AARP The Magazine - April/May 2012

INSPIRING PEOPLE
Another Place Like Home
A veteran in need of caregiving finds a loving foster family
AOMI MCGRAW AND HER
husband, George, are at
their favorite pizza place
in Kutztown, Pennsylva-
nia. With them is Louis
David, an 88-year-old
Since David moved in with the
McGraws a year and a half ago,
they’ve transitioned from strangers to
something like family. The three were
matched through the Medical Foster
Home Program of the U.S. Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs, which pairs
trained caregivers with veterans who
pay them for 24-hour support.

World War II vet, wearing his cus-
tomary fedora. A waitress says hello,
recognizing the trio. “He goes every-
where we go,” explains McGraw.

A VERY HAPP Y VET Naomi Mc Graw enjoys seeing Louis
David thrive and says his good cheer is her big reward.
raised a child with his wife, Beatrice.
But after Beatrice died a few years ago,
his health began to decline: Living
alone in Pennsylvania, he’d lost some
hearing and started eating poorly.
When he forgot to take his meds and
fell, he ended up in the hospital.
His daughter, Marsha Lenzini, 65,
helped when she could. “I used to see
the red light blinking on my answer-
ing machine, and I’d get so nervous,”
she says. But she couldn’t afford to
leave her job when doctors said
David needed full-time care. So when
a nurse told them about the foster
program, Lenzini was excited. She
and her dad met with the McGraws
and decided to have David
make the move.

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