Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Week

/PRNewswire/ -- The week of April 11-17, 2010, marks the founding of Paralyzed Veterans of America 64 years ago. All Americans are being encouraged to take time out of their busy schedules to honor and help empower America's paralyzed veterans.

With events and activities across the country and the theme Empowering Lives, Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Week highlights the unique challenges facing veterans with spinal cord injury/dysfunction. It spotlights the work of Paralyzed Veterans to empower seriously wounded heroes and their families with everything they need to thrive.

This special week will also see the launch of Mission: ABLE, a new campaign that will enlist all Americans -- companies, citizens and communities -- to help our paralyzed heroes fully live the lives they deserve and to receive what they need most: care, benefits and jobs. Please visit www.mission-able.com for more details.

"Please take a minute during Awareness Week to think about the enormous challenges paralyzed veterans and their families face every day and then do something good to help empower their lives," said Gene A. Crayton, national president of Paralyzed Veterans. "From a community saying thanks to a paralyzed veteran who has just returned home from Iraq to an employer deciding to hire more veterans with disabilities, you can do something special to celebrate the 64th birthday of Paralyzed Veterans of America."

Paralyzed Veterans and its 34 chapters:

-- Fight for quality VA health care and ample military benefits.
-- Promote and provide wheelchair sports and recreational activities.
-- Lead the charge to make America more accessible.
-- Empower paralyzed veterans with the tools they need to secure good
careers, at a time when the unemployment rate for veterans with severe
disabilities is 85 percent.
-- Invest in research to find new treatments and a cure for paralysis.
-- Provide our services to all veterans and their families free of
charge. We simply couldn't do it without your generous support.


Sixty-four years ago, Paralyzed Veterans of America was founded by a band of spinal cord injured service members who returned home from World War II to a grateful nation, but also to a world with few solutions to the challenges they faced. These veterans from the "Greatest Generation" made a decision not just to live, but to live with dignity as contributors to society. They created Paralyzed Veterans, dedicated to veterans service, medical research and civil rights for people with disabilities. And for more than six decades, Paralyzed Veterans and its 34 chapters have been working to create an America where all veterans, and people with disabilities, and their families, have everything they need to thrive. (www.pva.org)

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Humana Military Healthcare Services Financially Supports the Creation of the Fisher House for Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, GA

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) – Humana Military Healthcare Services (HMHS), TRICARE contractor for the South Region, announces its sponsorship of a new Fisher House being built in Augusta, Georgia at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center. This medical center is the only VA facility with an active duty rehabilitation unit, the largest spinal cord injury unit and one of 10 facilities with a Blind Rehab Center. The new Fisher House in Augusta will offer twenty suites within walking distance of the medical center for families of Active Duty Service Members and veterans receiving inpatient medical care.

“Families play an important role in the recovery of these brave men and women who have sacrificed so much,” said Dave Baker, president and CEO of HMHS. “Humana Military is pleased to help deserving military and veterans’ families through our support of a new Fisher House in Augusta. During a time of need, this home will provide them a place to stay near their loved ones, at no cost to them. It’s a gift that will keep on giving for years to come, and we are proud to be involved.”

The Fisher House program recognizes the special sacrifices of our men and women in uniform and the hardships of military service by meeting a humanitarian need beyond that normally provided by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The “comfort homes” are built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers and allows family members to be close to their loved ones while they are receiving treatment. Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 10,000 families, and has made nearly 2.5 million days of lodging available to family members since the program originated in 1990.

Currently, the nearest Fisher House is located at the Dwight David Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia. For more information, please visit www.fisherhouse.org.

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