A Canadian Forces veteran who has spent decades helping fellow veterans navigate the system to receive their benefits has found himself in an unusual situation: struggling to get help for himself.

Norman Gaillard, a decorated former armed forces medic living in Quispamsis, N.B., is trying to get Veterans Affairs to help him get greater access to personal home care services.

The medic’s job often required the lifting of heavy stretchers, he says.

“Of course, back in the 1950s and 1960s, there were no automatic lifting devices — it was all done physically,” Gaillard said.

Now, he has arthritis and back pain that his doctor says is “directly” linked to his service.

But Gaillard has been denied, in part because there is no record of him being injured at the time.

Gaillard, a former Legion branch president who has been recognized by Veterans Affairs for his working helping veterans, says even his “knowing the ropes” hasn’t made a difference in this struggle.

“That's the irony of the whole situation: I don't seem to have a problem getting something for our other veterans, but apparently I can't get anything for myself,” he said.

Fellow veterans’ advocate Lou Cuppens, also retired from the military, says there’s a simple reason why the documents don’t exist.

"In his medical records in the military, there's no record of him ever complaining about his back, and so many veterans in this country lived through an era — I did too — where to go on sick parade and report yourself ill, it was looked at as malingering,” Cuppens said. 

“So that's why there's no record.”

The situation, says Cuppens, is made all the more deplorable given the impact Gaillard has had helping other veterans.

“He has helped 17 veterans get their benefits this year,” Cuppens said.
Gaillard says Veterans Affairs has offered a nurse to conduct an assessment of his needs, but says he’s not sure why another assessment is needed to back up his request for help.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mike Cameron