Who cares for our disabled veterans?

For 101 years, Care for Veterans has been caring for disabled ex-Service personnel from the RAF, Army, Royal Navy and auxiliary services from across the UK.

Current residents in the charity’s 60-bed facility are aged between 34 and 96 years old. The majority have Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) or a degenerative neurological condition, such as Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson’s.

Care for Veterans receives no regular Government funding, and each year needs to raise over £1.9 million to continue delivering its first-class and award-winning care.

The charity is proud of the high level of professional nursing care, rehabilitation, respite and award-winning end of life care it provides to residents. Its multi-disciplinary approach includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and neuropsychology, as well as social and recreational activities and a chaplaincy service – all delivered from its facility in Worthing, West Sussex.

“Not only is each type of illness different, but each individual is different too”, explains Matthew Li, Registered Manager at Care for Veterans.

Matthew continues: “Through our tailored and comprehensive approach, residents can make good progress towards their goals, to give our veterans the very best quality of life in spite of their disability.

“We provide many different types of nursing care and services to meet the needs of each resident. As an independent provider, we can fill the gaps often found between healthcare and social services. We provide our residents with access to a complete range of services for people with physical disabilities and complex needs.

“Our facility has a ‘home-from-home’ environment which helps prevent residents from becoming institutionalised and keep them focused on the future. Our emphasis is on rehabilitation, and, where possible, getting residents to a point where they are able to cope living in the wider community and on their own.”

Over 100 years caring for veterans

Care for Veterans (formerly the Queen Alexandra Hospital Home) was established in 1919 to care for those soldiers returning from World War I with life-changing disabilities. The charity was initially based in Roehampton, London, and moved to its current home in Worthing in 1933.

Today, anyone who has served in HM Forces at any time or in any capacity, and their immediate family members, are eligible for admission to Care for Veterans. An individual’s injury or condition does not need to have happened during service to be eligible.

Steve’s story

Ex-Army Warrant Officer, Steve, was just 39 when a motorbike accident left him with a severe brain injury which seriously affected his speech and left him paralysed on one side of his body.

Before his accident, Steve had served with the Royal Engineers in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. He was a Joint Service Mountain Expedition Leader, loved canoeing, mountain biking and snowboarding.

Steve came to Care for Veterans in December 2018, after spending three years in various hospitals and rehabilitation centres where he was not making progress and had become depressed. Since his arrival, he has made improvements in his speech and movements.

Steve’s life and dreams are forever changed, but Care for Veterans is already having a positive impact on his life. Steve says: “Care for Veterans has given me a new mindset and the determination to succeed with my recovery”.

This year, he challenged himself to use the static bike in his physiotherapy sessions, to cycle the 874-mile distance from Land’s End to John O Groats, due to finish on his 45th birthday on 21st November. He has already raised over £1,000 in sponsorship. There is still time to sponsor Steve, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/david-curry4steve-boylan.

Your support

Here are three ways you can help Care for Veterans to continue to provide these services for our nation’s veterans.

•  Sign up for a lottery ticket! Sign up for just £4 a month you can be in with a chance of winning the top prize of £200.

•  Sign up for an event – put a team in or sponsor the Clay Pigeon Shoot happening next March or the next Golf Day in April.

•  Become a partner – A charity partnership can be of great benefit to your company and employees.

“Draper Tools chose to support Care for Veterans in 2019 as both organisations celebrated their centenary year. If we’d have put together a template for how we wanted the charity partnership to go, it could not have gone any better, and Draper Tools are so pleased with how the relationship progressed throughout the year. Care for Veterans were receptive to what we wanted to undertake and achieve and were with us every step of the way”, says Clive at Draper Tools.

Care for Veterans is a place of support, comfort and hope for veterans who are now facing the toughest battle of their lives.

To find out more, visit www.careforveterans.org.uk, email fundraising@careforveterans.org.uk or call the fundraising team on 01903 218444.