Veteran Hospice Homestead Inc.

CONTACT:

69 High Street
Fitchburg, MA 01420
978 353-0234
www.veteranhomestead.org

Leslie Lightfoot, Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer

DESCRIPTION:

With 22 years’ experience working with veterans on health issues, veteran Leslie Lightfoot felt that the VA could not possibly provide the care needed by terminally ill patients, so in 1993 she opened the nation’s first private hospice for veterans within the Veteran Homestead organization. This is a significant problem—nearly 25% of the homeless population are veterans; the average pension for a retired veteran is $13,000. But one has to start somewhere; this private hospice is able to provide affordable housing as well as medical, psychological, and spiritual care, in a drug and alcohol-free environment. All this is managed at about one-third the cost of a VA facility, despite twice the clinician-to-patient ratio. VHH would like now to establish a new comprehensive facility: the Northeast Veteran Training and Rehabilitation Center, for amputees, victims of traumatic brain injuries, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and burn injuries. The need is great and growing, and philanthropy must help. This is an opportunity for leadership support.

(2007: HUMAN SERVICES: Well-Being: Homeless)