SIMSBURY — Hal Ljongquist has made the rounds at soup kitchens and supermarket bottle return depots searching for homeless veterans.
“It’s very difficult to pinpoint a veteran; it’s awkward,” said Ljongquist, deputy chairman of the Disabled American Veterans Homeless Initiative in northern New Haven and Litchfield counties. “The most important thing is to ask the person is, ‘Do you have a place to stay tonight?’ That starts the conversation.”
Ljongquist was one of about a dozen guests who met with U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th district, Wednesday at Eno Memorial Hall. Esty conducted a roundtable discussion on caregiver support programs for veterans, many of whom end up homeless due to a lack of support.
Currently, only post-9/11 veterans are eligible for the Program Of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers, offered by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
With about 40,000 veterans in the state’s 5th Congressional District alone, Esty said she sees many World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans seeking care. She said she reintroduced a bill this year to extend the caregiver support program to all veterans.
“Currently, the system provides two unattractive choices [for pre-9/11 veterans],” Esty said.
Pre-9/11 veterans have the option of going to a Veterans Affairs facility, where Esty said the bills would be paid for entirely, but the veterans would lose the familiarity and security of being at home. Another option is for veterans to stay at their own homes or with families, but with “zero support,” she said.
“We hear over and over again from seniors and from veterans in particular about how much it means to them to be able to stay in their own homes,” Esty said.
John Romano, commander of the Simsbury Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1926, said he was also concerned with the lack of ways to get health care information to veterans.
Romano said the Simsbury VFW created a “buddy program,” in which a recent veteran will get coffee with an older veteran, who can disseminate information.
“It’s a much more comfortable situation for the veterans,” he said.
