Healthcare & Rehabilitation Award Finalists 2023
An award to honour a person or team that has demonstrated a major commitment and contribution in support of the physical or mental welfare of serving or former members of the Armed Forces community. This may be through healthcare, therapeutic treatment or rehabilitation services and support.
In partnership with Redwood Technologies Group.
Introducing the Finalists...
Blind Veterans UK Brighton Centre
After over 80 years of proud service, Blind Veterans UK will be closing the doors of their iconic Brighton centre this year. The charity will be moving to a new home along the Sussex coast that they have purchased from the RAF Benevolent Fund.
The charity has chosen this moment to recognise all the staff and volunteers that have made the Brighton centre such an important place. From those very first years the focus of that staff has been on providing excellent healthcare and rehabilitation for visually impaired veterans. The very first veterans supported there had lost their sight in the First World War and the same building’s healthcare and rehab staff were there to support those veterans who lost their sight in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as those who did so later in life due to age-related conditions.
The care and rehabilitation provided has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of visually impaired veterans over the eight decades the charity has had a home in Brighton.
Col (Ret’d) Anthony Gauvain, PTSD Resolution
Tony Gauvain had a distinguished career in the Army for 32 years, finally retiring in 1990. This included, as commanding officer of the Cheshire Regiment, a two-year tour in Northern Ireland, where he saw first-hand the tragic loss of life and mental and physical trauma that can be associated with military service. At the Dropping Well bombing, seventeen people died – eleven were soldiers in his command.
Having left the Army, Tony discovered that there was an opportunity to widen access to treatment for mental health and trauma therapy for veterans, reservists and their families. So, he went about training to become a qualified therapist and with another newly qualified therapist, Piers Bishop, established the charity PTSD Resolution in 2009.
Tony has run the charity as CEO and Chair and receives no payment for the time he gives. He set up a UK-wide network of 200 registered therapists, sourced trustees who were passionate about veteran mental health, and raised the money to pay for the therapy required. Since 2009, over 3600 veterans, reservists and their families have been helped.
Dr Aamer Khan
Dr Khan is a world-class skin specialist who provides free-of-charge medical treatment, including reconstructive surgery, to severely wounded veterans, particularly those with facial disfigurement or burns. Since being the proud recipient of a Soldiering On Award in 2018 and British Citizen Award in 2019, Dr Khan continues to improve the health and wellbeing of countless veterans.
Recognising veterans’ desperate need for emotional and psychological support, Dr Khan has also recruited mental health practitioners to help veterans suffering from conditions including PTSD. Demonstrating his passion for improving veterans’ outcomes, during the pandemic Dr Khan and his wife Lesley bought a historic country house which they have transformed into a wellness retreat with spa and medical facilities for the benefit of veterans. They are welcomed with their families to Dr Khan’s home where they can receive free treatment, rehabilitation, mental health counselling and ongoing support.
Dr Khan is available 24/7 if a veteran needs him – free of charge. With this dedicated, selfless approach, Dr Khan has – on several occasions – prevented veterans from taking their own lives.
Congratulate the finalists and join in with our celebrations on social media: #SoldieringOnAwards
