METHOD OF PROCEDURE WHEN APPLICATION IS MADE FOR TREATMENT:
When application for treatment is made by an ex-member of the Canadian forces, the medical representative of the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau to whom such application is made will communicate with the District Manager in order to obtain particulars regarding the man’s military or naval status and medical history, and the District Manager will communicate with the Bureau (Assistant Director, Medical Division, Attention Foreign Relations Section), which will obtain from the Government of Canada the necessary information. If additional information is required, the District Manager, if speed be necessary, will request such additional information by telegram. In no case should treatment be undertaken pending receipt of authority from the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, unless the call be one of emergency, and in all emergency cases the medical officer in the field is authorized to give prompt service.
LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS:
The articles of agreement with Canada have been supplemented with a letter of instructions that clearly sets forth just how service is to be given by representatives of this Bureau to beneficiaries of the Canadian Government. This letter of instruction is a guide for the representatives of this Bureau in the field as to proper procedure when any doubtful situation should arise, and has been sent to the District Managers in such numbers as to furnish each medical officer with a copy.
It is possible that some of you gentlemen are not in possession of these instructions; should such be the case, a number of copies are at your disposal here, and may be obtained from the stenographers’ table.
NUMBER OF CANADIAN EX-SERVICE MEN CARED FOR BY THIS BUREAU:
It may not be out of order to mention at this time that the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau through its Foreign Relations Section, Medical Division, has cared for over 9,000 Canadian ex-service men. When I say Canadian ex-service men, please know that these are not in reality Canadians, but that 95% of the number are American boys, who, through their valor and enthusiasm, rushed into the breach in the early stages of the conflict, having crossed the Canadian border in 1914, 1915, 1916 and 1917. Their Services having been rendered under the English flag in Canadian organizations, these boys are properly beneficiaries of the Canadian Government, and are being cared for by that Government through the U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, Foreign Relations Section, Medical Division, by cooperation with the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment, which is an organization of the Canadian Government, similar to the U. S. Veterans’ Bureau. The personnel of the Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment is something over 6,000, divided into 10 medical units, or districts. The Foreign Relations Section, Medical Division, of the Bureau is constantly in receipt of requests for service from allied ex-service men with whose government this Bureau has no reciprocal agreement. These cases are promptly referred to the representative of that government located in Washington with a view of giving service if the Government under whose flag the man served will authorize the service.
REPORTS TO BE MADE UPON CANADIAN FORMS 346,399 and 76.:
Your attention is particularly called to the necessity of forwarding to the Bureau reports required by the Canadian Government regarding the hospitalization of Canadian ex-service men; and I desire to stress this point, that, when a medical examination is made of a Canadian ex-service man, the report of your findings should be furnished on S. C.R. Form 346 (S.C.R. meaning Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment), this Form being similar in requirements to the Bureau Medical Division Form 2545. It is upon the findings in this report mode upon S.C.R. 346 that the Canadian Government gives its approval for hospitalization. S.C.R. Form 399 is a Progress Report, and should be rendered monthly during the man’s stay in hospital, for the reason that until this report is received no pension will be paid to the man or to his dependents. When a Canadian beneficiary is hospitalized his compensation is reduced, but the family allowance, should he have dependents, is increased. $40 is the maximum pension payable to a man while in hospital, $10 of which is paid to him and $30 held in reserve, which is accumulative, and is given to him upon discharge from hospital. The family allowance is increased according to the number of his dependents, and is paid to his family direct. S.C.R. Form. 76 is a discharge report from hospital and should be rendered promptly in triplicate, as all these reports should be. If you are not in possession of these Canadian Forms, 346, 399 and 76, they may be obtained from the District Manager in whose district you are located.