As I was taking "Goober" to the bus stop this morning, I was stopped by a friend of mine who was driving down the street. Let's call her Nela - after all, her parents did! Nela is pregnant and due in December. She was stopping me to talk about a recent ultrasound they had which showed the baby has a medical issue. As the mother of a pediatric cancer survivor, I am the resident TriCare 'consultant' in the neighborhood for those of us who are military wives. She wasn't sure about any of the medical options open to her and how best to care for her child.
What really struck me is that she had never heard of EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program). For families with extraordinary medical circumstances - be it with the spouse, the children or dependent parents, this program can be extremely beneficial. I pulled the following information off of an Army site. It gives you a very brief overview and, hopefully, an idea of paths to take that may lead you to more assistance!
"The Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) is a mandatory enrollment program that works with other military and civilian agencies to provide comprehensive and coordinated community support, housing, educational, medical, and personnel services to families with special needs. Soldiers on active duty enroll in the program when they have a family member with a physical, emotional, developmental, or intellectual disorder requiring specialized services so their needs can be considered in the military personnel assignment process.
Family members must be screened and enrolled, if eligible, when the soldier is on assignment instructions to an OCONUS area for which command sponsorship/family member travel is authorized, and the soldier elects to serve the accompanied tour. This screening consists of medical records review for all family members, and developmental screening for all children 72 months of age and younger.
Soldiers are responsible for keeping their EFMP enrollment current as exceptional family member conditions change or at least every three years, whichever comes first.
For more information about EFMP, contact your installation EFMP manager."
Just thought I'd give a 'shout out' that this service is available to all active duty personnel, as well as Guard and Reserve - though I'm not sure if there are restrictions as far as activation/deployment. If you know - please pass this information on to us.
It's important that we let other spouses know this type of support is available to them!
