Warrior Care has been developed in support of our greatest asset - You!  Many different resources have been developed for Warrior Care. These resources range from specific programs to sources of information. All play a role in ensuring you get the assistance to which you are entitled. www.WarriorCare.mil serves as a portal to these various resources. Whether you are currently active-duty military, veteran, a family member or a concerned neighbor, the links on this site will provide answers to your questions or ideas for where to turn next.

Please share this link with others who might have questions. Together we can continue to support our greatest asset: The valiant men and women protecting our nation's security and their families.

Heroes at Home is a program Sears Holdings has created in partnership with Rebuilding Together in response to an urgent need to assist military families facing hardship. Rebuilding Together, the nation’s largest all volunteer home rehabilitation organization, is committed to bringing warmth, safety and accessibility to homeowners who do not have the financial or physical resources to complete home repairs and other necessary improvements.

By providing necessary repairs or adaptations to homes, Sears Holdings strives to improve the lives of military families across America. Heroes at Home is one of the many initiatives through which Sears Holdings acknowledges the sacrifice made by our troops every day in the line of duty, while supporting and honoring those heroes who remain at home.

Donate to Rebuilding Together or refer a veteran who may need assistance.

Sears Holdings has a longstanding commitment to those who serve in the military and is privileged to assist the troops and their families through several military programs and initiatives.

Sgt. Ryan Major of Silver Spring, MD is the first beneficiary of Heroes at Home. Major was critically injured while on patrol in Iraq. Heroes at Home honored this hero by providing an elevator, a wheelchair accessible bathroom and bedroom, landscaping and a deck.

Heroes at Home is a program developed through the combined efforts of Sears Holdings Corporation and Rebuilding Together to help improve the lives of servicemen and women and their families. Heroes at Home is a service mark owned

by Sears Brands, LLC. Find them on the web at: http://www.searsholdings.com/communityrelations/hero/ 

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Community based Reserve Soldiers Health Care Needs fall short!
VA Study Finds Rural Veterans in Poorer Health - Findings Back VA Effort to Expand Care in Rural Areas For Release October 4, 2004
(See VA News Release below, dated 22Oct08)

A study of more than 767,000 veterans by Veterans Affairs researchers shows those in rural areas are in poorer health than their urban counterparts. The findings, reported in the October American Journal of Public Health, validate recent and ongoing VA efforts to expand health care for rural patients.

"We need to think about veterans who live in rural settings as a special population, and we need to carefully consider their needs when designing healthcare delivery systems," said study leader William B. Weeks, MD, MBA, a physician and researcher with the White River Junction VA Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School. Senior author on the study was Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, VA's acting under secretary for health.

The study included 767,109 veterans who had used VA healthcare between 1996 and 1999. VA had then just begun setting up Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) to provide primary care closer to home for rural veterans. Today there are nearly 700 CBOCs in VA's nationwide system, and recent recommendations from VA's Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Service (CARES) initiative call for the establishment of more than 150 additional CBOCs.

The new findings do not reflect the impact of existing CBOCs, said Weeks, but they do "validate that better access to care is needed in rural settings."

The new study is the first nationwide comparison of the health status of rural versus urban VA patients. The researchers used a questionnaire called the SF-36, which measures eight areas of physical and mental health. The average physical health score among rural veterans was around 33, compared to 37 for urban veterans. The disparity was somewhat less marked in mental health: Rural veterans scored 44.5, compared to 45.6 for urban veterans. The average score for all U.S. adults, young and old, is 50 for both the physical and mental component. Veterans tend to be in worse health than the general U.S. population, partly because on average they are older. The average age of VA patients in the study was 63.

The finding that rural veterans are in poorer health persisted even after researchers adjusted for socioeconomic factors that may tend to be different among rural and urban veterans, such as race, education or employment status.

Weeks said access to care may be a key factor in why rural veterans appear to be in poorer health. He said that in addition to establishing more clinics in rural areas, VA should consider coordinating services with Medicare or with other healthcare systems based in rural areas. He pointed out that while VA's CBOCs provide primary care, they may not fully address rural veterans' needs for specialty or hospital care.  http://www.research.va.gov/news/press_releases/rural-100404.cfm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 22, 2008
VA To Deploy Mobile Counseling Centers across America 50 Motor Coaches to Bring Services Closer to Veterans: WASHINGTON - Summary of new help.

The first of a fleet of 50 new mobile counseling centers for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Vet Center program was put into service today with the remainder scheduled to be activated over the next three months. Each vehicle will be assigned to one of VA's existing Vet Centers, enabling the center to improve access to services in rural areas. Check out this site for more about this and where they are located in each state. Page Info: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/docs/mobile-vetctrs.doc

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