{"id":331144,"date":"2024-12-12T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=331144"},"modified":"2024-12-12T19:40:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:40:18","slug":"hud-vash-helps-coast-guard-veteran-teresa-bowser-age-in-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=331144","title":{"rendered":"HUD-VASH helps Coast Guard Veteran Teresa Bowser age in place"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took one major life event for Coast Guard Veteran Teresa Bowser to lose everything she had built and become homeless, practically overnight.<\/p>\n

In a happy twist of fate, it also took just one event to turn Bowser\u2019s life back around.<\/p>\n

While sleeping in her vehicle, Bowser was approached by a police officer who started up a conversation, realized she was a Veteran, and suggested she connect with VA\u2019s homeless programs.<\/p>\n

Bowser has now been housed through the Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program<\/a> for the last five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it. I\u2019m not going anywhere. It\u2019s just a lovely place to live,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n

Taking to the skies<\/h2>\n

Bowser joined the Coast Guard because she wanted to fly. After college, she became an emergency medical technician and then a paramedic, but she yearned to be on a Life Flight crew.<\/p>\n

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Since crews were heavily male dominated in the mid-1970s, Bowser went to nursing school to help her break into the field. It didn\u2019t give her the leg up that she needed, so in 1983 she joined the Coast Guard and was stationed with a flight rescue crew on the West Coast.<\/p>\n

Flight rescue was as thrilling and exciting as she thought it would be and she called it the best job she ever had. When Bowser fell in love with a man who ran his own business and couldn\u2019t move around as the Coast Guard required she made the difficult decision to leave in 1988.<\/p>\n

After the Coast Guard, Bowser joined her husband\u2019s general contracting business and later started her own in-home nursing business.<\/p>\n

When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease, Bowser quit her job to take care of him. By the time he passed away three years later, they had run through their savings, which is how Bowser ended up sleeping in her truck.<\/p>\n

Getting back up again<\/h2>\n

After the officer helped Bowser connect with the VA Northern California Healthcare System<\/a>, she applied for the HUD-VASH program. She was approved to move into project-based housing where services and case management are brought directly to Veterans so they can age comfortably in place.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an active community and Bowser enjoys living with others her age. She gets assistance with the little things that can make life harder as you age, such as transportation. Though she can\u2019t garden anymore, admiring the community garden right outside her door brings her peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like I\u2019m always busy. I\u2019m just laid back and trying to enjoy the rest of my life. My goal is to stay as healthy and comfortable physically as I can and look for the joy,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Learn about VA programs\u00a0<\/h2>\n