The Home Base Program for Veterans

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts were coming home with increasingly complicated brain traumas and PTSD.  Beginning in 2008, SSG worked directly with leadership at Massachusetts General Hospital and teams owners of the Boston Red Sox to build a first-class patient clinic that would provide superior alternative medical care and counseling (www.homebase.org).  SSG spent two years developing the program from the ground up, including mission, staffing, and business plans.  SSG participated in meetings with General Shinseki and General Peake of Veterans Affairs, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army General Chiarelli, Secretary Mabus of the Navy, and others.  Conducted research at every level to identify unmet needs in the veteran community, developed outreach for reluctant veteran audiences, studied state-of-the-art care for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury, and created partnerships with parallel organizations in New England.  SSG also helped the Red Sox raise more than $10 million in three years in support of the Home Base Program, including the development of the popular Run to Home Base annual fundraiser (2500 runners).  Also helped to coordinated its oversight with the McCormick Foundation and the Rand Corporation.