Sensible reform of veterans health care, expansion of VA’s caregiver program to veterans of all eras and equitable care and services for women veterans—these are three of the top priorities DAV National Commander Delphine Metcalf-Foster laid out before a joint hearing of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees in her 2018 Mid-Winter Conference testimony.

More than 400 DAV and Auxiliary members from across the country came to Washington, D.C. at the end of February to ensure their congressional representatives heard about the key issues affecting ill and injured veterans and their families.

“It is our obligation to take care of those who served and sacrificed on our behalf,” Metcalf-Foster testified. “We do this by keeping our promise to them by ensuring they have the resources, benefits and services they need to achieve the best quality of life possible, as they make the often challenging transition back to civilian life.”

In order to arm members with the most current information regarding the most pressing veterans’ issues, DAV’s legislative staff published DAV’s Critical Policy Goals for 2018 which highlights the top five legislative priorities of the organization: comprehensive support for caregivers of veterans of all eras; strengthen and modernize the VA Health Care System; defending veterans benefits and protecting their future; improve services and recognition for women veterans; and, support sufficient funding for veterans benefits and health care.

“Together, we deliver a single voice of the organization,” said DAV National Legislative Director Joy Ilem. “Our top priorities are based on the issues most commonly affecting America’s ill and injured veterans and their families. It’s essential we are all on the same page, and on the same message when we visit Congress.”

During her testimony, Metcalf-Foster thoroughly covered all five of DAV’s critical policy goals, as well as detailing the challenges she faced as caregiver to her husband—a disabled Army veteran.

“As much as I wanted to keep my soldier home, his condition worsened, I grew older and soon it was too much for me to handle,” Metcalf-Foster testified. “If Jimmy had served after 9/11, we would have been eligible for comprehensive VA caregiver assistance. He could have spent the rest of his life where he belonged, at home with me.”

Watch Metcalf-Foster’s full testimony here. To get involved with veteran advocacy at the local and national levels, join DAV CAN (Commander’s Action Network) at www.davcan.org.