Men and officers of the armed forces give most of their lives serving and protecting the nation. Their service to the country includes exposures to various dangerous and unhealthy conditions that may, in return, affect their health.
At the expiration of their service, it’s the duty and responsibility of the government and society at large to take care of their well-being. It’s only reasonable that for the time spent protecting the nation, the community payback to these men in the best way it can.
The payback goes beyond just medical healthcare but includes providing social and psychological support to help these men and officers overcome years of exposure to wars and violence, even in foreign nations, while serving us all.
Support from governments, individuals, and the nation at large will help veterans stay healthy for as long as possible, and scale through various challenges. Here we’ve put together some points that can help ensure they stay healthy long enough.
Pensions
For the years of service, the veterans deserve a full pension for as long as they’re alive. Having sacrificed the better part of their productive lives, and probably incapacitated from war injuries, providing financial support in the form of pension will help sustain their lives.
Additional financial support, if provided, will help make living easier and better for veterans. Such things as household benefits and other financial assistance for bedridden survivors will help them live longer, irrespective of their age.
Funds must be set aside for post-service payment of men serving the nation, and adequately maintained and channeled towards taking care of the purpose for their establishment. Quick and easy access to funds, if adhered to, would promote longer life.
Cheaper Life Insurance While in Service
While in service, veterans should have cheaper insurance packages, different from what’s obtainable, among the rest of the population. The insurance package should be automatic for every service member.
Not just for the veteran, the spouse and entire family deserve some sort of insurance policy that’s not the same thing obtainable with everyone else. Insurance and adequate protection for their members of the family can enhance the lives of veterans.
The insurance service members obtain must take care of essential healthcare challenges and offer protection for life. If veterans get healthcare cover by insurance, they can access healthcare services faster and ultimately live longer.
Improve Mental Healthcare Provision for Veterans
The first step towards ensuring adequate mental healthcare is to increase the number of mental healthcare providers that can deliver evidence-based treatments for veterans. The insufficient number of mental healthcare providers affects the psychological well-being of veterans.
Health workers must ensure easy access to materials that help ex-soldiers understand the importance of accessing psychological treatment. Easy and free access to such treatment must be available for veterans as well.
Veterans’ mental health requires closer attention than any other group. The exposure they face may cause post-traumatic stress disorder, and need extra care to fight against depression that’ll affect their health.
Using Evidence-Based Treatment
Policymakers on the healthcare sector must ensure the treatment veterans, and others needing to receive general healthcare services get, are proven to be useful for the conditions they treat. Veterans can’t be testing patients for unproven treatments.
Medical supplements with proven multiple health benefits on users are better alternatives to give for health conditions. Healthcare workers must ensure they administer medications and supplements based on formula and pharmaceutical combination for effective treatment.
Home Nursing Care
Nursing care should be available at home for veterans who can’t visit healthcare facilities for some reason. Whether damaged from the resultant effects of war or aged, veterans must receive healthcare as long as they live.
The nurses who deliver home medication for veterans deserve encouragement in the form of financial appreciation for the services they render. This way, they can continue earnestly in the service they provide.
Extra training for nurses providing healthcare to veterans will go a long way to teach them what they need to know and provide them with adequate information on what to expect and how to tackle situations that may arise.
The Role of The Society
Properly reintegrating ex-soldiers to the society is the collective responsibility of the entire community, and goes beyond the job of just the healthcare providers—the immediate family, friends, and the larger society are all involved.
Family members can bring veterans to parks to help reintegrate them with society. At the parks, getting involved in non-violent, soft games can help them blend again into their community. Taking long walks and having talks on subjects that catch their interest the most helps.
The goal of all of these efforts is to ensure no veteran suffers adversely from post-traumatic stress disorder, and stand the chance of falling into depression, and seeing suicide as a way out of life.
Conclusion
Ensuring the health of veterans requires paying close attention to their well being, medical, and psychological. Helping them reintegrate into society is the most critical aspect of ensuring their healthcare. Access to healthcare must be smooth and accessible to veterans and at affordable rates.
