Veterans Affairs Canada and The Royal Canadian Legion have once again teamed up to make sure veterans in long-term care facilities across the country are getting proper care and support. 

The Legion has been awarded a two-year, $240,000 contract for VAC’s Outreach and Visitation Initiative. Under this agreement, trained Legion volunteers will visit up to 4,000 veterans—about half of those supported by VAC in long-term care—who have agreed to participate in the initiative.

“I am very pleased…to build on our long-standing partnership with The Royal Canadian Legion in order to better serve veterans in communities clear across Canada,”  said Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino.

Aside from the social visit, veterans have an opportunity to discuss problems and unmet needs face-to-face with Legion volunteers. They, in turn, will submit reports that will be passed along to VAC for appropriate action, said Dominion Command Service Bureau Director Andrea Siew.

“We can identify if their needs are being met,” said Siew. For example, early reports identified a veteran who needed new glasses, another who needed a new wheelchair.

The visits have a secondary impact, too, she said, that will benefit all residents of the long-term care facility, not just veterans.  “Volunteers can identify if there are security or safety issues. If equipment is blocking emergency exits, they will advise us of that. If they see, or particularly smell, a bucket of laundry they can identify that and if it’s consistent at a facility, VAC can go in and deal with it.”

Volunteers are given two days of training during which they do simulated interviews, learn about long-term care and what to look for in the facility and what types of questions to ask. The volunteers are expected to visit up to 1,630 facilities across the country. As of November, there were 126 volunteers who had received training and security checks.

The volunteers fill out a questionnaire which goes through three levels of review at the Legion. Any issues identified are brought to the attention of VAC’s long-term care director.

“The Legion is well positioned to administer a program of this size and scope with reliable, screened and trained volunteers,” said Dominion President Gordon Moore. The Legion has more than 1,460 branches spread across the country, so volunteers can be sought from branches near the long-term care facilities.

The Legion also has had previous experience training and managing such a volunteer force.

This program replaces VAC’s Long Term Surveyor Program, for which the Legion provided volunteers over the last decade. Under that program, Legion volunteers conducted annual formal surveys of about 3,400 veterans, at an average annual cost of $190,000, said VAC media relations advisor Janice Summerby. Under the new contract, the focus of Legion volunteers will be on visiting the veteran, rather than filling out a formal survey.