OKC Women Leading VA Program Providing Home Medical Care For Veterans

March is Women’s History Month, and a group of women in Oklahoma City are caring for those who served their country. 

The Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Health Care System relaunched the Medical Foster Home program. Several women joined together to give essential care.  

Neighborhoods hold homes where families gather to share love and a few laughs. “Everybody calls me jingles,” Dorothy Rimbold, a former U.S. Marine, who lives at one of the VAHCS homes in Northeast OKC. 

Rimbold is the light of this house who loves to sing. “They always have a story,” Shermica Bryant, a caretaker for the program. “Especially Miss Dorothy.” 

Marical Mitchell owns the home that is called the House of Heros. "It just turned into an inspiration space for me,” Mitchell said. “They’re just thriving, and I love it.” 

Last year, the OKC VA relaunched the Medical Foster Home program. “It’s not a job. It’s a calling,” said Lindsey Altmiller-Hester, coordinator for the OKC VAHCS Medical Foster Home program 

“It’s pretty breathtaking,” Altmiller-Hester said. 

This program is where people like Kenyetta Richard and Shermica Bryant care for veterans from the comfort of a home. “A safe place,” said Richard, an alternate caregiver for the program. 

“It just puts a smile on my face. I love taking care of them,” Bryant said. 

Cathy is a former U.S. Air Force veteran who didn’t have a home. Many veterans in the OKC community face homelessness. “We worked hard together to find her,” Altmiller-Hester said. 

Altmiller-Hester said she tracked Cathy down through the Homeless Alliance. “I’m serving those who served us first,” Altmiller-Hester said. 

These women ensure Cathy and Dorothy live inside a community built on a foundation of people who care.  “I’m so happy today,” Dorothy said. “We brought them home,” Altmiller-Hester said. 

More help is needed. The VA is looking for more caregivers in Oklahoma City and Lawton. Interested caregivers can call 405-456-5484 or 405-208-9498 or email lindsey.altmiller-hester@va.gov. Visit https://www.va.gov/geriatrics/ for more information.