Vet centre plans still unclear

By Luke Hendry
Friday, November 17, 2017

Veterans Affairs Canada remains silent on a Trenton proposal for a military veterans’ mental health care centre.

“We can’t really get into specifics right now,” ministry spokesman Marc Lescoutre said Friday from Ottawa.

He added staff could also not provide a timeline for responding to the proposal submitted in April 2016. It was created by Liberal members of Parliament Neil Ellis of Bay of Quinte, Kim Rudd of Northumberland-Peterborough South, Mike Bossio of Hastings-Lennox and Addington plus Trenton Military Family Resource Centre (MFRC) executive director Tamara Kleinschmidt.

The eight-page document, a copy of which was obtained by The Intelligencer, makes a case for establishing a centre in Trenton Memorial Hospital. It gives few details about the centre itself but says the region is ready to support it.

“The diverse partnerships already in place mean that we are positioned to not only move quickly in the establishment of a centre of excellence, but we are able to present an option that is fiscally prudent,” it reads.

“Given the capacity of the Trenton MFRC to respond, a fully functioning centre could be in operation within 24 months.”

This year’s federal budget includes a plan to create a “centre of excellence” for post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health, the ministry’s Lescoutre wrote via e-mail.

He wrote the centre “will work with the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research … a hub of over 1,000 researchers at 40 universities across Canada dedicated to improving military, veteran and family health through research” plus experts at Canadian organizations

Bay of Quinte Liberal MP Neil Ellis, who chairs the government’s Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs, said he’s also heard little about the proposal’s status and the ministry’s plans for new centres.

“Right now it’s with bureaucrats to see what type of centre is going to be the best type,” said Ellis.

He said either a research facility or something hospital-based is possible.

“You have to provide something that’s actually going to serve and work well for the men and women across Canada. There are lots of factors to this,” said Ellis, the son of a Second World War veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy.

“We have to make sure that it’s in the right location and that it has the right services,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed the government’s commitment to veterans in his Oct. 4 mandate letter to new Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O’Regan.

“Veterans should not have to fight their own government for the support and compensation they have earned,” Trudeau wrote.

“You will … make it easier for veterans to access services — including mental health services — and do more to support the families of Canada’s veterans,” Trudeau wrote.

He added O’Regan and his ministry must create “a centre of excellence in mental health to enhance research and best practices and establish a second centre of excellence based on the area of greatest need.”

Ellis said he continues to press for news on the local proposal and remains in contact with Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi, another supporter of the concept.

“We’ve been lobbying hard for it,” said Ellis.

“I sent the new minister a letter about a month ago when he took over the portfolio.”

He also said the standing committee is researching similar services offered by other nations.

Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term care is receptive to the principle of the new service. But MPP Rinaldi said there’s little for the province to do until Veterans Affairs staff give “some confirmation of what direction they want to go.”

Ellis wondered aloud if private partners could be organized for the cause should the government’s plan differ from the local proposal.

The lack of action or even substantial updates from Veterans Affairs is frustrating members of Our TMH, the advocacy group which first suggested adding veterans’ care to the hospital. Our TMH members Tom Kupecz and Jim Leonard first met with then-candidate Trudeau in 2015.

Kupecz told Our TMH members Wednesday the proposal is “high on the list” at Veterans Affairs, “but we’re waiting.”

“It started out so quickly,” Our TMH chairman Mike Cowan said. “This has been a full two years.”

Trenton’s document reports the hospital “has 17,000 square feet of space immediately available” for a veterans’ care centre.

“Once requirements are determined any necessary alterations to the space could begin right away,” it reads, adding “only moderate renovations would be necessary to shift the use of space from hospital to veteran centre.”

Other partners are also ready to support the project, it continues, and Trenton has both a lower cost of living and housing prices than some cities while still having a large population of past and present military staff.

http://www.intelligencer.ca/2017/11/17/vet-centre-plans-still-unclear