BARSTOW, Calif. - “It takes a village to raise a child.” This popular quote is attributed to an old African proverb, although the exact origin seems to be lost in time, its relevance still holds true today.
Imagine having a personal assistant in the home, someone who would have the answers to questions you had or asked questions on your behalf you hadn’t yet thought of asking?
The Exceptional Family Member Program aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., provides this one-on-one resource, as Deborah McGough, the EFMP program manager here, takes care of service members and their families aboard the installation.
McGough, whose primary job is to advocate for those families with special needs, enjoys her role as advocate and team player.
“EFMP is an advocacy program for the active-duty service family member with disabilities,” said McGough. “The program is there for dependents enrolled in DEERS – from birth to 99 years old. As long as you provide for at least 51 percent of care for that dependent, support through EFMP is available,” said McGough.
According to McGough, one of the biggest misconceptions about the program is that enrollment doesn’t matter. This, she said, couldn’t be further from the truth. The Department of Defense understands everything about you, as the service member, however; enrolling your dependent with special needs, allows higher headquarters to understand who you “come with.”
“They need to know about your dependent with special needs. They can’t send you where there isn’t a cardiologist or a neurologist, if that’s what you need. They always need to make sure that your needs are met or services can be provided,” said McGough.
Understanding the special needs of that one family member, whether it’s specialized medical care or specialized schooling, is of the utmost importance. Anne Scalise, wife of the base’s commanding officer, Col. Michael L. Scalise, knows firsthand the significance of knowing where the right resources are, or knowing who to ask.
“As parents, we have the responsibility to ensure the area we’re moving into has everything our children need,” said Scalise, who made the move to the High Desert from the family’s last duty station in Europe.
As remote as Barstow may seem, just a short drive down the interstate, the town of Apple Valley boasts a vast number of medical clinics, hospitals and practitioners, rivaling those found in much larger cities. This isn’t just a coincidence either.
“They know that you have an EFMP family member, the monitors send your paperwork over to the EFMP department, and looking at the needs of your special needs family member is critical,” said McGough, referring to the orders process and future duty station assignments.
“As resource specialists, we have to know the ins and outs of the benefits of the cities, counties, states, regions, that would best suit the needs of that family,” McGough said. “You don’t have the time to do all that.”
Finding those resources that are suited specifically for your family’s needs and that will be useful to you, is a full-time job in itself, said McGough.
Speaking of full-time, all the time, most of us are familiar with the concept, ‘being a Marine 24/7’ or ‘being a soldier 24/7’. The life of a military family is no piece of cake, but when additional responsibilities find their way onto the home front, commitments can quickly become overwhelming.
With the help of EFMP, family readiness doesn’t have to play second to mission readiness. Without one, you can’t have the other.
“Family readiness allows Marines to focus on their mission and the EFMP [program] is a subset of that intent,” said Col. Scalise.
Through working with EFMP, the Scalise family found the program helped them burn through the bureaucracy of the ‘all-too-common’ abundance of paperwork and numbers and people one has to go through in order to achieve the desired result, said the colonel.
EFMP not only provides care and assistance for those special-needs family members, but also for the regular caregivers. The Respite Program is one of many additional programs offered through EFMP. This service provides short-term or temporary care of that EFMP member, so the regular caregiver(s) may have some time off. Reimbursement for up to 40 hours a month of respite care includes siblings as well.
The goal of EFMP, said McGough, is to provide that excellent service and continuum of care for our service members and their families.
“It’s a wonderful program to allow you to give your family members the best life they deserve,” Anne Scalise added.
| Date Taken: | 10.11.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 10.11.2012 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 96003 |
| Location: | BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 55 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Resources run abundant for exceptional family members, by Reina Vasquez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
