Respite Relief

The Respite Relief program is a no-cost service offered by the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, CareLinx, Wounded Warrior Project, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and AARP. The program offers 24 hours of no-cost respite care to qualifying military and veteran caregivers. CareLinx and Wounded Warrior Project donated one million dollars each to stand up this program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to offer additional support to military and veteran caregivers.

Need more information? Watch our webinar briefing.

The Elizabeth Dole Foundation R&R Review Committee consists of military and veteran spouses and family members, as well as caregivers themselves. The R&R review committee will review applications on a rolling basis and give preference to those who meet the eligibility requirements described above and have been impacted by COVID-19. The need for this service could be from loss of normal respite assistance, loss of job, or impact ofCOVID-19 on access and availability of services in your area. If the veteran or service member you care for has experienced extra stress due to quarantining and not being able to attend regular appointments, we encourage you to apply.

If you are selected for this service, you will be awarded 24 hours of service from a professional Caregiver on CareLinx’s network. After your initial 24 hours is completed, you may request an extension in service up to 96 hours. This would equal four 24-hour allotments. Extension requests may be granted based on availability. To request the extension, please speak with your CareLinx Care Advisor.

Once you are notified that you have been selected for this service, EDF staff will securely transfer your information to the CareLinx team who will reach out to you and perform an assessment to match you with the right caregiver. You will then be given instructions from the CareLinx team on how to book your hours. There may be a 4-6 week gap in services depending on location.

The Elizabeth Dole Foundation and CareLinx teams both understand that due to the global pandemic, there are concerns about having people come in and out of your home. The professional caregiver will complete a shift symptom check prior to arriving for their shift.CareLinx will also provide each approved applicant a box of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to use during their professional caregiver’s visit. The PPE box is complete with disposable masks, gloves, surface wipes, and hand sanitizer. This will ensure the safety of the care recipient, family caregiver, and the CareLinx caregiver

Unfortunately, the services provided by CareLinx do not cover medical or skilled home health tasks at this time. However, you can still benefit from the Respite Relief. If you or another skilled caregiver needs to provide more intensive care for your care recipient, the CareLinx provider can still provide other support services such as grocery shopping, meal prep, or light housekeeping. If you are looking for more intensive care support, we recommend reaching out to your local Veterans Affairs Hospital or Defense Health Agency facility to see if you are eligible for any type of respite or other services through those administrations.

Please visit https://hiddenheroes.smapply.org/prog/respite_relief/ to fill out an application to apply for this program. If you have any questions along the way, you can email [email protected].

The R&R Review Committee is reviewing applications on a rolling basis and working as quickly as possible to make their final decisions. We are hoping to communicate all decisions within 2-3 weeks of application submissions.