A local veteran is making sure others who have served are recognized while in care at Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
Launched last month, the veteran recognition program allows current and past members of all service branches, including police, to identify their service during admitting.
For those wishing to be recognized through the program, a poppy magnet is placed on their in-room whiteboard for the duration of their stay. Whiteboards are communication tools between patients, families and health care staff.
The program is expected to be rolled out throughout Alberta Health Services’ central zone, and hopefully, across Alberta.
“I’m making it my mission to take it Canada-wide. I’ll do what I have to do to have veterans receive the recognition they deserve. I’ve buried so many of my best friends who died in fighter crashes in Europe and elsewhere preserving our freedoms.
“They need to be acknowledged wherever we can,” said retired Capt. Allan Gooding, who approached hospital administration about his idea after a two-week stay earlier this year.
Gooding, a jet fighter pilot during the Cold War, said while he was in hospital, he met a young man looking for his 93-year-old grandfather, who was also a veteran.
“He wasn’t just a veteran, he was a war hero. He was in World War Two fighting the Nazis, got captured, helped organize an escape. Most of the escapees were found and shot by the Nazis, and he escaped with the help of the French Resistance.”
Gooding said he isn’t asking for veterans to get special treatment, just acknowledgement. Many people don’t realize who has served their country, he said.
“Some just live lives of quiet silence. They don’t talk about it. They’ve seen and experienced things that no person should ever see or experience. And they don’t walk around saying ‘look at me, I’m a veteran.’ But I believe we owe them.”
The magnetic poppies were purchased through CANEX – a unit of the Canadian Forces, with proceeds going to the Royal Canadian Legion.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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