Caregivers of veterans offered relief

Caregivers of veterans offered relief

MARTIN J. KIDSTON Helena Independent Record

HELENA — Mike Bolin’s slide into dementia was years in the making.

During his lectures at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the Vietnam veteran and teacher began losing his words. It wouldn’t be long before Parkinson’s would set in. Dementia would follow, along with the hallucinations.

Now, 65, the winner of the Distinguished Flying Cross and retired military man has lost the ability to walk, to feed himself and to care for his most basic needs. As a result, his wife, Lynn, has made some dramatic changes to her life.

“I had to quit work in November when I couldn’t leave him alone anymore,” Lynn said.

“This happened fast. He’s young and we don’t know what the future holds.”

Mike eased in and out of sleep recently in a La-Z-Boy recliner at the Rocky Mountain Care Center in downtown Helena. When he stared across the room, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular. When he tried to talk, his words came randomly, as if he were dreaming.

Chances are, Lynn knows, that his condition will only get worse.

But, where Lynn once cared for Mike alone, she now relies upon a new service launched by the Veterans Administration at Fort Harrison to help carry the responsibility of providing around-the-clock care.

Known as the Non-Institutional Care program, the service offers relief to those who find themselves responsible for the ongoing and often constant care of an ailing veteran.
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Caregivers of veterans offered relief