Soldier On Sports Recovery/Rehabilitation Fund

[Takeniteasy]

CFB Trenton will be hosting a concert/golf tourney on August 22nd and 23rd. The concert will be the first event. I will update further once the bands are confirmed but I can tell you that they are popular Canadian ones!!  The golf tourney is just a day and already half of the spots are filled with no advertising. All funds raised will go towards "Soldier On"

Duty With Honour
Soldier On

Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Strike]

Andrew,

Thanks for keeping eveyone here informed on how the program is going.  I`ve been following it on the news on tv and find that the stories being told are truly inspirational.  Here is a new generations of Canadians setting an example for all of us to follow.

Keep up the good work.

Strike

 

[Takeniteasy]

It has been a pleasure doing so. Thanks to all who support Soldier On and believe in its basic fundamental principal of maintaining an active lifestyle no matter the disability!!!

Duty With Honour
Soldier On

Andrew 

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

Just an update on the Trenton fund raising events for Soldier On. The concert portion of the event is now cancelled. The Golf Tournament is in full swing and many volunteers are working hard to bring everyone a suburb event.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On

Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

I have just recently returned from representing Canada at the World 24hr Running Challenge in Drummonville Quebec. I completed a personal best of 217.667km and placed 23rd overall in a world class field. Our first Canadian female runner also did her personal best running just over 211 km good enough for the female 100mile and 24hr running records.( congrats to Laurie McGrath on here Canadian Record)

It was a tough day for running due to conditions but the last years work for "Soldier On" kept me focused.

Thank you to all who have supported and who continue to support others in need.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On

Sgt Andrew McLean
(hurting now but well worth it)

 

[Takeniteasy]

Merry Christmass to all;

It has been some time since my last post regarding the Soldier On program. Things are still moving along and Greg Lagace ( Soldier On Project Manager CFPSA) is working hard on the fine details.
I would like to end this long year on a high note and announce that a kind private donation of $200,000 was made to the Soldier On program. Whomever you are Merry Christmass and thanks for your great support.
And to all those who continue to spread the word  thanks again for your time and efforts.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Awesome!!

Thanks to all.....

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

Some recent news and info regarding the Soldier On program-
http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/19wing/news/releases_e.asp?cat=79&id=5311

Subject:  Solder On Program  
Date:  17 January 2008  

Key Messages:

The Canadian Forces recognizes the risk factors inherent in a military career and the importance of family in support of our defence team members.
The aim of the program is to contribute to the operational readiness and effectiveness of the Canadian Forces by enriching the lives of those with disabilities, through sport.
CF Soldier On collaborates with the DND and offers morale and welfare programs and services for the men and women of the Canadian Forces.
It’s also intended to reconnect the Paralympic movement with its military origins. The origins of the Paralympic Movement for athletes with a disability that parallels the Olympics, are linked to the rehabilitative care of WWII veterans, including some of the 55,000 Canadian soldiers injured during the war. 

History: The concept for the program was co-originated by Sgt. Andrew McLean, SARTech and the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) in response to a recognized need to provide a consistent and higher standard of care for injured CF personnel. At the Paralympic Sport Summit held in May 2007 in Ottawa, then Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor and the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier announced CF Soldier On, a joint initiative of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. It was also at this event where the transfer of responsibility to the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency occurred.

Definition: CF Soldier On (CFSO) integrates sport, physical activity and recreation activities into the rehabilitative care of injured soldiers and members of the defence team.  The promotion of an active lifestyle is accomplished through the aim of optimizing physical and mental recovery.  For soldiers, in particular, the program will promote and optimize the return to military service or transition to civilian life. This is accomplished through close working relations with the DND/CF.

Vision: To optimize the physical and mental function of CF personnel, CF dependents and retired CF members with a physical or mental disability by supporting their active and full participation in physical activity, recreation and sport.

CF Soldier On Fund: Canadian Forces Soldier On Fund (CFSOF) raises funds in support of our vision.  All funds raised for CFSOF are managed by CFPSA within the Canadian Forces Central Fund – the CF Soldier On Fund.

In November 2007, the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency began accepting funds for the CF Soldier On Fund (CFSOF).  The CF Soldier On Fund continues to grow through generous donations made by Canadians, Corporate Canada, and other organizations.

More information on the program [will be posted [/font] on the CFPSA website.

Background on Fund: The Canadian Paralympic Foundation (CPF) first launched a ‘Soldier On’ Fund in support of Sergeant Andrew McLean’s fundraising efforts in 2006 while working towards the common ‘Soldier On’ goal with the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency.  All funds donated to date, to the CPF will become part of the Canadian Forces Central Fund - CF Soldier On Fund.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

Some more recent news about the Soldier On program. The CTV link is a interview with MCpl Jody Mitic.

http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=898264

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080208/jody_mitic_080208/20080210/

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all; this is posted on the national CFPSA website under Director Military Family Services. Changes are being made to better deliver moral and welfare programs within the CF.


MILITARY PERSONNEL COMMAND (MILPERSCOM) TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES


As some Canadian/Military Family Resource Centre (C/MFRC) staff and volunteers may already be aware, Chief Military Personnel (CMP) has undertaken a number of transformation initiatives since assuming Command. It is expected in the near future that these initiatives will have an impact on Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA), as well as Director Military Family Services (DMFS).

Although the transformation initiatives are not finalized or fully developed at writing, this preliminary correspondence is intended to relay what is known or can be reasonably anticipated thus far. Please keep in mind however that as the transformation objectives continue to be realized, it is possible that some elements of information relayed may potentially change again over time. To the extent possible, DMFS is committed to updating C/MFRCs as these changes evolve.

It is expected that effective 1 April 2008 CFPSA will be renamed and reorganized. The new name proposed for the organization is Director General Personnel and Family Support Services (DGPFSS). To reflect CMP's intent to have singular lines of accountability and authority, the role of the organization will expand to include responsibility for Director Casualty Support and Administration (DCSA), as well as responsibility for elements of the current Director Quality of Life (DQOL).

In response to CMP's renewed emphasis on family services and support, it is anticipated that DMFS' responsibility and authority will also expand by 1 April 2008. To that end, the responsibility for CF family policy will be reinvested within DMFS; it is planned that DQOL family policy staff will join the DMFS team to capitalize on the strengths of both.

Although change can create a level of uncertainty and a temporary bit of organizational chaos, DMFS looks forward to the changes proposed. Over time, it will streamline our effort and will allow us to move forward with clearer intent and to better effect. In our view, the ultimate beneficiaries will be the families and communities we collectively serve.

Updates (18 February 2008)

The transformation of Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency (CFPSA) was approved by Armed Forces Council on February 11, 2008. Transformation dates have changed from April 1, 2008 to May 1, 2008.

The new mandate of Director Military Family Services (DMFS), approved in principle, is “On behalf of Chief Military Personnel and through Director General Personnel and Family Support Services (DGPFSS), DMFS is the responsible authority for effective, responsive and coordinated CF family services and CF family policy”.

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all; Below is a link to a great article about Sgt (Ret'd) Steve Daniel. It was in the Sudbury Times and Bellville Intelligencer yesterday. As you will read Steve is one step closer to competing at this years Paralympic Games.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=911936&auth=Luke+Hendry%2FThe+Belleville+Intelligencer

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

The Soldier On webpage is finally up. go to www.CFSoldierOn.ca
Pass the addy on to everyone you know so that it gets to those who may stand to benefit from it.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

This was posted on The Torch blog site today. A great read.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Continuing to make a difference
We've written before about the Soldier On program, which helps disabled CF members and veterans participate in sports.

They now have a website up and running, and that's where I discovered that you can actually donate to the program if you wish. Apparently it's not a registered charity, but donations to the Crown are treated similarly for tax purposes, and you'll get a donation receipt.

For those who wonder how effective such a donation might be, consider these testimonials. Consider the experience of MCpl (ret'd) Jody Mitic, who lost both legs below the knee to a mine in Afghanistan in January of 2007:


Mitic said adjusting to his new life hasn't been easy. But Soldier On has helped him embrace his rehab, by putting him in touch with Paralympic athletes for advice when he tried out a new pair of prosthetic running legs.

"I can find someone that's done it before and say, 'Is this right, is this normal?'"

Mitic says he has considered entering some Paralympic competitions, but the question is whether he will have enough time to train to get to competition level.

"I thought about getting into the running, the sprinting, because I was always a fast sprinter. It's definitely a possibility because of the Soldier On program," he said.


And while promoting high-performance athletics isn't an aim of the program, a few of the many CF members and veterans helped by Soldier On use the program as a springboard to top-level amateur sporting endeavours. Sgt (ret'd) Steve Daniel is one of them:


Sudbury native Steve Daniel has every reason to be bitter, but today he's happier than ever.

Two years ago, Daniel was paralyzed from the waist down after a parachuting accident at CFB Trenton's Mountain View detachment.

Now he's a record-breaking athlete and is aiming for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games as an adaptive rower.

...

He also reconnected with Sgt. Andrew McLean, with whom he'd served in the past. McLean was a co-founder of the Soldier On program, which helps military staff, retirees and relatives cope with injury or illness through sport.

Daniel became the first person helped by the program, receiving a wheelchair in which he could play on Sudbury's wheelchair basketball team.

"It was pretty much the highlight of my week, being able to socialize with people who are in the same predicament and play basketball with them," Daniel said. "I found it very therapeutic."

Soldier On later sent Daniel and Fraser to Mt. Washington, B.C., where he spent an "invigorating" week sit-skiing.

Also on Daniel's basketball team was Minna Mettinen-Kekalainen, who had been in a wheelchair for about the same length of time as him.

Last summer, she introduced him to adaptive rowing. He trained both in an actual boat and on a rowing machine called an ergometer.

There's no water in indoor rowing: instead, competitors row on their machines, with their progress on the one-kilometre "course" displayed on video screens.

For two months, Daniel trained on his basement ergometer; he was coached by Thomas Merritt.

Daniel trained for the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championships, held Feb. 3 in Toronto. Though it would be his first national competition, he was excited because his practice times showed he had a shot at medal status in the arms-only adaptive rowing category.

He was more than ready: his gold-medal time was four minutes, 29.6 seconds - a national record for arms-only rowers.

"I was pretty impressed with myself," Daniel said with a laugh.

"Based on my time, I'll be invited to the national men's selection camp this summer to compete for a spot on the Canadian national team."


Captain Kimberly Fawcett is another CF member who has discovered how to combine both the high-performance and rehabilitative opportunities of the program well. Not only are she and fellow Soldier On participant Sgt Karen McCoy training for elite competition in seated volleyball, but Capt Fawcett's insight on the importance of Soldier On is eloquent and convincing (scroll down past the Globemaster stuff):


Fawcett lost her leg—and her 91⁄2-month-old son Keiran—on a snowy day in February 2006 after she’d pulled over to the side of the road because an accident had blocked the highway ahead. They were hit by a passing vehicle as she was taking Keiran out of his car seat.

A veteran who served in Afghanistan in 2002, Fawcett is a squadron commander at Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont. Her rehabilitation goals were to regain her level of physical fitness and stay in the Forces. “As a highly operational soldier, you want more than general function,” she says. “You want to get back to being employable, deployable and fit.”

She quickly realized the ‘standard of function’ restored in routine rehabilitation wasn’t going to help her reach those goals. Athletic ability would. So she and her trainer researched and developed a special program designed to teach herself how to run, how to jump and how to climb.

“Losing a leg is a tremendous blow to your self-esteem,” she says. Rehabilitation should return a sense of ability and restore confidence. “When you lose a limb, you build up a fear in your mind and the only way to dispel it is to get out and do different tasks.”

Not only were everyday tasks more difficult, but it was daunting to figure out what she needed to return to active service, where to find equipment to help her function at the level needed in an active command, and which department or agency offered what support.

Although she says she had support from the chain of command, it took some time before the casualty support directorate provided her with a running leg so she could take her annual physical fitness test. Ideally, Soldier On could cut through that red tape, says Lagacé. And perhaps do more.

Maybe it can even persuade more disabled personnel to return to duty.

“About 75 to 80 per cent of injured soldiers intend to take their release” after rehabilitation, says Fawcett. “Only 20 per cent or so wish to be retained.”

The time to ask a soldier to make the decision about returning to active service is not at the beginning of the rehabilitation, she says, but when the soldier has returned to functionality. “Then and only then are they in a position to make an informed choice.”


I'm sure a fellow like Fred Franks would agree with Capt Fawcett.

Those who have died in service to their country rightly demand our respect, our memory, and our solemn determination to carry on. But those who have suffered debilitating injuries deserve all that, plus one other thing: our care and support. Soldier On provides just that.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 1:27 PM 

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day to all;

Here is a link to an article that is on the Army News webpage. Congratulations to the troops in Meaford who took time on their weekend to help out with the Ontario Winter Paralympic Champ.

http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/lf/English/6_1_1.asp?id=2526

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good Day everyone; here is a link to the Airforce webpage and an article about new physical fitness objectives for the CF. MCpl Mitic, Sgt McCoy and Capt Fawcett were among other CF members who attended.

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/news_e.asp?cat=114&id=5806

Duty With Honout
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good day everyone;

We are already 3 months into the new year and the Soldier On program continues to grow, Capt Kimberly Fawcett will be competing at the World Triathlon Champ in June as a single above knee amputee, Steve Danial (retired) has a shot at the Canadian Paralympic Team in Adaptive Rowing, Jody Mitic completed his first 5 km, Karen McCoy may be our first amputee to serve overseas! Brent, Paul and Eric attended the adaptive ski program on Mt Washington in the Comox valley. We hope to continue to bring opportunities and resources for our fellow CF members and their dependents.

Fund raising efforts are still underway and like last year St-Jean is leading the way for our grass roots drive. They have started to collect donations and hope to surpass their total of last year! (just under $13,000) Our members at North Com are once again doing the Ride the Rockies and with their American coworkers will split the donations between Soldier On and the American Wounder Warrior Fund. 8 Wing runners are competing in the Mississauga and Ottawa Marathons (doing either one not both LOL ) in support of SO. Comox is also in again this year and are hoping to surpass their fund raising total from last year as well. ( they were able to obtain a hockey sled for one of our CF members in B.C.)

Education and awareness is still the number one priority and anyone can do anything given the resource and opportunity.
"You are"
"You can"
"You will"
"We all believe"

My friend John Casey is also putting on the 2nd Annual Celebrity Golf Tourn. in support of Soldier On www.soldieron08.com

Thanks again to everyone who has sent emails to me and to those who continue to give their time and efforts.
I am always looking for more volunteers to raise awarness and funds for SO.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean
www.cfsoldieron.ca

 

[Takeniteasy]

Good day to all;
The link below is to an article on the Canada's Airforce News page. Two of many Soldier On volunteers. Thanks Pat and Carol Monsigneur (WO) for your time and great efforts.

http://www.airforce.forces.gc.ca/site/newsroom/news_e.asp?cat=114&id=6131

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean

 

[Takeniteasy]

Posting a few pictures of Sgt Steve Daniel (retired) from his recent participation at the National Adaptive Rowing Teams training camp. Steve is just one event away (needing to win) from a position on the Canadian 2008 Paralympic Team headed to China. The picture with Steve on the water is on his new racing boat which was purchased with funds from the Soldier On program. He has also named the boat in the programs honour "Soldier On". Steve has learned to ski, play basketball and now row with his adaptive lifestyle and the list is sure to get longer. Congratulations Steve. "Soldier On"

The second photo is of Steve doing ground training and the third shows the tech. expertise required to put these boats together for competition. Steve has many people along side to help in his pursuit and with out them it would be next to impossible to achieve certain goals. The NART team is dedicated to all the adaptive rowers in their program.

Duty With Honour
Soldier On
Sgt Andrew McLean 

 

[Takeniteasy]

Will post them one at a time.

 

[Takeniteasy]

And the last one!! LOL