‘I picked up the sword’: Port Orange resident recognized for military caregiving

PORT ORANGE – For Port Orange resident Julie Guleff, decades of dedication as a military caregiver can be expressed in one sentence: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle.”

The phrase, engraved in stone on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and in every Veterans Affairs facility, is one Guleff took to heart when she began caring for her father, a Korean War vet, and then her husband, Steve, a Vietnam vet.

This year, Guleff was recognized for her journey. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation selected Guleff and 11 other military caregivers from around the country as its 2022 Class of Dole Caregiver Fellows.

New facility: VA breaks ground on new Daytona Beach clinic for primary care, mental health, specialties

Charity: Spruce Creek Fly-In quilters group to donate 10 blue and yellow quilts to Ukrainian refugees

More: Daytona’s Sheila Minor recognized with national award for Alzheimer’s outreach work

Guleff will join the 254 past and present Dole Caregiver Fellows, who represent all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, to bring attention to the challenges facing America’s 5.5 million military caregivers — the spouses, parents, family members and other loved ones who take care of wounded, ill or injured service members or veterans at home.

“Being a military caregiver is a source of pride to defend and care for those who gave so much for our country and our people,” Guleff said in a statement published in the foundation’s website.

“The (Veteran Affairs) motto ‘To care for him who shall (have) borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,’ is engraved in stone and in every VA facility,” she added. “I take that to heart, and it is the least I can do to repay those who fought for our freedom. It is an enormous source of pride that I should be able to contribute.”

The Elizabeth Dole Foundation was founded in 2012 by former Sen. Elizabeth Dole, wife of the late U.S. Sen. and Army veteran Bob Dole. The organization “adopts a comprehensive approach in its support and advocacy, working with leaders in the public, private, nonprofit and faith communities to recognize military caregivers’ service and promote their well-being,” according to the foundation’s website.

"Not only does (Guleff) advocate for the veterans in her life, but she is using her voice to ensure caregivers like her have the resources and support they deserve,” said Elizabeth Rotenberry, the foundation's fellows program manager, in an email to The News-Journal. “We're honored to announce Julie as a member of the foundation's 2022 Dole Caregiver Fellows class and look forward to all she will accomplish."

Facing the stigma and other difficulties

Born in New York, Guleff spent most of her childhood moving around the world because of her father’s job. His position at the Mobil Oil Company was still connected to military service. She and her family lived in England, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Norway.

Guleff came back to New York after high school, met her first husband and had two children. It wasn’t until the late 1990s when her father, retired and living in Florida, started to have health problems and need her assistance.

Frequently, she traveled back and forth between upstate New York and Florida to care for her parents.

Guleff had been trying to get her father to go to a Veterans Affairs (VA) facility to help with his treatment for years, when in 2004 he had a major stomach issue and started using the department’s services.

“Like most veterans, his answer was ‘That’s not for me, that’s for other guys,’” Guleff said in an interview.

Her first experience with the VA wasn’t all positive. Guleff said the staff at the Palm Beach Gardens (where her parents lived) VA facility didn’t seem prepared to care for her father after he awoke from a three-month coma.

He died a few days after he was transferred to a local hospital.

When her father passed away, she and her two sons, then in high school, uprooted their lives to Florida to care for Guleff’s mother. Her caregiving journey continued when she met her husband Steve, a Vietnam veteran, in 2005.

Guleff’s experience caring for her father helped her realize that her husband could try to take advantage of the VA services as well.

“I picked up the sword once again and I have been doing that with Steve. I spent many days walking the floors of the VA helping orchestrate his care and noticing where the lack was and what could be made better,” Guleff said. “I walked him through the whole process: connecting with doctors, with social groups, with other (veterans).”

Five years into his treatment, Steve’s health began to rapidly decline, and he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and other complications related to Agent Orange exposure. Guleff had to quit her job to provide 24/7 care. She helps Steve with daily activities, scheduling appointments and managing medications.

Like Guleff’s father, Steve never used any of the VA’s services because he felt they weren’t “for him,” but for those who really needed the help. After some convincing, Guleff compelled him to get the services he needed, and she became his caregiver.

She said she recently discovered that Steve has three distinguished-service medals from Vietnam. When she asked him about them, her husband said, “No, I don’t want them, I don’t deserve them. Those are for other guys — I came home alive.”

She said that the stigma related to veterans asking for help and the difficulties most of them find navigating the VA’s system are two major obstacles for both veterans and their caregivers.

“Even still, that stigma is attached to (veterans in need of care),” Guleff said. “It seems to me with the VA and military people in general and all these organizations, there is a lot of guilt and shame and stigma attached to asking for help, and thus we have all the problems that we see today.”

Meeting the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and the work ahead

Decades into the life of a military caregiver, Guleff stumbled upon the Elizabeth Dole Foundation through an ad on Facebook last November.

After contacting the foundation and learning more, Guleff tried its respite care system and had a nurse take care of her husband for a few days. Although she was able to take a little break, she admits stepping away from her decades-long routine worried her.

“I was like ‘No, I can’t be gone a day, everything’s going to fall apart if I walk away for a minute,'” Guleff said. “But if I didn’t walk away for a minute, I was going to end up face down, and that doesn’t help anybody.”

She then offered herself to help the foundation in anyway she could as a way to say thanks.

She was asked to speak on a virtual call with representatives from the foundation to discuss her journey as a caregiver and how she could help the foundation.

“That turned into an interview, which turned into being selected as the state of Florida representative for the (2022 class of Dole Caregiver Fellows), which is way above my pay grade,” she said. “But now that it has sunk in a little bit, I realized that’s what I have been doing all along.”

In the role, Guleff will “serve as a leader, community organizer and advocate for military caregivers in her state and nationwide,” according to a foundation press release.

Fellows are trained by the foundation and empowered to share their stories directly with national leaders in the White House, Congress, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and other government agencies, as well as decision-makers in the business, entertainment, faith and nonprofit communities.

“Our fellows are the heart of our work and with the 11 fellows in this year’s class, in the foundation’s 10th year, we are adding to the diversity of voices representing America’s hidden heroes,” said Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, in the press release. “Through their advocacy and community organizing, these fellows will call attention to the most urgent, emerging issues facing caregivers, as well as decades-old problems that demand our nation’s action.”

Guleff and the other 11 caregivers selected for the program spent this week in Washington, D.C., meeting with members of Congress to discuss the future of Veterans Affairs and the importance of the work done by caregivers across the country.

“It’s not about me, it’s about the 5 million of us (caregivers),” Guleff said.

“We all have the same mission; we all have the same goal,” she added. “This is a forever project. I am going to carry this locally and speak on behalf of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation and for fellow veterans, military people and for caregivers forever more. Because it’s that important.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Port Orange resident Julie Guleff recognized for military caregiving