Southwest Veterans' Business Resource Center Cloonan's Blog

Who am I?

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:10:43 GMT

During my formative years, my parents instilled in me how to properly use time, commitment and solid work ethics in ever task that I performed. This was extremely helpful as it prepared me for various work experiences from moving lawns, shoveling snow, delivering newspapers, caddying at the local country club and painting houses. Before I started a task, they recommended that I developed a plan, organized that plan and have control of the plan as I performed that task.

Both my Mom and Dad encouraged me to be an active participant in team sports such as Baseball, football, basketball and hockey. This helped me to understand the value of working together as a team to accomplish a goal. Baseball was my best sport. I played little league, Babe Ruth league, American Legion, High School, College at The Ohio State University and Semi-Professional. These experiences were very beneficial as I also coached Baseball teams from Little League through the College level.

In high school I was also encouraged to pursue a higher level of education as it helps you increase your knowledge base and trains you to be more disciplined which enable you to think things through and make wiser decisions on the information acquired. This training helps prevent making a quick judgment with an insufficient knowledge base.

My initial studies at The Ohio State University such as Accounting, Economics, English, Marketing, and Plant Management were not very exciting. Playing Baseball was more entertaining. It was not until the summer after my freshman year that I began to appreciate the value of the courses that I completed. My summer vacation consisted of painting houses for income and playing baseball in a summer league. That summer I doubled my income from painting and was able to provide a quality service by applying the techniques I learned in time and motion studies in the Plant management course. The accounting courses were helpful as now I had 2 employees.

Playing baseball while going to school helped me to use my time more efficiently. Dental school was very demanding. At this time I had 8 classmates working for me on the weekends and at short vacation breaks. This taught me how to delegate and manage time and my employees efficiently.

Shortly after graduation from dental school, I went on active duty as a Navy dentist to Camp Pendleton, California. My Commanding officer said “You are single Lt. Cloonan.” “Yes Sir”, I responded. He said “You will not be here very long”. 3 months after arriving and completing Field Medical School Service, I was sent to Mag-16, a Marine Helicopter Base near Marble Mountain outside of Danang, South Vietnam.

I was the Senior Dental officer of a 2 Dentist and 4 Dental corpsmen technician dental clinic. Captain Quilter appointed me to be the Infection control officer for the 11th Dental Company and I was to train the dental corpsmen.

While working with the Marines and out at the local village and orphanage, I encountered an overwhelming amount of tooth decay and gum disease. The other dentist and myself worked from 7:30 am to 7:00 pm 6 ½ days on base and the other ½ day at the orphanage and village. In a war zone you cannot function very well with severe tooth decay with an abscess or sore mouth due to infected, swollen gum tissue.

When I did an exam and saw swollen gums and decay, I would ask “Are you brushing your teeth with the toothbrush that I gave you?” The answer is “No sir, I am using it to clean my rifle. What is more important, my life or my teeth?” I would say “Both, here is a 2nd brush for your teeth.” Even with the 2nd toothbrush, I could appreciate their dilemma. Brushing with toothpaste and rinsing with water is dangerous out in the field as the Marine would have to put down his rifle.

Noticing the shortcomings of this type of dental care, I spent 12 years developing a liquid oral health care solution called THE ANSWER® and it is fully patented. The product contains XYLITOL to prevent tooth decay and has multiple ingredients to help maintain healthy gums. The San Diego Reference Lab analyzed THE ANSWER® and found that all of the ingredients are compatible and nontoxic. It is now being used in Hospitals, Developmental Disabled facilities and State Veteran Nursing Homes.

Dr. James Stenger, Chief of Service at the Children's Hospital in Michigan states “The most notable improvement using THE ANSWER® has been with patients who exhibit trauma to the oral tissue from accidents, surgical wounds, and especially post radiation patients with mucositis.”

American Medical Director Association announced that Rebecca Ferrini, MD, MPH, CMD, full-time medical director at Edgemoor Hospital in Santee, CA, and avid user, supporter of THE ANSWER® was named the organization’s 2009 “Medical Director of the Year.” Dr. Ferrini said, “We have noted improved oral hygiene and gum health. We plan to continue use of this excellent product.”

I have been sending 1 oz bottles to the deployed troops through Operation Interdependence for the last 7 years. Now we have two separate platoons of Army troop’s trialing THE ANSWER®.

Our primary goal is to supply THE ANSWER® in 10 ml vials in the MRE’s so that the Troops will be provided with an excellent daily oral care program to maintain healthy teeth and gum tissue. The second goal is to introduce THE ANSWER® into the hospitals to prevent dental infections for the returning injured troops.

Dental infections left untreated can enter the blood stream and lead to serious and occasionally life threatening conditions.

My goal for the business is to hire more Veterans as our business grows. The Veteran learners like me are an excellent place to start. This will encourage more Veterans to become Learners as it will help them secure a position in the work force.

My Orientation

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 01:33:57 GMT

Shortly after the towers fell on Sept. 11, I met Albert Renteria, a retired Marine Warrant Officer 4 with 26 years of service that wanted to lend a helping hand. While working with him on a project, called Operation Interdependence, that sent packages to the deployed troops, I too felt we had to reach out to those in need.

Recently I reunited with Al and when he told me 23 to 40 percent of the homeless are veterans. Even though the majority is Vietnam veterans, we are now seeking all homeless vets, especially those coming out of the two Gulf Wars. As a Vietnam veteran myself, it was alarming to learn that these veterans served and protected our country and are now being neglected by our government.

Al’s mission now is to prevent the homeless veteran. He introduced me to a 14-level-reintegration program and asked for a commitment to participate. The program is designed to help the veteran learn more about him and develop training skills that will help him succeed in life. “It is through this commitment that the veteran will increase his strength through knowledge and during this time will have other veterans assist him as he goes through the program,” Al said.

As this program develops with more learners, there is an excellent opportunity for mentoring and encouraged success. With this information, he convinced me to make a commitment that will reach out and help veterans.

My father was a WWII Veteran and I had 6 uncles that served in WWII. One uncle was killed in the Battle of the Bulge and a second uncle was killed when his ship was hit by a Japanese suicide bomber. Many veterans have sacrificed their lives for our country’s freedom, and it is important that we support those who have served. The ones that survived need to be treated with respect and properly cared for by our government.

After committing to the program, I can relate to what Al was saying. “Out of this program we have a mission to prevent homelessness. Our vision is to develop guiding principles with our most important resource in our community, our veterans,” said Al.

Al desires a commitment from the veterans with his willingness to compose thoughts. His credibility is his image, he served and brand-served honorably. To provide guidance for this commitment, Al presented me with several business models to communicate the success of his new organization, the Southwest Veteran Business Resource Center.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strength-Your Knowledge, Community Support

Weakness—Anger, Competitor, Homeless

Opportunity-Create, Need, Reach Out

Threats-Lack of Safety Measures, No Knowledge, Need to Document

SMEAC PLAN:

Situation--What is happening?

Mission--What is your intent?

Execution--What is your plan of attack?

Administration--Who is to be involved?

Communication--By What Mechanism do I Communicate?

Al believes that you need a plan. It must be alive, not read and not static. His mission’s intent is to aim for 2035 ending homeless vets.

Sigmund Freud describes an individual as to having sexual, physical, intellectual and emotional components. By having the sexual component equal in the center, the individual is more sound.

Freud’s background is very interesting. In the 1890’s when he first began to practice, he experimented with hypnosis. Freud knew very little about hypnosis was a poor operator and had the mistaken idea that a deep trance was necessary for good results. He gave up on hypnosis and sought other methods such as free association and dream interpretation.

Although Freud’s contributions to our knowledge of the mind and of psychotherapy are great, his abandoning hypnosis was harmful, for he blocked hypnotherapy for nearly 50 years.

Our success will be determined by:

Building Professionalism, Teamwork and Safety

Building a Veteran Force and preventing Homelessness

Quality service which is centered on the Family and Commitment

Structured and Disciplined Resource Decisions.

Sound Business Decisions

Commitment, Coordination and Cooperation is critical to our success

Continuous improvement is essential to quality service and the vet’s success.

The proper use of time is an excellent return on investment. A well thought out long term investment is usually more successful than the minimum short term investment.

Veterans don’t become homeless overnight. Usually by the time they’re homeless, they are not earning enough money and have worn out their family and friends, now they are forced out onto the streets.

In dealing with employment, they need skills in order to get a job again. The skills that they acquired in the military may not be transferable to the civilian sector.

The highest priority is to get more homeless vets off the streets and into housing and treatment programs. There is an entire continuum of care available, but it starts with outreach and trust building.

This 14-step program which Al developed is an excellent opportunity for the learner to expand on his life story. As well as, determine what his interests are, set goals, explore the many benefits and resources there are to learn how to network, prepare for an interview and develop a viable business plan. The vet is given the help and guidance by other vets to assure his success in developing his skills and self-confidence.