The new Veterans Affairs Canada volunteer branch service officer in Davidson is asking any veterans in the area who may need help to contact the local Legion.

Gord McRae, president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #51, said his new role as branch service officer enables him to assist any veterans by identifying those with unmet health needs and then helping them receive any available benefits they are entitled to from VAC. McRae is able to accomplish this through helping these veterans fill out any necessary forms before referring these men and women with needs to provincial command service officers.

“I’d like to see people step forward and say I am involved with the military…and I do need help,” said McRae. The problem “is there is so many out there that do not. They have that macho thing. They don’t want to think that they need help, but they should come forward.”

McRae became a branch service officer earlier this month by attending a training session through Veterans Affairs that provided him with the needed information to assist these men and women in need. The role became important after the Department of Veterans Affairs closed eight district VAC offices across Canada earlier this year, including the one in Saskatoon, which provided face-to-face services for veterans.

The loss of person-to-person contact between veterans and their families with a qualified individual with Veterans Affairs and move to an online self-service program for veterans to try and get help highlighted McRae’s desire to attain the role of branch service officer. As a branch service officer, his training equips him to help these veterans understand the benefits they are entitled to and move them towards receiving this assistance.

“There are 70,000 veterans in Saskatchewan alone and out of the 70,000 probably one quarter of them are stepping forward and saying we need help, not so much money wise, but mentally as well,” said McRae. “We are here to help them to get on the right path.”