MADISON, Wis. — It’s been a difficult stretch for one of the state’s greatest resources, the Wisconsin National Guard.
As the COVID-19 pandemic reached its peak, Wisconsin guard members answered the call. Whether it was running the testing site at Alliant Energy Center or managing the vaccine stockpile, guard members worked long hours and were often stretched thin.
“The one thing that keeps me up at night is the health and wellness of our force in Wisconsin,” says Wisconsin Adjutant General Major General Paul Knapp.
“We were the frontline between the Wisconsin National Guard and healthcare folks trying to take care of the COVID pandemic,” says Knapp. “There was no hunkering down at home.”
The pandemic response in 2021 was the longest and largest sustained domestic mobilization in Guard history. And that wasn’t their only responsibility.
When a response was needed to violence in Kenosha after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the Guard was there to secure the streets. When help was needed in Washington, D.C., after the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, again they were there. All of this was on top of their usual calls and duties to respond around the globe.
In short, the 20,000 men and women of the Wisconsin National Guard were absolutely exhausted.
Using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, Governor Tony Evers allocated money to start a program in mid-2022 to help offer all Wisconsin guard members help with their wellness. The five-pillared program, known as the Comprehensive Health and Wellness Program, accounts for guard members’ physical, social, spiritual, financial and mental health.
“One of the fundamental strategies behind is if we build Wisconsin, we’re going to have a strong Wisconsin National Guard,” says Niko Ruud, the program’s supervisor. “I think it’s even having the conversation in the first place. I mean so few people, I’m talking even non-guardsmen, have been asked how they’re doing, in the last couple years, we’re all struggling with a lot of things.”
It’s available to guard members from all corners of the state and begins with a basic course that intertwines all five pillars of a guard member’s life. After they complete the two-week course, they can pinpoint areas where they need a little help. The Wisconsin National Guard also is networking with providers around the state to provide assistance as needed to members who live in more difficult-to-reach places.
Even things like basic nutrition, led by nutrition program manager Dena Person, can offer invaluable tools for not only guard members but also their families. For example, if a family member needs nutritional support while their guard member is away on deployment, this service can help fill an important void in their lives.
“I feel like that’s what we do in Comprehensive Health and Wellness, is we take the servicemembers and we make them better — and not just better for the Guard but for their families, and for the state of Wisconsin as well,” says Person, herself a veteran of the National Guard, “because it’s not just about helping them now and in their capacity in the military, but about helping them in any aspect of their life.”
Adjutant General Knapp says what the guard has developed in Wisconsin is now a part of a curriculum that is spreading to other Guard units around the United States. He is hopeful that when the current ARPA funds expire in 2024, the Comprehensive Health and Wellness Program can continue to be supported financially within its annual state budget.
“We’re basically making it more human and having people realize that everyone has challenges,” says Knapp. “We just want everyone to have the tools and the support necessary to overcome whatever those challenges might be.”
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
