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VA Boston

VA Redcoat Volunteer Program

A Strategic Plan for Boosting VA Volunteer Program.

  • Comprehensive Care for All Patient's Needs
  • Support for Mental Well-Being
  • Well-designed training materials for the Volunteers
  • Resources for Recovering Strength

Project Overview

In this project, MassArt Mdes collaborate with VA Hospital Red Coat Ambassadors to help them improve the work and user experiences by developing opportunities, formulating proposals, delegating tasks, executing tasks, driving presentations, communicating with Client.

 

This project was completed in Spring 2023 by Design Innovation graduate students at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in partnership with the VA Hospitals of Boston, Bedford and Northampton, MA.

VA Redcoat Ambassador Volunteer Program

To serve the Veterans through the delivery of accessible and exceptional care by redcoat volunteers.

RCA

Red Coat Ambassador,
who serves as a volunteer providing nessecery assistant to veterant patients and their spouses.

Research Goals

  • Understand the function and structure of RCA
  • Identify the barriers and challenges that RCA experience in their work
  • Explore the potential benefits and motivations that may encourage people to be a RCA
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of existing RCA practices, and identify areas for improvement
  • Assess patients satisfaction with rca's work and uncover their needs aren't being met

Process

Discover

To gain deeper insights into the expectations and challenges faced by RCAs, we teamed up to do the shadowing and interviews in different locations. I was in charge of the Bedford campus. Through these intervies and shadowing, we discovered the main concerns and needs for the RCA groups and the patients group.

Interviews

Experts

  • 1 Wounded Warriors Project

  • 1 Founder of Practical Health

Staff

  • 3 VA administrators

  • 1 Medical staff

RCA

  • 2 Redcoats

Patients

  • 4 VA patients

Shadowing

Three different locations were assessed

  • West Roxbury

  • Jamaica Plane 

  • Bedford VA locations.

Define

RCA Demographics

According to the shadowing, half of the VA Redcoats populations are from veterans’ background.

  • Most of RCAs are between 45 and 87 years old.

  • Bedford campus have totally 15 Redcoat volunteers, and 3 people are in charge of one gate. 

RCA Journey map

Patients' Experiences – (Veterans' psychological needs after war)

Most of the veterans had experienced traumatized moments during the war, and it is really hard to get rid of the PTSD side effects in rest of their lives. 

 

According to the interviews, 2 out of 6 warriors are defined as disability after their experiences in wars. 

 

76% of the warriors reported to have PTSD and nearly half of them reported to have moderate or severe PTSD symptoms during the surveys.

 

We conduceted more than 6 interviews, and there are 6 interviewees indicated to experienced though the war. We also interviewed the Cheif Design Officer of WWP(Wound Warrior Project), and related information are provided accordingly.

Doctor did not check my skin and stated to do self checks at home because she is to busy with people who have skin cancer.
Alex SmithVeteran Outpatient
The VA does not seem to care about getting my medication to me in a timely manner, making it easy to request refills, or giving me the medication I need to manage my conditions.
Drew CarlyleVeteran Outpatient
More time should be spent with the patient. Feeling of somewhat rushed My last two visits.
Charlie McMannVeteran Outpatient
PTSD made me feel like I was drowning. The day I realized I needed help was the day I almost took my own life. If WWP hadn't been there when I finally decided to get help, I don't think I'd still be alive today
Christ HoffWound Warrior
I had a rough transition. I didn't have a good support. I was isolated where I retired out of.
Ben ReadWound Warrior

Parking Lot and Commuting Problem

There are 86 buildings on the Bedford campus with a big tunnel connecting each building. 

Navigation’s Problems

  • Some va locations are old, consisting of many scattered different buildings

  • It’s easy to get lost, and it’s hard for people to find where they’re going with appointment

  • Too confusing for patients, and it takes a lot of time for volunteers to become familiar with them.

  • Some lots are too far away from where patient need to go

  • Difficult for patients to
    be on time for the
    appointment

  • Hard for patients who
    have life threatening
    problems to commute

key takeaways

RCA's Recuitment
Insights

  • RCA’s membership is mainly veterans and their families, driven by passion.

  • Passion for the military does not resonate with many young individuals.

  • RCA struggles to appeal to younger demographics. 

  • Inadequate volunteers in this program with the lack of physical capabilitiy

Needs

  • Physical capability of young adults

  • Visibilitiy of RCA program in college and high school communities

  • Engagement of young adult from resonating their passions in RCA program

Insights

  • Inprofessional RCA Trainings

  • Large VA hospital campus with complicate locations and routes

  • Difficulty for new volunteers to start work without professional and systematic training.

  • the specificity of the medical industry requires staff work to be accurate and rigorous. The lack of formal training for volunteers can directly affect patients.

Needs

  • Establishment of a professional volunteer training mechanism.

  • Help new volunteers effectively familiarize themselves with the work environment and master professional skills.

  • Understand their responsibilities.

  • Ensure that volunteers can provide correct and standardized services to patients.

Insights

  • VA sites are difficult to navigate and are so vast that many patients need wheelchair and navigation services, which is a major duty of the VA.

  • Lack of efficiency in wheelchair services

  • Hard transition for warriors from warriors to civils

  • VA patients are usually elderly veterans who were traumatized from their experiences at war, they are lack of psychological support

  • High burden job for RCA senior volunteers to push wheelchairs

  • The physical effort required to push wheelchairs also means RCAs have less energy to engage in better communication with patients.

Needs

  • RCA should have reduced burden in pushing wheelchairs to free up time for their primary position at the entrance.

  • Patients require assistance with wheelchair transportation to appointment areas, accompanied by brief conversations.

  • Mental support for the ease of PTSD for wound warriors

Develop

How Might We Statements

How Might We reach out to the
non-veterans audience in order to improve
the visibility of the RCA program?

How Might We reach out to the
non-veterans audience in order to improve
the visibility of the RCA program?

How might we ease the burden of RCA on pushing wheelchair while satisfy patients communication demand?

Ideations

Selected Ideas

Recruitment & Social Outreach

  • Flyers around campus
  • Posts on Advertising board
  • Social media posts on Instagram and Facebook

RCA Trainings

  • Standard Training Textbook

VA Patient Experience Improvement

  • Electric Wheelchairs
  • Add-on seat for RCA
  • Conversations with RCA

Deliver

RCA Recruitment

The RCA faces a significant challenge with understaffing and a considerable workload, predominantly relying on older volunteers. It is crucial for them to attract additional volunteers, particularly younger individuals who are physically active, to alleviate these issues.

However, what the RCA offers currently lacks appeal to the younger demographic, who see little incentive to participate.

Research indicates that the RCA predominantly consists of veterans and their families, driven by passion for their cause.

This passion, however, does not resonate with young individuals who do not feel a connection to the military. Identifying what motivates young people to engage is crucial. Additionally, enhancing the promotion of the RCA and boosting its visibility among the youth are critical steps in growing the number of young volunteers.

Therefore, we included social media posts and posters around local colleges and high schools to influence young adults on campus.

Traning