By Susan McDonald
Their official life of service begins by repeating an oath of enlistment aloud when sworn into the military but it doesn’t end when they’re discharged or leave active duty.
The words of that oath and the training and lifestyle that follow deepen the sense of service and responsibility anyone joining the military has for helping others.
This lingering and driving sense of service is one reason veterans and those still active in the military make uniquely impactful additions to any civilian work environment.
At Hartford HealthCare, we salute the sacrifices and bravery that mark the military backgrounds of so many of our colleagues and happily draw on the skills, vision and commitment to service they bring to their jobs. Their talents and experience help us be a healthcare leader.
We want to help veterans and active service members adjust to life after the military physically and emotionally, recently launching a fifth colleague resource group where veterans and active service members can get together for camaraderie and collectively help us do better for this population. We offer tributes, honor walks and mental health training, all to recognize their sacrifice and help restore what might be lost.
New CRG Helps Veterans Face Challenges Together
At 17, Sherri Vogt was “so ready to become an adult” that she joined the U.S. Army, which sent her to Germany for four years and left her with a life-long mission to serve.
Vogt, Hartford HealthCare’s veterans liaison, brings that sense of duty to lead the new Veterans and Active Service Colleague Resource Group (CRG).
Hartford HealthCare’s fifth CRG is a way to serve those who have served, according to Keith Grant, vice president of operations, Hartford Region, who serves as co-executive sponsor.
“We have a lot to learn from this community about how to ensure we are meeting service members where they are so they can achieve their best health,” says Sarah Lewis, HHC vice president and chief equity officer.
Representing colleagues and more
Leading the new group helps Vogt channel the passion they have for fellow veterans into action to benefit colleagues and those in communities HHC serves.
Veterans and active service members make up about 6% of HHC’s workforce but the CRG’s input will help the system address issues facing this population statewide.
“The opportunity sends a profound message to our veterans and comrades who reside throughout Connecticut — we are here for them, truly, in all capacities,” Vogt says. “We are here to assist them in their journey, whether they are currently enlisted, recently discharged or a proud veteran from earlier service periods.”
Veterans, she says, follow a unique mission.
“There is a different type of contract service members sign that says I will give it my all up to and including my life to get the mission completed,” Vogt says. “We see challenges as speed bumps that don’t deter us from completing what needs to be done.”
Recruitment is on
The Veterans and Active Service CRG, like all HHC CRGs, is open to all colleagues. For more information on the groups and to join, visit the HHC intranet and search for “Veterans and Active Service CRG.”
Veterans liaison carries pledge of service into civilian life
By Elissa Bass
As veterans liaison for Hartford HealthCare Center For Healthy Aging, Vogt finds joy helping veterans across Connecticut access the help and services they need, navigate bureaucracy or find a sympathetic shoulder to lean on.
The Army veteran who has been the veteran liaison for about two years grew up in the rural eastern Connecticut town of Brooklyn and today lives on family farmland. After her Army discharge in 1991, she went to college on the GI Bill, became a teacher and started a family with her late husband, Pete.
A social studies teacher in the mid-90s, Vogt decided to follow another family tradition and enter local politics.
“I lost both elections I ran in,” she says with a laugh.
Her involvement, however, got her noticed by U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, who offered her a job helping constituents with issues like school loans, the housing/mortgage crisis and homelessness.
“It was there I learned how to connect people to resources in the community they needed,” she said. She loved the job and solving problems, but a colleague was Courtney’s veterans liaison. “I would listen to him helping people access their benefits, helping homeless veterans find a place to live. I knew that was the job I wanted.”
In 2012, Vogt applied for the position in the office of Elizabeth Esty, who was newly elected in the 5th Congressional District.
“She let me build that office however I wanted to,” Vogt recalls. “I made contacts with VFWs, American Legions, Daughters of the American Revolution. We held community conversations. If it was veteran related, I wanted to know about it.”
She found her way to Hartford HealthCare at Home’s hospice team when Esty decided not to run again in 2018. Providing veterans with the honor and recognition they deserve at the end of their lives fulfilled her. During COVID, she was deployed in various functions and eventually found her place with the Center for Healthy Aging.
“Anyone can call us for help,” Vogt says. “The ER can call with a 35-year-old veteran who just had a stroke. They can call with a veteran who just attempted suicide. A physical therapist can call about a veteran who has no idea how to access their benefits. I answer those calls.”
The work can be as small as collecting feminine hygiene products for female soldiers deployed in areas where the items are hard to find, to helping a veteran needing a replacement prosthetic leg access benefits to get one.
Recent creation of the HHC Veterans and Active Service Colleague Resource Group (CRG), which she will co-lead, has Vogt “over the moon.”
“What I do every day, this CRG will do times a thousand,” she says. “The message is HHC cares about its people and wants to help. Having HHC think it’s important that veterans in the community and on staff access what they need is crucial to feeling like your service was worth it.”
Flying the stars & stripes to recognize service
By Anne Rondepierre
In September, 100-year-old World War II veteran Paul Rosch became the 1,000th veteran patient visited by the St. Vincent’s Stars & Stripes for Service appreciation team.
Hartford HealthCare is committed to recognizing the men and women who serve our country — past and present — with the system-wide Stars & Stripes for Service initiative. Every patient who served our country receives an American flag or small gift of gratitude and a thank you card on Veterans Day.
Since it’s important to recognize our veterans beyond just one day, certain locations have adopted the program year-round, including HHC hospitals.
Addressing mental health in the National Guard
By Elissa Bass
Ralph Dodd, PsyD, sees similarities between the people he sees at his day job as regional director of collegiate counseling for Hartford HealthCare Campus Care and his “other job” providing mental health screenings for soldiers with the Connecticut Army National Guard.
In many ways, college students and soldiers are “all trying to navigate life,” Dodd says.
“They are struggling with identity issues, who they are, finding their way. Their issues are the same. Depression, anxiety, all of which can stem from their sense of self and desire to succeed,” he notes.
A major in the Guard, Dr. Dodd serves as chief of behavioral health with a medical detachment unit that works to ensure all soldiers are “medically ready and prepared for their missions.” He provides “fit for duty evaluations” and post-deployment debriefs and counseling.
Dr. Dodd came a little late to the military, joining in 2017. He had tried to join a decade earlier but there were no openings for a clinical psychologist.
He’s thrilled at the shift in the National Guard to prioritize mental health among the ranks. “Especially in the last few years, they have been big on mental health, support and resources,” Dr. Dodd explains, noting that soldiers “have this fear they can’t disclose their struggle, that it will ruin their career. But I tell them no, let’s get you that support and explore the options.”