People of Perley - Lloyd Campbell

Trust, honour and respect characterize both Perley Health and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Former RCAF Commander and fighter pilot Lieutenant-General (Retired) Lloyd Campbell says that, as a veteran himself, he was naturally drawn to accept an invitation in 2013 to join Perley Health as an Adjunct Advisor in the Stakeholder and Community Relations Committee and, concurrently, as a Board representative on Perley Health's Veterans Liaison Committee. Lloyd subsequently joined the Perley Health Board of Directors in 2017. This June, seven years later and after serving on a number of different Committees, he assumed the role of Board Chair.

Veterans and others who turn their skills and experience to volunteer on Perley Health's Board and its Committees help ensure that the organization continues to improve. In areas such as research, education and clinical innovation, the Board ensures that Perley remains responsive to the changing needs of its residents.

Perley Health provides services to more than 600 Seniors and Veterans in long-term care and in Senior Living independent apartments. As such, the Perley fills many different roles: clinical, pharmaceutical, steward and landlord. Primarily through its Centre of Excellence in Frailty-Informed Care™, it also transfers innovative information and knowledge to its own staff as well as to other long-term care organizations in Ottawa, Ontario and across Canada. Recent projects include innovations such as employing Virtual Reality technology in falls prevention and the use of devices to improve the communication abilities of residents receiving dementia care.

Before he started with the Board, Lloyd was unaware that Perley Health served such a wide and diverse community from all walks of life, not just Veterans of the Second World War and the Korean conflict. “We're richer for this combination of ‘military' and ‘civilian' groups within our resident population.” he says because “together, they truly make us a stronger organization.”

During his almost 38 years in the Air Force, Lloyd had the opportunity to develop as a professional and to experience ever-increasing responsibilities commensurate with higher rank. He notes that serving his country as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces allowed a young man from a very small town in Northwestern Ontario to travel the globe. Lloyd lived and served for many years in Germany with his family. And, as a student at the National Defence College and later as Canada's Air Force Commander, he had the opportunity to visit nearly all parts of Canada and the world where he met scores of interesting and influential people who helped develop his own professional skills and widen his knowledge of society and the world.

Over his career, Lloyd filled a number of operational postings in Canada and abroad as well as several key appointments within National Defence Headquarters… the latter including an extensive period as Acting Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. In addition, he served several years in international organizations, spending two different tours on the staff of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) air headquarters: first as an Executive Officer and then, some years later, as an Assistant Chief of Staff. Lloyd also served two years as Commander of the Canadian Region of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), the organization responsible for the air defence of Canada and the United States.

Bringing experience such as Lloyd's to the Perley Health leadership team is something of a tradition, he notes. “The two individuals who commanded the Army and Navy when I was Air Force Commander have also been members of the Perley Health Board and both eventually served as Board Chair as well. Now it's the Air Force's turn, I guess.” Lloyd acknowledges that leadership certainly isn't a uniquely military talent, but most military careers do offer a great deal of leadership training and the Armed Forces also provide individuals with opportunities to hone their leadership skills in a variety of roles. “This is experience that can be very useful within an organization like Perley Health,” he says.

The Board's role is to assist Perley Health's management team by offering guidance and oversight and to help reinforce the pillars that support the Perley Health mission. Lloyd says this demands far more than simply maintaining a top-down ‘chain-of-command' structure within a complex ecosystem like Perley Health's. As an analogy, he compares it to flying a single-seat fighter aircraft: the success of the mission, and even the pilot's life, depend on the efforts of many. It requires an intense mutual trust that is bred from discipline, respect and appreciation. That goes for every person on the team, from the highest to the lowest rank, a parallel that Lloyd sees as being very similar to the situation within Perley Health.

Today, Perley Health continues a 75-year tradition of supporting Veterans. Lloyd says the organization's ‘military flavour' won't significantly change even as the make-up of its resident community is affected by dwindling numbers of Second World War and Korean War Veterans. Some Veterans who served in the Cold War and in more recent conflicts such as Afghanistan are now eligible for residency and these individuals will require services that address their unique clinical and social needs. To this end, some 130 private rooms on the Perley Health campus are currently set aside for Veterans, something Lloyd believes will not only help preserve Perley Health's roots but ensure that Veterans play a key role in our future.

Lloyd remarks that, during the recent COVID pandemic, Perley Health's many advantages truly came to the fore. Its sheer size dwarfs most other Ontario long-term care facilities, it offers significant economies of scale and its private rooms help prevent the transmission of disease. Perley Health had an “army” of highly skilled and dedicated staff who truly helped prevent fatalities. Lloyd notes that, overall, the facility's access to and use of innovative procedures and protocols developed in-house made sure that Perley Health's residents received the best care possible under highly challenging circumstances.

While COVID certainly presented problems, Lloyd says that our talented staff and prudent leadership kept the organization on an ‘even keel' throughout. Perley Health not only survived the crisis, but came out of it with a renewed sense of confidence. In Lloyd's opinion, “The COVID crisis ignited a spark of determination to move forward, incorporate lessons learned, and further introduce innovative ways to provide the kind of care that has epitomized our organization throughout its existence.”

As Lloyd reflects on the road ahead, he points to a new interim strategy for Perley Health, an outstanding CEO, a talented staff and a dedicated Board of Directors. “I believe we're poised to move forward with confidence and optimism as we take up our self-established challenge of doubling the number of Seniors and Veterans we serve by 2035. And we'll do this while ensuring at the same time that we maintain or improve on the high level of care and compassion that have always been part of Perley Health's DNA.”

Summing it all up, Lloyd says: “I'm very proud to be part of such a vibrant and forward-looking organization and I really look forward to helping move things along during my term as Chair.”

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"I'm optimistic that that that period of time which we just lived through has laid the groundwork for an exciting future. We are now in a position where we are poised to move forward in a more firm way.” - Lloyd Campbell, Volunteer, Board Chair