Rescue mission reaches out to homeless veterans
Published Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — The number of homeless Vietnam-era veterans is greater than the number of service people who died during that war — and a small number of Desert Storm veterans also are appearing in the homeless population, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
About one in three people who turn to the Fairbanks Rescue Mission are former U.S. military servicemen.
On Veterans Day, those individuals were commemorated for their service to the country and also informed that a new program in the mission was going to help them get on their feet again.
The Department of Veterans Affairs recently awarded the Fairbanks Rescue Mission a per diem grant to fund a homeless veterans assistance program.
The grant will fund about 40 homeless veterans for roughly $35 per day for each veteran and will fund a wide variety of treatment and education programs.
Rodney Gaskins, executive director of the mission, said it’s finally time to put a stick in the revolving door, describing the treatment of homelessness in Fairbanks.
The new program, called F.A.I.T.H. — Finding Alternatives in Treating Homeless military veterans — is a collaborative project between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the rescue mission to help homeless veterans get on their feet and regain independence.
Gaskins said the grant is a great starting point for the mission, but said he would like to see additional benefits for both veterans and other homeless individuals with the help of additional funding.
According to literature from the Fairbanks Rescue Mission, the program is innovative in its approach because the focus is on sustained employment as the means to ending homelessness.
The idea is to provide all-encompassing care by tapping into a wide variety of resources to meet the specific needs of each veteran with the overall goal of teaching and providing opportunities for self-sufficiency.
“This is the prototype for where we want to take the mission,” Gaskins said.
This is a new step for Gaskins and the rescue mission, but it’s something he has wanted to do since he first took the job three years ago.
“I had to chew what was in my mouth first before I took another bite, but I’ve been eager to move in this direction for some time now,” Gaskins said.
Gaskins, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Army, carries the infantry motto with him in his effort to give back to his fellow servicemen.
“Leave no one behind,” Gaskins said. “That’s what this program is all about — not leaving our buddies behind.”
Kerry L. Turnbow, program manager for the rescue mission, will assist case managers Austin Brown, Jeff Wilt and Rebecca Miller in helping veterans.
“Our case managers are really working at the grass roots level to be the direct contact between the various resources we’re tapping into and the men and women who come into our program,” Turnbow said.
Case managers are trained to assess each client and come up with an individualized practical performance plan.
Those plans include a wide variety of treatment and resources relating to the needs of the individual.
“The ultimate goal is to help these guys reach a level of self-determination,” he said.
For Gaskins, Turnbow and his team of case managers, reaching that goal means putting a lot of effort into outreach and making sure homeless veterans know the program is there.
“Reaching out into the community is going to be a fundamental pragmatic of this,” Turnbow said.
As for self-determination, reaching that goal also will involve a wide variety of training and treatment for veterans, including teaching skills that help with job sustainability and helping veterans find gainful employment, permanent housing and adequate treatment for medical and mental health conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder.
And once veterans are on their feet, case managers will follow up on their clients to ensure their stability.
“We’re not just sending them on their way,” Turnbow said.
“The first year on your feet is really critical, and it’s important that we be there to help them with problem solving and ensure their success.”
Turnbow acknowledges there are many challenges that come with helping men and women get on their feet, but he remains optimistic about the program.
“There is certainly self-discipline built into this program, and they have to be committed to it,” he said.
The program is set to start on Dec. 1.
For more information on how to seek help or volunteer with the Fairbanks Rescue Mission’s F.A.I.T.H. program, contact Rodney Gaskins at 452-5343.
Community Discussion
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The discussion on this should be interesting.
I hope the person who flamed me outrageously when I spoke of this some time back, hiding behind the anonymity of the FDNM Community Discussion user's agreement, reads this.
I am very impressed to see what Fbnks is doing. I hope the new administration pays greater attention to this problem, which not only includes our Iraqi war veterans, but also Desert Storm and obviously Viet Nam as well. At a time when GM, AIG and the others are receiving billions in corporate welfare, it is these sorts of agencies that, I believe, deserve our support -- and shouldn't have to go begging for it.
Farmers get more "welfare" than anybody else, good post Pinhead- I am also interested to see what all the "gung-ho" veterans, who have posted things like "let the homeless freeze" have to say about this......
Let your fellow veterans freeze boys? let them pay their own way?
Why should you have to support someone who is not willing to support themselves? Would you also leave a fellow soldier behind in combat?
Some of you bigoted cowards probably would......
It continues to bother me that we, as a society, can utter all the patriotic "Thank you for your service", "Ultimate sacrifice" slogans, and then render them meaningless by ignoring the needs of our vets. These people stepped up and offered their lives. They saw and did things in our name that many of us could not have endured, and we owe them far more than we can repay. As far as I am concerned, a veteran and his or her family/survivors should be exempt from federal taxes, receive free quality medical care for life, and be afforded any other support they may need. They already paid for it.
Lets see if all those "God bless you's" and " Thank you's" from yesterday's Veterans Day observance actually translate into help for our Veterans or if it was the normal annual lip service of a once a year guilt trip.
I think what they are doing is an important step in the right direction. I think it's important though to remember that a home and job are not the only things these vets need. I didn't read that they were offering mental health services but I hope that is a part of their program, as this is where I believe the biggest need lies.
While not all homeless Vets have mental health issues...most do. And I'm not putting anyone down. My father is a Vietnam vet...it was 20 years later when he started having Post Traumatic Stress attacks. My husband is an active duty soldier...and every time he returns from Iraq I keep a close eye on him. Please understand, I have great respect for the military...but they are woefully behind on treating the mental health of our soldiers and veterans...and the soldiers themselves are afraid to seek treatment because they are worried about how it will affect their careers even though seeking such treatment is NOT supposed to be recorded in their files. Better treatment before they are discharged or retire from service is desparately needed to prevent a good many men and women from never recovering from their experiences in war.
Riza ~ I agree, our military needs to bring the ugliness of war into the light of day and acknowledge that what our fathers, husbands, and sisters experience in our wars can be damaging not only to their bodies but to their psyche as well. Like you, my father is a Vietnam vet and my husband just retired after serving over 24 years and while thankfully neither have shown signs of PTSD, many of their buddies have. It breaks my heart to see the damage that has been done to these incredible people and how in large part that damage is ignored by our government.
I am hopeful now that there are folks in Washington having conversations about these issues something will be done to serve these men and women as honorably as they have served us.
Sounds like a great program, better than just having a place for our honored vets to sleep and eat. I like hearing they're going in depth with it, focusing on helping them with lifelong skills in order to get back on track with careers and living a life off the streets. I agree with fairbanksforever, they should receive more than they do for all they have sacrificed. I hope to read updates on this program next year after it has been up and running. God bless our vets!
I'd like to see a program where Homeless Vets can stay on a military installation, receive food and basic medical care, assistance in getting through the "system", and get back on their feet. In exchange for this, the Vets can WORK on the Post or Base, through one of the many companies contracted to provide services anyways.
there's often an extra building somewhere that is suitable, and it doesn't need to be just in Fairbanks for this idea to work. Air Force installations often have Prisoners doing the menial tasks on base... at least with a Homeless Vet we can say we're taking care of people who served their country and not serving time.
I wonder if the Rescue Mission is going to force the vets in the program to attend their religions services? Separation of church and state, no using federal money to fund religion.
Now that I've had my snark about the Rescue Mission and their religious practices, I think it's wonderful that this program is being developed. The VA has failed miserably with follow up mental health care, but I agree with Riza too. The treatment process needs to begin before the troops are even exposed to fighting. Education on how to reduce stress healthily before it builds up. reducing the stigma of getting mental health treatment, even mandatory counseling for 6 months after deployment.
Working to prevent the problems before they even begin is going to end up with a lot better results than trying to change things after the fact.
Riza what you say is true, Vets need better care when they return from conflict abroad. Problem is all the cuts being made to the military makes it impossible to do so. They don't have the personel to do the job anymore. Look at the cut backs in the medical field alone. More and more care is being sent to the already heavily burden civilian hospitals. Very few inpatient hospitals left, and the majority of those are Army. They have cut manned positions and replaced them with forms on a computer. All ancillary departments like radiology, lab and phamacy provide minimal support today. It is ashame what they have done to our vets who still felt they had a home with the bases located near them. Now they have very little reason to even to go a military installation, and they are bitter about the broken promises the government has made to them.
Does anyone remember the premis of the novel (and later movie) "Catch 22"? The story goes back to World War II but it still plagues service personnel today. Basically, the premise (if I recall correctly) was that you could be excused from combat (flying I think it was) if you were psychologically unfit (or "crazy") but if you wanted to get out of combat, you were not crazy.
It used to be - as little as 20 years ago - that if you admitted to any kind of psychological problem you could ask for psychiatric help but if you did, you would have your security clearance immediately withdrawn. If your security clearance was withdrawn, your career was finished. Many soldiers that I knew would "suck it up and move on" without ever admitting a need for psychiatric help (or 'counselling') because they were terrified of finding themselves out of a job (or out of the military).
I have heard disturbing stories as little as a year and a half ago about soldiers being 'prescribed' with serious anti-psychotic medications while 'in theater' (and still under arms). The reason was that the army was seriously short of manpower and could not relieve those soldiers (so they 'medicated' them).
I tend to think of things political from a conservative perspective but the Republicans have not been forthright in addressing the needs and concerns of veterans. In this regard, I do hope the Democrats do better than the GOP has done in recent years.
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