Hospital comforts, personnel support, and the Canadian public
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mark Larose, Manager of Deployment Policy and Resources with the CF Personnel Support Agency about a new program being launched to help CF members enduring hospital stays. It's called the Hospital Comforts Program:
I asked Mr. Larose how the program came about. He was quite frank: the CF is quite aware of volunteer efforts to help our troops, and those unofficial projects inspired this thoroughly official program. While other organizations - volunteer efforts here in Canada, or similar official programs with our allies - weren't contacted, CFPSA says they're up to speed on how other countries handle this need.
The Hospital Comforts Program also seemed a natural extension of another project called Operation Smallpack, in which the home unit of a hospitalized soldier would send needed items, and to which the CFPSA would contribute a ball-cap, t-shirt, fleece top, nylon zip pants, and a gym bag. A stock of these items was prepositioned at KAF and Landstuhl, and distributed by medical personnel to Canadian soldiers as required.
I expect this would all come as a surprise to Wendy Sullivan, who started the volunteer support group Canadian Angels a year ago. She told me her efforts to coordinate with the CF have been largely unsuccessful, and not for lack of trying. According to Wendy, she's had around 1000 people come forward and offer to help out any way they could: sending Christmas cards, pairing up with individual soldiers to send them care packages overseas and remember their birthday with something special, donating money - anything to show our troops that ordinary Canadians care about them. Her concept was based upon the extremely successful Soldiers' Angels group out of the U.S. In many instances, she's had to find creative ways to redirect her volunteers' good intentions away from cookies, lip-balm, and DVD's, and instead direct them towards simple letter-writing "To Any Soldier." She's even resorted to shipping donated items with some of the funds raised by the Canadian Angels site.
I asked Mark Larose why the CF didn't make an effort to reach out to groups like Canadian Angels, since they have a ready-made volunteer network and some experience with this sort of project. He laid out two main reasons.
First, volunteer organizations are often personality-driven, and when the individual behind the effort is drawn away by other matters, the project can lapse. Apparently this was the case with a group a number of years ago whose members were dedicated to sending our soldiers Christmas care packages. When the main player in the organization could no longer devote the same time and effort as in previous years, the program collapsed. To fill the void, the CFPSA created Operation Santa Claus in 1998, which is more consistent and reliable. Unfortunately, it also precludes any need for volunteers.
Second, many volunteers don't appreciate just how stretched the CF logistics chain is to KAF. Between our Polaris, Hercules, and contracted airlift, the air-bridge between Trenton and Kandahar is ribbon-thin. Home-baked cookies are low on the priority scale in a situation like that. But it's disappointing to some kind soul who wants to send something tangible to a deployed soldier to be told the best way to contribute to morale is an e-mail on the Write The Troops web-page.
Both the volunteer organizations and the CFPSA's Hospital Comforts Program are fantastic initiatives. You can never have too much support for CF members.
But as I see it, there's an opportunity being missed here.
I've long said that the lack of long-term, deep and committed public support for the CF - the lack of support that allowed DND to remain underfunded for so many years as our soldiers toiled quietly away, far removed from the front pages of the nation's newspapers - is a direct result of the lack of connection between the average Canadian and the average soldier. It used to be that everyone knew a bunch of people who had spent time in uniform. Whole generations of Canadians had seen war-time service, and so the general public was familiar with the military and comfortable with it. Modern Canadians, especially those in our major urban centres, are much less likely to know even a single person working in either the Regular Force or Reserves today.
That's why the CF needs to take any opportunity it can to reconnect on a personal, one-to-one basis with the average Canadian. General Hillier understands this, which is one of the reasons why he wrote up the orders for Operation Connection over a year ago. Disappointingly, while the rest of the CF will follow orders on this front, they're all-too-often missing their commander's intent: draw the Canadian public closer to the CF any time you can.
Mark Larose told me the CFPSA's mandate is to support the troops, and that it has no direction regarding incorporating volunteers into that effort. While I can appreciate his organization's focus on its uniformed clients and their families, I think it's a shame they aren't finding more creative ways to involve the public in the worthwhile goal of Personnel Support. There are scores of Canadians clamouring for an opportunity to do something for our soldiers - something more than buy a yellow-ribbon car magnet from the Canex website. They want to contribute, to feel like they're giving back to those who give so much to all of us with service in the military.
Both the CFPSA and the CF in general need to figure out a better way to involve Joe and Jane Canuck in the lives of our soldiers. Because in the long run, that's the only way they'll ever get the support they deserve. Public opinion drives politics, which drives budgets, which is what gives the CFPSA the tools and resources they need to do their important job. It shouldn't be that much of an effort to connect those dots and embrace the idea of public outreach as a concurrent goal wherever possible.
In the meantime, the Hospital Comforts Program covers off an acknowledged gap in support with a consistent service to wounded, sick, and injured CF personnel. It looks to be a fantastic program, within the limited parameters and goals set out by the CFPSA. BZ to all involved for putting together as thorough and well-thought-out a program as you could expect from an inside-the-box mandate and mind-set. I'm certain any soldier stuck in a hospital bed for any length of time will genuinely appreciate it.
“This program will allow us to provide comfort items to CF personnel who are hospitalized in overseas facilities and in facilities across Canada, for any reason, including such things as a wound suffered on operations, an illness, a vehicle accident or following a surgery,” said Gen. Hillier. “The program will also extend to personnel who face long recuperation periods at home”, he added.
...
Some of the comforts that could be provided to hospitalized CF members include:
- rentals of televisions, telephones and access to internet/e-mail services for the duration of hospitalization;
- the purchase of amenities including newspapers, magazines, books, movie rentals, electronic gaming rentals, snacks, toiletries, and calling cards;
- clothing; and
- the loan of electronic equipment, such as personal DVD players, music players, portable gaming systems and laptop computers
I asked Mr. Larose how the program came about. He was quite frank: the CF is quite aware of volunteer efforts to help our troops, and those unofficial projects inspired this thoroughly official program. While other organizations - volunteer efforts here in Canada, or similar official programs with our allies - weren't contacted, CFPSA says they're up to speed on how other countries handle this need.
The Hospital Comforts Program also seemed a natural extension of another project called Operation Smallpack, in which the home unit of a hospitalized soldier would send needed items, and to which the CFPSA would contribute a ball-cap, t-shirt, fleece top, nylon zip pants, and a gym bag. A stock of these items was prepositioned at KAF and Landstuhl, and distributed by medical personnel to Canadian soldiers as required.
I expect this would all come as a surprise to Wendy Sullivan, who started the volunteer support group Canadian Angels a year ago. She told me her efforts to coordinate with the CF have been largely unsuccessful, and not for lack of trying. According to Wendy, she's had around 1000 people come forward and offer to help out any way they could: sending Christmas cards, pairing up with individual soldiers to send them care packages overseas and remember their birthday with something special, donating money - anything to show our troops that ordinary Canadians care about them. Her concept was based upon the extremely successful Soldiers' Angels group out of the U.S. In many instances, she's had to find creative ways to redirect her volunteers' good intentions away from cookies, lip-balm, and DVD's, and instead direct them towards simple letter-writing "To Any Soldier." She's even resorted to shipping donated items with some of the funds raised by the Canadian Angels site.
I asked Mark Larose why the CF didn't make an effort to reach out to groups like Canadian Angels, since they have a ready-made volunteer network and some experience with this sort of project. He laid out two main reasons.
First, volunteer organizations are often personality-driven, and when the individual behind the effort is drawn away by other matters, the project can lapse. Apparently this was the case with a group a number of years ago whose members were dedicated to sending our soldiers Christmas care packages. When the main player in the organization could no longer devote the same time and effort as in previous years, the program collapsed. To fill the void, the CFPSA created Operation Santa Claus in 1998, which is more consistent and reliable. Unfortunately, it also precludes any need for volunteers.
Second, many volunteers don't appreciate just how stretched the CF logistics chain is to KAF. Between our Polaris, Hercules, and contracted airlift, the air-bridge between Trenton and Kandahar is ribbon-thin. Home-baked cookies are low on the priority scale in a situation like that. But it's disappointing to some kind soul who wants to send something tangible to a deployed soldier to be told the best way to contribute to morale is an e-mail on the Write The Troops web-page.
Both the volunteer organizations and the CFPSA's Hospital Comforts Program are fantastic initiatives. You can never have too much support for CF members.
But as I see it, there's an opportunity being missed here.
I've long said that the lack of long-term, deep and committed public support for the CF - the lack of support that allowed DND to remain underfunded for so many years as our soldiers toiled quietly away, far removed from the front pages of the nation's newspapers - is a direct result of the lack of connection between the average Canadian and the average soldier. It used to be that everyone knew a bunch of people who had spent time in uniform. Whole generations of Canadians had seen war-time service, and so the general public was familiar with the military and comfortable with it. Modern Canadians, especially those in our major urban centres, are much less likely to know even a single person working in either the Regular Force or Reserves today.
That's why the CF needs to take any opportunity it can to reconnect on a personal, one-to-one basis with the average Canadian. General Hillier understands this, which is one of the reasons why he wrote up the orders for Operation Connection over a year ago. Disappointingly, while the rest of the CF will follow orders on this front, they're all-too-often missing their commander's intent: draw the Canadian public closer to the CF any time you can.
Mark Larose told me the CFPSA's mandate is to support the troops, and that it has no direction regarding incorporating volunteers into that effort. While I can appreciate his organization's focus on its uniformed clients and their families, I think it's a shame they aren't finding more creative ways to involve the public in the worthwhile goal of Personnel Support. There are scores of Canadians clamouring for an opportunity to do something for our soldiers - something more than buy a yellow-ribbon car magnet from the Canex website. They want to contribute, to feel like they're giving back to those who give so much to all of us with service in the military.
Both the CFPSA and the CF in general need to figure out a better way to involve Joe and Jane Canuck in the lives of our soldiers. Because in the long run, that's the only way they'll ever get the support they deserve. Public opinion drives politics, which drives budgets, which is what gives the CFPSA the tools and resources they need to do their important job. It shouldn't be that much of an effort to connect those dots and embrace the idea of public outreach as a concurrent goal wherever possible.
In the meantime, the Hospital Comforts Program covers off an acknowledged gap in support with a consistent service to wounded, sick, and injured CF personnel. It looks to be a fantastic program, within the limited parameters and goals set out by the CFPSA. BZ to all involved for putting together as thorough and well-thought-out a program as you could expect from an inside-the-box mandate and mind-set. I'm certain any soldier stuck in a hospital bed for any length of time will genuinely appreciate it.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 12:56 a.m.
1 Comments:
Great article BB. This would make a nice Guest Editorial in the National Post or any other publication willing to accept it. It certainly deserves a wider airing.
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