Reimagining Volunteer Service at the VA
Research & Service Design Strategy to strengthen the Red Coat Ambassador Program across 3 Massachusetts VA hospitals
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Client Service Design Project
Veterans Affairs Boston, Bedford & Brockton
Design Researcher & Strategist
MDes Integration Lab Team
14 weeks
Ethnographic Research · Service Design · Systems Mapping · Stakeholder Interviews · Journey Mapping · HMW Framework
THE STRATEGIC CHALLENGE
The VA Red Coat Ambassador program exists to guide, support, and comfort veterans navigating three busy hospital campuses, and feel supported during their visit. When we began, the program looked like it was working well. Veterans were happy with the ambassadors. But there were problems underneath that nobody had fully looked at yet.
Most of the ambassadors we met were elderly, retired veterans. They were physically tired and many had been doing this for years, but their commitment to serving other veterans was very strong. After COVID, fewer people were volunteering, and as the existing ambassadors got older it was getting harder for them to do the physical parts of the work. The hospital was having trouble finding new volunteers to fill the gap.
So our real task was not to fix the current RED COAT program. It was to look at it as a whole hospital system and figure out why a good program was slowly losing steam, and what could be done to keep it going.
MY ROLE
This was a studio project at MassArt in collaboration with VA hospitals. I was part of the research and strategy team. I led one of our research synthesis workshops, where we took everything we collected from interviews and shadowing and organized it into clear opportunity areas, and I prepared the documents the team worked from. In the concept phase, I worked in a three-person team with two teammates to develop and present three of the ideas: the wheelchair experience, the parking connection system, and the scenario manuals. My main hands-on work across the project was observation and shadowing at the VA sites, synthesis, ideation, and concept development.
STAKEHOLDERS MAP
TIMELINE AND RESEARCH PLAN
RESEARCH PROCESS MAP
HOW WE RESEARCHED
A multi-method approach across 14 weeks
We combined secondary and primary research to build both a systemic understanding of the VA program nationally and a ground level picture of what was actually happening at Boston, Bedford, and Brockton.
We studied the VA's own published veteran journey map, analyzed more than 100 veteran satisfaction survey responses, and read about how the Red Coat program runs nationally. This helped us see the difference between how the program is supposed to work on paper and how it actually works on the ground.
Method 1:
Secondary Research
We shadowed Red Coat Ambassadors on all three campuses and followed them through their shifts. This was our most valuable method, shadowing surfaced friction points, unspoken workarounds, and emotional dynamics that no interview or survey could have revealed, It also highlighted the gap between training book and on field work. While shadowing, we also learned the VA's core values, I CARE, which stands for integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, and excellence.
Method 2:
Field Shadowing
We conducted 6 in-depth interviews with Red Coat Ambassadors, 3 interviews with veteran patients, and spoke with VA management, a Wounded Warriors Project strategist, a healthcare experience design specialist, and a local high school guidance counselor to check whether one of our recruitment ideas would actually work in the real world. Each stakeholder group gave us a different lens on the same system.
Method 3:
Stakeholder Interviews
All findings were synthesized using affinity mapping and How Might We frameworks, organized into 6 strategic opportunity spaces. We then prioritized by feasibility and projected impact before moving into ideation. I led one of our synthesis workshops where we then sorted those by what was realistic for the VA to actually do and what would have the most impact, before moving into ideation.
Method 4:
Data Synthesis
"The volunteers we met were aging, physically tired, and aware that their numbers were shrinking. But their commitment to serving veterans never wavered. The program wasn't struggling because of the people. It was struggling because the system around them had never been built to keep them going."
FROM RESEARCH TO STRATEGY
What 14 weeks of fieldwork actually revealed
DOUBLE DIAMOND TO
TRIPLE DIAMOND RESEARCH PROCESS
We started the project with a standard double diamond. After our first round of research we realized the issues were deeper and connected to each other, so we added a second loop: we researched our own insights before designing anything. That middle diamond is where the project actually took shape.
After synthesizing findings across all three sites, a pattern emerged that reframed our entire design direction. We began project thinking the main issue was training. What we found was something more fundamental.
INSIGHT I
The program had a pipeline problem, not just a training problem.
The ambassadors were getting older and fewer new people were joining. The recruitment pool was homogeneous, informal, and shrinking. Improving training for a dwindling volunteer base would produce only marginal gains.
INSIGHT II
A lot of the value the program gives volunteers comes from feeling appreciated. From our research, recognition stood out as something that needed work, so that ambassadors feel valued for what they give. Keeping good volunteers is about making people feel their time matters.
From our synthesis workshop, we framed each opportunity area as a How Might We question. Writing them this way forced us to be specific about three things: what action to take, who it serves, and what outcome we actually wanted. Each row in the framework below reads as one sentence.
OPPORTUNITY
FOR WHOM?
HOW MIGHT WE?
SO THAT...
Recognition
For RCAs
increase recognition
they feel valued
AppointmentsFor Veterans
provide RCA service across the whole visit
every aspect of the experience is covered
Recruitment
For the VAs
increase and diversifyRCA recruitment
we achieve sustainabilityand increased visibility
Training
For RCAs
provide standardizedtraining
RCA confidence improves
Roles
For RCAs
define roles
there is room for growth andadaptation to policy changes
Experience For Veterans
consider alternate therapies
we elevate their experience
Three of the six areas turned out to be about the ambassadors themselves, which supported what our research kept telling us: the program depends on how well it supports its volunteers.
How might we increase recognition for ambassadors so that they feel valued?
How might we diversify and develop an efficient structure to widen the RCA recruitment strategy?
How might we improve the RCA training process to build volunteer confidence and effectiveness?
Each How Might We also came with follow-up questions we took back into research. One of them, asking how many appointments get cancelled because patients arrive late, later shaped our parking and arrival intervention. From these six areas, we prioritized the ones the VA could realistically act on and moved into ideation.
IDEATION
With our opportunity areas set, we ran brainstorming sessions across four areas: recruitment, social outreach, training, and patient experience. We came up with a lot of ideas first, then narrowed them down by asking two questions for each one. Is it realistic for the VA to actually do, and will it genuinely help the people involved.
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We did not do this on our own. We took our ideas back to VA officials, veterans, and caregivers to get their reactions, and used their feedback to refine and prioritize. The clearest signal came from a high school guidance counselor, who told us the student recruitment idea was especially appealing to students who want to go into medical careers, as long as we set expectations and got parental consent. That told us the idea was worth pursuing.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
After ideation and feedback, we focused our work into four areas. Before writing up the ideas, we mapped them against the pains and gains of the two groups they had to serve, the ambassadors and the veterans. Every idea had to relieve a real pain on at least one side of the map.
1. RECRUITMENT
"Widen the scope of who can become an ambassador"
Most volunteers were retired veterans, and that group was naturally getting smaller. We worked on a recruitment strategy to make the program appeal to younger people. The idea was to reach out to high school graduates and students in pre-med, nursing, and pharmacy, as well as non-veterans.
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The plan included biannual events at schools and other venues, short-term volunteer contracts with clear expectations, and a VA certification that students could earn. For students, this means community service hours and real experience. For schools, it is a chance to encourage volunteering among young people. The guidance counselor we spoke to confirmed it was doable.
Recruitment: who, why, and what everyone gains
We validated the student recruitment plan with a local high school guidance counselor before finalizing
"Sounds doable, it is especially appealing to students looking to pursue a medical career. We just need to set expectations right for the students and get parent consent."
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- High school Guidance counselor
2. Social Outreach
"Make the program visible where young people are"
The program had very little public visibility, so a lot of potential volunteers had never heard of it. Around 4 billion people use social media, so we looked at how to use it to reach a wider audience. The idea was short videos showing Red Coat volunteers at work and the kind of service veterans give, along with real stories, to attract people who connect with the cause.
Social media advertising to reach the wider audience of Gen Z and students.
3. Training
"Standardize it, digitize it, make it scenario-based"
We proposed a new training system built around scenario manuals, one for employees and one for patients. The manuals cover the situations Red Coat Ambassadors actually run into, with step-by-step instructions, communication tips, and real examples from the existing program as case studies. We proposed both print and digital versions, so the guide works on a tablet, computer, or phone, and can be updated as new situations come up.
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We also planned usability testing for the manuals. Participants would read them and complete real tasks, like finding specific information or working through a scenario, while we observed where they got stuck and asked questions about the content and structure. The goal was to make sure the manuals worked in a real shift, not just on paper.​
Digital guide on Phone and Laptop
Scenario-based training follows a new volunteer through real situations we observed during shadowing.
4. Patient Experience
"Help veterans arrive, and take the strain off aging volunteers"
Electric Wheelchair Support:
One idea was about wheelchair support. Many ambassadors are elderly, and on busy days pushing wheelchairs across a large hospital is a heavy physical burden. But during our research we noticed something else about those wheelchair trips. Older patients are eager to talk, and the ambassadors like talking with them. When an ambassador is out of breath from pushing, that conversation disappears. So the wheelchair moment is not only a physical need, it is also a communication point.
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We proposed an electric attachment for the existing wheelchairs, with a controller that turns to the back so the ambassador can steer and navigate without pushing. We designed it with removable parts, a stand platform, a folding backseat, and a light chair, so it can adapt to different patient needs. The idea came from a teammate who had seen a similar system used in China, and we gathered first-hand accounts from staff and travelers at Istanbul airport who had used powered wheelchair assistance there. We also priced the components, roughly $21 to $225 each at wholesale, and proposed financing through import, donations, or the VA budget. We did not test it at the VA itself, so we treated it as an early concept backed by how the approach works in other high-traffic settings.​
VA Parking Experience and connectivity:
The other idea was about arrival. Veterans and caregivers told us they struggled to get from the parking lots to the main entrance, and there are not enough ambassadors to cover every parking area and entrance at once. One scene from our research captured the problem well. A caregiver arrives on a busy day and parks far from the entrance. The patient needs a wheelchair, but the driver cannot leave them alone in the car to go find one. The clock is running, they are getting late for the appointment, and there is no way to reach an ambassador from the parking lot.
Our answer was a QR code that connects patients directly to the RCA desk. The code sits at key points inside and outside the building and also inside the appointment reminder message, so someone can call for help without leaving their car. The RCA desk picks up, connects ambassador via walkie, and sends them with a wheelchair to the parking lot, and the visit starts calm instead of stressed. We presented this alongside a second option, a physical connect line running through the parking area, inspired by the stop-request cord on MBTA buses, for patients who are less comfortable with phones. We framed it as an either-or choice depending on what would be most accessible for patients and most practical for each site.
Around the QR code, we designed a fuller information loop. Before the visit, patients receive appointment updates with short videos about the facility and a welcoming photo of a Red Coat Ambassador, so that they arrive already knowing what support is available. After the visit, a short survey collects feedback so the program can keep improving. The whole system needs no new wiring or infrastructure, only the technical work of linking the QR code to the RCA desk, which made it the cheapest and fastest idea to put in place. Our research showed patients felt anxious and confused about navigating VA facilities, and the goal of this idea was simple: make help feel one call away.
Service Blueprint
Before finalizing, we evaluated each idea against the criteria our team set with the VA in mind: sustainable, accessible and inclusive, viable, maximizes patient impact, replicable, and easy to implement
OUTCOME
At the end of the project, our team presented our recommendations to VA stakeholders, covering recruitment, training, and patient experience.
I later heard from our faculty and a contact at the VA that one of our patient experience ideas, the parking and arrival assistance intervention, was piloted at the VA West Roxbury site. I don't have formal documentation of the pilot, but it was good to know the work carried on past our presentation.
Research across Boston,
Bedford, and Brockton
3 VA Sites
Recruitment, social outreach, training, and patient experience
4 areas
The parking and arrival intervention, later piloted at West Roxbury
1 idea piloted
MY LEARNINGS
This project was a learning journey. Stepping into the researcher's role in our agency-style studio and leading a synthesis workshop taught me the most: turning a wall of notes into a few opportunity areas the team could agree on meant letting go of interesting details that didn't connect to a real pattern, and keeping only what the evidence supported.
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Three practical lessons stayed with me. First, observed behavior beats stated opinion. Watching ambassadors exhaust themselves pushing wheelchairs taught us more than any interview, and it produced our most original idea. Second, when you can't test directly, you can still find honest evidence. We couldn't trial the wheelchair concept at the VA, so we gathered first-hand accounts from people who had used similar systems at Istanbul airport and in China, and we were clear about what that evidence was and wasn't. Third, you don't always need to invent new technology to solve a hard problem. Sometimes placing the right thing in the right place at the right time is the whole solution.
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If I did this again, I would design alongside the ambassadors, not just interview them. The people closest to the work have the best ideas.
With thanks to the VA Boston, Bedford, and Brockton teams, the Red Coat Ambassadors, the veterans and caregivers who spoke with us, and our MassArt faculty and teammates.
Homi
Designing The First Step