As Hero’s Bridge has grown over the years, we have made our model of care more sophisticated and scalable. With the addition of a new Battle Buddy Community Health Care Worker, we are now able to see an even greater number of aging veterans. And we have more finely tuned our system of seeing those veterans.

When a new veteran is referred to Hero’s Bridge, our community healthcare workers reach out within 48 hours and schedule a visit within seven days. During that meeting, several things happen, but perhaps the most important is the laying of a friendly foundation. Our Battle Buddies let the veteran and his/her family members know that we are here to help. We review the services we offer and those that we do not cover but can help them arrange.

A thorough intake assessment is taken to determine the level of care Hero’s Bridge needs to provide this veteran who is then categorized into one of the following categories. In healthcare this is called risk stratification, a process that makes sure the level of care matches the need instead of a ‘one size fits all’ system.

Alpha – Needs are high and the veteran receives weekly in-person visits
Bravo – Medium level of need, veteran receives one in-person visit and one virtual visit every month
Charlie – Light needs, the veteran will receive one visit from Battle Buddy every three months and will be transitioned to supplemental visits from our trained volunteers.
Reserves – Indicates a veteran who has improved so much they are transitioned to virtual check-ins every 6 months.

Due to advanced age, life stressors, and illness, veterans may move up and down through the categories during their time with Hero’s Bridge and the level of assistance always matches the need.

To maintain documentation, Community Healthcare Workers end their field hours at 3:00 p.m. and use the remaining time in the workday updating documentation.

In a nutshell, that’s how we do it!