran caregivers and the burdens veterans and their families face when the nation’s caregiving infrastructure fails during a joint Wednesday committee hearing with members of the Aging and Veterans’ Affairs committees. The hearing, titled Heroes At Home: Improving Services For Veterans and Their Caregivers, featured testimony from Pennsylvania veteran Peter Townsend and Montanan veteran caregiver Hannah Nieskens, as well as other witnesses with experience in veterans caregiving and veterans advocacy.

“[The witnesses] paint a picture of a fractured system where the constituent parts do not talk seamlessly to one another, clearly there’s room for improvement in addressing the need for continuity of care, so veterans don’t fall between the tracks,” said Senator Revered Warnock. “Thank you so very much for your witness and your testimony, I think [it] brings this kind of issue into clear focus and helps us see the work that we have got to do.”

Senator Warnock has long worked to strengthen support for our nation’s veterans and caregivers. In March, Senators Warnock and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced legislation to expand and protect the workplace rights of VA health care workers. In 2022, Senator Warnock helped to pass the bipartisan PACT Act, the largest expansion of veterans’ health benefits in decades. Additionally, the Senator has long championed efforts to strengthen the health care workforce, including securing $746 million to address health care workforce shortages in Georgia. 

Watch the Senator’s full remarks HERE.

See below a transcript of key exchanges between Senator Warnock and the hearing witness panel:

Senator Reverend Warnock (SRW): “First Lady Rosalynn Carter, a great Georgian, used to say that there are only four kinds of people in the world. She said that ‘there are those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers and those who will need caregivers.’

“Yet, our caregiving infrastructure is falling short for too many – including our veterans.

“The VA (Department of Veterans Affairs) boasts generous caregiving programs for veterans and their families, grateful for the work that happens there, but two of our witnesses today confronted challenges with one federal program intended to financially support caregivers of injured veterans.

“Ms. Nieskens, I am deeply sorry to hear about your husband’s grueling experiences with the PCAFC (Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers) reassessment process.

“You are the human face of the public policy issues that we’re trying to address and it’s important that we center the families that undergo this, the veterans in this work.

“How can the VA improve the reassessment process so veterans don’t have to experience the turmoil that you and Kelly faced?”

Hannah Nieskens (HN): “The regulatory changes that were implemented, which required ADL (Activities of Daily Living) assistance each and every time, and supervision protection, and instruction assistance at a rate of continuous daily care were exclusionary.

“Therefore, needs such as my husband has for neurogenic bowel, and seizure care, while those are very serious and require constant care, a regular care. […] The nature of the disability itself, they were unable to meet the standard of each and every time in continuous daily care.”

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(SRW): “Mr. Townsend thank you for your service and for being here today as a witness, like Ms. Nieskens, you and your wife encountered barriers to receiving caregiving support. Can you talk about your experience getting connected to assistance after the VA denied your application for PCAFC?”

Peter Townsend (PT): “After we were denied access to the Comprehensive Program, fortunately, we were still able to access most of the benefits Lisa has since being enrolled in the General Program of caregiver assistance and we’re able to participate in benefits such as respite care.

“As we went through the process of the application of the Comprehensive Program in our meetings with, for example, the social worker at the hospital, she explained to us that if we were denied access to the Comprehensive Program, we still would be able to access the benefits through the General Program.

“We assume that that transition from the Comprehensive Program to the General Program would be almost automatic if we were denied access to the Comprehensive Program, but come to find out that’s not the case.

“So whatever the committees can do to work with the VA to ensure a more seamless transition between the Comprehensive Program and the General Caregiver Program.

(SRW): “You both (the witnesses) paint a picture of a fractured system where the constituent parts do not talk seamlessly to one another, clearly there’s room for improvement in addressing the need for continuity of care, so veterans don’t fall between the tracks.

“Thank you so very much for your witness and your testimony, I think [it] brings this kind of issue into clear focus and helps us see the work that we have got to do.”

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