Military Spousal Caregivers -- Assistance for Veterans/Families - Well Spouse Association Initiatives ... listen to what two military spousal caregivers have to say:

"I encourage you all with a military WS/IS situation to share and try to get through your special challenges. Having served during the Vietnam era, I have a special compassion for you here. And I believe that as time goes on we will see more WS's landing here from our more recent wars." "Living with the physical disability is one thing I can handle, but the deeper seeded disability is one that I never will truly understand because I wasn't there....or at least that is what I am told every time I ask a question. No, he still doesn't let me in. Thanks for allowing us to have a place to voice our  feelings."  Military Spouses caring for Wounded Warriors, you are invited to Join the WSA, and the WSA Forum The Well Spouse Association is reaching out to spouses or partners of wounded warriors. We have created a Military Spouses section in the WSA Forum, with a military spousal caregiver as moderator. Registration in the Forum is free to all, whatever their spousal caregiving situation.

And in addition, for military spouses, the WSA Board recently voted to offer a special arrangement for the next year,  to allow them to become supporting members of the WSA at no cost, and have access to all areas of the website, not just the Forum. Supporting members also receive the newsletter Mainstay, and can join local area support groups, as well as  

Call the Office 1-800-838-0879, or send an EM to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your name and e-mail and a short summary of your military spousal caregiving situation, to take advantage of this offer.

We invite you to make the WSA forum the place to discuss how caregiving for a spouse or partner in the military affects you. We hope that the peer-to-peer support that WSA encourages, here and in local area support groups will help lighten your load, and help you to feel less alone in your situation.

We have also added a subsection on Military Spousal Caregiving in our Resources section.

Assistance for Veterans/ Families

WSA has begun partnering with Military organizations in an attempt to assist the many  families that have given so much to our way of life.

 WSA is lucky to have amongst its own Judith DiEmidio a WS and retiree from U.S.O.  Judith has introduced us to her ‘coalition’ which includes:

Vicki Ray – who works closely with the Department of Defense

Paula Kruthoff – a Silver Star Mom with a background in PTSD and TBI

Carl Cronk – who has a 43 year background in Veteran Affairs who now dedicates his time to assisting veterans and their families.

These four individuals provide valuable service to our veterans and their families in need and will be supplying us with new members as the need arises.  We in turn can refer our own Veteran family members to them for their assistance.  It is important to understand that this is a grass-roots campaign and assistance cannot be immediate.  When last I spoke to Carl he had twenty-seven (27) live cases awaiting assistance.  Although no-one is ever turned down, unfunded retirees can only do so much work in a day – so we beg your patience.

If you care for a disabled veteran I urge you to reach out to Carl et al for some much needed expertise.  Please feel free to contact me with any comments.

Larry Bocchiere, President WSA

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To Family, Friends, Neighbors, Workmates of a Spousal Caregiver

Give a Gift of Hope to a Spousal Caregiver:

Participate in the WSA Friends and Family Campaign --HUGS -- Help Us Give Support, Help Us Gain Support

(For more, scroll down and click on Read More below - includes **To all spousal caregivers)

At the end of  National Family Caregivers Month - November - the Well Spouse Association launched its 2009-2010 HUGS program. We invite those who are friends or relatives of a spousal caregiver -- someone whose spouse or partner has a long-term chronic illness and/or disability - to participate in two ways.

1. Send the caregiver HUGS (Help Us Give Support)  through an encouraging, uplifting message to appear in the next issue of Mainstay, the WSA quarterly newsletter mailed to each member.  Imagine how surprised and empowered your loved one will feel when opening up that issue of Mainstay to read your message and the messages others have sent! You can compose the message when you Donate online here.

2. Support the well spouse community to which your loved one belongs by including your tax-deductible donation along with your message.  Your donation will help offset the costs of this expanded and special issue of Mainstay and provide HUGS (Help Us Gain Support) for our national organization to continue its mission.