CFC had some great speakers to share their success stories, Allison and I have been blogging the stories here on GovLoop, check out the posts:
Early Morning Break Out Session
Opening Session: John Lazar, Executive Director, CFCNCA
Opening Remarks, Linda J Washington, Chairperson, Local Federal Coordinating Committee (LFCC)
Success Story: Maura Harty, Make – A – Wish
Kaci Hickox, Public Health Nurse and Tropical Disease Specialties
Kimberly Munoz is the Executive Director of the Quality Life Foundation, this is the Uality of Life Foundation second year taking part in the campaign. She explained how inspired she is to be speaking in front of such an inspiring crowd and be surrounded by so many inspiring organizations.
Quality of Life Foundation’s helps veterans in need, their website states,”Families respond with passion and dedication – devoting themselves to their loved one’s recovery. In the process, they often leave behind a life of normalcy to live a life filled with new challenges. Our aid is tailored to each family’s unique situation. Common challenges include – emotional and physical fatigue, lack of adequate home health care, feelings of isolation and lack of resources to meet quality of life needs.”
Kim explained that through participation in the campaign, Federal workers can help a family with an injured veteran. Common challenges that families face are:
- Emotional challenges of accepting a new lifestyle
- Practical Logistical Challenges
- Lack of health, dental, and life insurances for parent caregivers
- Financial despair due to loss of income and depletion of savings
- Home modifications that cost more than the VA Grants cover
- Lack of time and energy to handle daily home and family responsibilites like housekeeping, grocery shopping, lawn care, and takeing care of minor children
- Lack of recreational and relation activities
- Convern over long-term care needs for the wounded veteran
The quality of life foundation looks to help families with these challenges. They become a trusted agent for the family, listen to their unique needs, develop tailored solutions, collaborate care with existing services. They start this process immediately when veterans leave the hospital. Kimberly mentioned that very few people focus on the family, and they listen to their story and ask them, “what can make your life easier, right now?” Quality of Life Foundation wants to find out what are the needs of the family and how they can help. The Quality of Life Foundation then makes a to-do list and looks in the community to try and develop a local support system and looks to national non-profit partners to find the right services for the family.
The Quality of Life Foundation works closely with other agencies to make sure they are not repeating services. Kimberly showed a 3 minute video about some of the families who have benefited from the Quality of Life Foundation. This was an inspiring video to watch and showed some of the stories of the work Quality of Life Foundation.
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