Injured or ill, fresh from Afghanistan or suffering years after combat, Southwestern Ontario’s soldiers face a daunting task taking the first step to getting medical care, jobs or re-training.
Dozens of steps, actually, first to get in, then upstairs in a 140-year-old building where National Defence’s Area Support Unit London operates.
“It’s not a barrier-free building,” Warrant Officer John Lahey said with precise military understatement.
That’ll change this year with the construction of a $1.3-million building for what the military calls the Integrated Personnel Support Centre — basically, a one-stop shopping centre for getting access to health care, return-to-work programs, financial support and a range of social services.
Construction of the 871-square-metre building should start this spring and finish by fall at Wolseley Barracks near Oxford St. and Highbury Ave.
“I spent a little over 30 years in uniform and I can tell you there’s nothing more appreciated than a new piece of kit,” MP Laurie Hawn, parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said at a news conference Thursday at the barracks.
“These centres are a key part of the government’s commitment to caring for our men and women in uniform.”
The federal government is establishing about 24 of the one-stop service centres across Canada.
“These support centres are one-stop shops for ill and injured reserve and regular personnel, retired members, their families and the families of the fallen,” Hawn said.
But the difficulty of finding and getting into the cramped, interim quarters of the relatively new London centre has likely kept soldiers, veterans and families away, said Lahey, platoon chief at the centre.
“Maybe now more people will come in,” he said.
The centre suffers from more than just a lot of stairs, said Major Glenn Barbour, commanding officer of Area Support Unit London.
“The biggest problem with where they are right now, it is a 140-year-old structure, actually the oldest in the Canadian inventory, and it is designed based on a working soldier,” Barbour said. “It is all stairs — no ramps, old ventilation. This new facility will be totally accessible to everyone.”
The timing is good for a new centre,
About 180 area soldiers returned from Afghanistan in December.
“It is very important for they have access to the services they need to get on with their lives, get back on their feet, deal with some of the challenges they are facing because of their service,” Hawn said.
BY THE NUMBERS:
3,500: Military and civilian workers with National Defence in Southwestern Ontario
180: Area soldiers returned from Afghanistan in December
$1.3M: Cost of building new resource centre for soldiers and families in London
871: Size of new centre in sq. metres.
140: Age of building where temporary centre operates.
6: Number of steps injured, wheelchair-bound or elderly soldiers must climb just to get into old quarters
0: Number of wheelchair ramps, elevators in old quarters
0: Number of steps to climb to proposed new centre
