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OPERATION
by William O. Richardson, Lt Comd, 2 Pl, C Coy, FO E2.1
Operation LASER began for 2 Platoon with a great deal of waiting and training, in order to adapt to the substantial challenges faced by the CAF at large in organizing a response to a threat which required everyone to keep their distance and become accustomed to extensive protective measures. Much of the first few weeks was taken up with self-isolation and training at home in what was, for many, a new way of learning. If we had not been before, we all quickly became familiar with Zoom, Skype, Webex, and any number of other videoconferencing and distance-learning platforms.
With increasingly grim stories coming daily out of Italy and Spain, and with the first often-panicked descriptions of the situations occurring in long-term care facilities in Quebec and Ontario, it became clear that the province would require the direct assistance of the CAF. Very
soon, Health Services personnel deployed to the first of the affected facilities on the 18th of April, and among them were the fourteen members of M83F and M83J, who were both sent to work together at CHSLD Valeo in St Lambert.
The facility was in dire straits. The remaining civilian personnel were dedicated and hardworking, but they were understaffed and overwhelmed, and the care teams were tasked with putting the situation to rights. Under the tireless leadership of Lt Mercier and 2Lt Dube, leading a mixed group of regular and reserve medical personnel, the two teams created systems and processes for the provision of care which had broken down almost completely between the initial discovery of COVID-19 at the facility and their arrival.
Honorary Colonel Bolton addresses troops and medical staff at St. Andrew’s seniors’ home in Montreal during COVID-19 op 16