A new program has local veterans visiting patients of the Veterans Affairs San Diego.
Vet-to-Vet, a Chula Vista- based peer support program that utilizes veterans in a peer mentoring capacity to help other veterans, does home visits with other veterans who feel lonely as part of the Home Based Primary Care Program with Veterans Affairs of San Diego.
The group’s first visit was in National City with a 97-year-old World War II Army veteran who navigated B-24 bombers during the war.
“We just sit and talk,” said group founder Michael Silverman. “We talk about whatever the patient wants to talk about.”
During this particular visit, Silverman said he chatted with the veteran about his time in the war, about family and the many mysteries of life.
Although this veteran has family who takes care of him, Silverman said there is nothing like talking with a fellow veteran.
“It is always special when another veteran could come and spend time with you,” he said.
Visits are usually once a week for an hour, but Silverman said that he usually is on call in case a patient wants to speak with him. The program is only a month old so Silverman right now is the only one visiting patients. He said as the program grows he hopes more veterans will join him.
Silverman gets patients referred to him from the San Diego Veterans Affairs. He’s only paid visits to three veterans so far – one in National City, another in Paradise Hills and recently one in Vista.
“This program gives veterans a little hope,” Silverman said. “It helps them know that life isn’t about a visiting nurse or about someone being paid to take care of them.”
Silverman, 72, is a 22-year Navy Veteran who was a corpsman during the Vietnam War. He said it helps that a veteran provides these services to other veterans
“There’s a sense of commonality,” Silverman said. “It’s that we understand each other.”
Silverman said services like the Home Based Primary Care Program that are provided by Vet-to-Vet are integral for the mental health of a patient. Silverman said often times he has discussions with veterans who are depressed or have PTSD, some even suicidal, he said.
According to a 2012 study by the Veterans Affairs, there are 22 veteran suicides per day. Silverman said one solution to reducing this number is having veterans talk to each other.
He said that the program is assuring to him because one-day he may need to be the one on the receiving end.
