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Borne the Battle
Episode # 281
Nick Beelner -National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic
https://share.transistor.fm/s/03802ec4
[00:00:00] Music
[00:00:12] Opening Monologue:
Pablo Meza: Welcome to another episode of Borne the Battle, the podcast that
brings you the latest information on benefits and resources for Veterans. I'm your host, Pablo Meza, and on this Monday, April 17th, 2023, we're speaking with the director of the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic, a world-renowned program that provides adaptive sports and rehabilitation activities for disabled Veterans. So, let's dive right in and learn more about the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic and the impact it's having on the lives of disabled Veterans. But before we get started, I want to remind our listeners that this podcast is brought to you by the Department of Veterans Affairs and their commitment to providing Veterans with the resources and benefits they deserve. Now, without further ado, let's welcome the director of the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic to the show.
[00:00:56] Interview:
(PM): Okay, so welcome to the show Nick we're very happy to have him on Borne the Battle, he is the director for the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic. Before I go too much into the weeds Nick, I'm going to give you an opportunity to go ahead and just give us a rundown of who you are, how long you've been at the VA, how long you've been at the clinic.
Nick Beelner: Alright, well thank you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be on the podcast and as you said, yes, I am Nick Beelner, the director of the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic. I've been in this role since June of 2020. Prior to that, I worked for the Iowa City VA Healthcare System for right about 17 years before I took this job. So, I've been in the VA for quite a long time in a multitude of different roles, but very glad to have the opportunity to be the director of this fantastic golf clinic.
(PM): Yeah. I was actually interviewing Jason, who was working on the winter clinic the other day. And he had mentioned that you would be a great person to interview just because you had a lot of really important information regarding the golf clinic. So, here you are and I want to thank you again for coming on the show.
(NB): Thank you for having me.
(PM): For Veterans that are not familiar with the National Disabled
Veterans Golf Clinic, and I'll just from here, if you don't mind, we'll just say the clinic, the golf clinic, just so we don't have to say the whole thing. But can you tell us a little bit about the history? And how it came to be a world leader in rehabilitation for disabled Veterans?
(NB): Yeah. So it's very, appropriate that you were talking with Jason
about the Winter Sports Clinic because the origin of the golf clinic actually comes from the Winter Sports Clinic. So, it was 30 years ago that there was a Veteran from Iowa who was accepted to attend the Winter Sports Clinic out in Colorado. And the Veteran, totally blind, goes out to Colorado and is skiing down the Rocky Mountains and when he returned he was, one - blown away by the experience at the Winter Sports Clinic, the thought of being totally blind skiing down the rocky Mountains with trained ski instructors and all the adaptive equipment they could need. That obviously ignited something in him to the point that he came back and said, if I can do that, if I'm blind Veteran, who can ski down the Rocky Mountains, why can't we do a program for Veterans right here in Iowa? And so that Veteran actually started this program 30 years ago based on his experience at the Winter Sports Clinic. So, then the golf clinic, which was a different name back then, that program started with a handful of Veterans, blinded Veterans, and became associated with the Iowa City VA Healthcare System. Where then it grew in popularity, grew in size, and more and more Veterans started to accept other profound disabilities within the program. So beyond visual impairments, they serve Veterans with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, limb loss, Parkinson's and MS. There's a handful of other profound injuries that we serve, but those are the primary disabilities or the populations of Veterans that we aim to serve at the golf clinic. So that's the origin of how the program came to be.
(PM): That's awesome because you could tell that it really impacted that person. So, he felt like it was something that should be given to more Veterans.
(NB): Yeah, that's what I mean. The hearing about these things, right?
Hearing that there's a program put on by the VA and I've got to give a shout out to our program partner, DAV (Disabled American Veterans). These programs are put on for Veterans. It sounds really incredible, right? But when you go to them, that's where you see a Veteran who probably has a million excuses not to try something. When you think about - golf is challenging with your sight, so, when you take that away, to find, or to witness that and see that light bulb come on and be a part of that for that Veteran. Realizing, hey, I can do this, that's what gets you excited. It's a fantastic job.
(PM): So, you told us a little bit about the origin, but can you tell us maybe how the clinic has evolved over the years to meet the changing needs of disabled Veterans? I know you mentioned initially it was for visually impaired Veterans and then it, kind of grew out, but how has it evolved?
(NB): Yeah. So, with regards to the visually impaired Veteran population, what really is important is understanding how challenging it is to instruct or teach someone the game of golf, who doesn't have their sight. So I think there was a lot of evolution within the program, in the golf instruction aspects of it to ensure we were meeting those visually impaired Veterans where they are. A podcast is a great platform for me to demonstrate that. Whereas if I were to say to you, Pablo, I'm going to show you how to golf really quick. I need you to hold your hands about like this. I want your right arm to be about this angle. That doesn't mean anything to you because you can't see me. So, you realize how you really have to be very descriptive with your golf instruction and the language you use and in a lot of times you have to kind of help that Veteran find the right position by helping them set up the ball, address the ball properly and feel what that's like. Because you can't just say, �do what I'm doing� - that doesn't mean anything when you don't have your sight, so evolution of that golf instruction is, one aspect, especially for the visually impaired. With regard to the other populations we serve - spinal cord injury, that brings with it more significant adaptive equipment inventory where you have Veterans who need - we have varying versions of adaptive golf carts that we offer depending on the significance of the spinal cord injury or the ability of the Veteran. To make sure you have those golf carts, because those for one are not cheap and they're not readily available everywhere. So, we try to be able to make the game of golf accessible for whichever Veteran comes to our program and with spinal cord injuries or Veterans with significant physical limitations, those adaptive golf carts and having the requisite fleet of those golf carts, has certainly been a challenge and an opportunity for us to build that inventory to serve more Veterans.
(PM): That's interesting because the first thing that came to mind is just how many Veterans go to the clinic and then if you guys need this amount of carts, do you guys reserve them in advance? Do you guys purchase them?
(NB): Yeah, that's a great question and it, really, this year we're wanting 200 Veterans to be at the clinic. Prior to 2020, the numbers were up in the 240, 250 range and the last year we had a smaller clinic. This year we're hoping to have 200 Veterans, and you asked a great question that we're in the midst of identifying the answer to that right now. Because right now the application period is open for Veterans, volunteers, clinic staff to come support, and depending on the number of Veterans who apply, who have a spinal cord injury or otherwise have a condition that requires one of those adaptive carts - that then determines how many do we need? And so we really learn that through the end of this month, into May, when our application period closes. But, depending on the number, we have probably one of the largest adaptive golf cart fleets in the country, just given the fact that we have access to about 20 of those. For one Program to have that number is very rare but we do have organizations we partner with if we had a need for more than that, that we could rent or borrow. We learn that right now, this application period is exciting for the Veterans, it's exciting for us, but we also learn, what are we going to need to serve this year's group of Veterans? We do still primarily serve the visually impaired. They make up about two thirds of the Veterans who apply and come to the program. But we are expanding in those other areas that I had mentioned.
(PM): So, because you're talking about right now that it's an open period, can you give us kind of a walkthrough of the process of how a disabled Veteran can participate in the golf clinic? And what is the eligibility criteria? And what kind of resources are available for the Veterans to prepare for the event?
(NB): The first place, and almost always the best place, to get your information for the golf clinic, is going to be directly from me. And that's going to be - we have our website; it's www.VeteransGolfClinic.org [Link: www.veteransgolfclinic.org] that gives you information on the applications, the qualifying disabilities, the dates, all the general information. That's a great place to get your first round of information in the applications. I'd also highly encourage any Veteran to touch base with their local VA, wherever they're coming from. We bring Veterans from all over the country, so wherever you're at, reach out to your VA, talk with your Recreation Therapy Department. Talk with your primary care provider to find out more about their rehab departments, because we work with those departments all year round to get our information out and to work with them, to recruit new Veterans. So, if you don't go to our website, go talk to your local VA and ask them about the national rehab events because there are other ones. I'm obviously biased towards the golf clinic, but there are other ones offered at different times of the year. So, that's a great resource for Veterans. And once, you get a hold of the application, there's a handful of forms. We have a physical exam that we require. You submit that and then we make our acceptance determinations in May. So that's next month, but from there then that kind of connects them to us where we then communicate with them on what they need to do and how they can be a part of it.
(PM): All right on. You guys are going to be busy this month.
(NB): That's true. It's certainly true the second the event is over, like this happened last year in September - as soon as it gets done, you start the next year because you learned everything that happened and you start your after-action reports, you start all your reviews of what worked, what didn't, and start to make changes. Last year was smaller. This year we're wanting 200 Veterans. Well, that means we need more golf courses, and we need more transportation, and all those things take a lot of lead time to set up just because those processes take time, especially within the VA. Those things take time to make sure you have all your t�s crossed and your i�s dotted.
(PM): Right on. Hey, let me, ask you this, do you have to have, as a Veteran that's going to the golf clinic, do you have to have any experience with golf?
(NB): Shame on me for not addressing this sooner and that is an excellent question, Pablo, because you do not need any experience to - you may have never picked up a golf club in your life and our job, my mission, is to make the game of golf accessible to any Veteran regardless of their disability and regardless of their golf skill. So, we do see a majority of Veterans who are not advanced golfers. I would say, to give rough estimates, it's probably close to 50% who are in that novice skill level and then another 25%, maybe 30%, who are in that intermediate skill level, with the remainder being more advanced golfers. But the majority is not advanced, so that�s our job. Really, my challenge is to present such an invigorating golf experience that they go home and they want to golf and they tell their friends about it, and they get them off the couch, out of the house, doing some sort of physical activity, doing something invigorating. No, to answer your question, no, you do not need any golf experience to come to the golf clinic.
(PM): And you just mentioned getting up off the couch and I've only been golfing once, but when I went golfing it was with, actually a couple of my buddies who were in the Air Force with me and we just had a good time. Golfing is one of those sports that is mentally and physically challenging. But with saying that, can you kind of let us know from your point of view how you've seen adaptive sports activities benefit the disabled Veteran both physically and mentally?
(NB): Yeah. What I think is always a privilege to witness, is seeing that light bulb come on for that Veteran who, like I said, had a lot of reasons to not give this a try � golf. You're smarter than me, Pablo, you've golfed once. I've been golfing for the last Jesus, 30, 34 years of my life. So, a vast majority of my life I've golfed, and it can be a really frustrating sport, but to have these Veterans come out and try something that's challenging and given their situation, even more challenging, to have them find success - because no one perfects golf, right? Like in the one time you went out and golfed - I don't know maybe you made a 12-foot putt or maybe a hit a chip real close to the pin and that brings you back. That brings you, or I hope that brings you back to find that success. So, we get to witness these Veterans have those successes regardless of their skill level. Maybe they're skilled and it's hitting a bomb right down the center of the driveway on most of the holes and parring a couple holes or even birdie in a hole or two, that's success for them. But everybody gets to have their taste of success and then, that's contagious, that joy they get from that. And then really the networking that the Veterans do while they're at the clinic - that also is critical and in a lot of ways, even more important than what they're even there to do, is the people they meet. To say, if you're a first-time attendee and you come thinking �I'm totally blind I can't do this�, you're going to run into Veterans who are there who have been there for years saying, �That's how I felt too when I first came, but I've been coming for however many years and I've lowered my scores and dropped this many strokes, I've golfed this much more, I do this.� So, it's inspirational, right? For the Veterans just to see and be around these other success stories of making it through the clinic and they get to witness that. So, mentally, you're creating this support system, you're creating this group of people who just like you at one point thought maybe they couldn't do this and now you're beyond empowered because you�re doing it and you have someone else tell telling you, �I did it too.� That part is, I mean, moving is an understatement. Just to be a part of that, it truly is a privilege.
(PM): Yeah. Well said. Just thinking back on my upbringing when I was young and I was playing sports - some of these lessons that I was taught. I used to play soccer throughout my life, but I can still remember some of the teachings from my old coaches, and they've not only stayed with me in my sports life, but they've stayed with me for everyday life stuff that I was able to just incorporate into being a father, being a military Veteran - just every, part of my life. So, all right, let�s continue. Let's talk about the instructors. Can you talk about the activities that the instructors use and what kind of one-on-one approach do they have with the Veterans that you've seen in the Veterans rehabilitation journey?
(NB): Yeah, so we are very fortunate. We have a ton of support, from the Iowa section of the PGA. We have PGA and LPGA instructors who support our instruction program and so these instructors have been supportive for years and have really honed their skills and their understanding of how important this individualized approach is. So, you have PGA and LPGA instructors who have one-on-one instruction with the Veterans throughout the week, we like to front load that. So, that way we give them the best chance to succeed at golf and, like I said, light that flame or that passion for golf that they'll carry with them when they go home. But these instructors have very individualized approaches, and they customize their instruction from Veteran to Veteran. Visual impairments come in a variety of conditions - there's a variety of visual impairments that we serve, and so, some Veterans may have total blindness or may have no light perception or may have just peripheral vision or just tunnel vision. What we've seen is incredibly successful with these instructors is customizing club heads, where they'll have club heads where they can put a different color on the top of the club head with a different colored stripe down the center of the club head for that Veteran that has some vision - even though they have a visual impairment, they have some vision. They can then independently line that club head up with a golf ball, where we buy reflective golf balls, fluorescent golf balls, a golf ball - like a reflective golf ball for your eye, Pablo. If the sun hits that right, that is going to be difficult to look at. It's so reflective and so shiny. But for a Veteran with a visual impairment, now you've got this customized club head that you can set up behind what is effectively a miniature disco ball and line that shot up independently. Because again, as much independence as we can give these Veterans is what we want to do. And so, these instructors know this, they know the techniques for verbally describing what they're going to do, whereas I could just show you. Some Veterans you might say you need to interlock your left index finger with your right pinky finger as you grip the club. So they use very descriptive language that with or without sight, you can follow along with the instruction. Beyond the customization I just described, we also have a prosthetics team to work with our Veterans with limb loss and their fittings to ensure - we've had a quad amputee out there who has golfed. They've been fitted, had their prosthesis customized to have a club on, to be able to grip a golf club. And they're out there golfing and we really, I mean knock on wood, have not run into a situation where we could not adapt and customize our instruction and our program to have that Veteran golfing and being able to see some success in their golf game.
(PM): Wow. It really helps Veterans challenge what they believe is perceived limitations, but you guys are doing a lot to kind of just crush that and get them to enjoy the game of golf. I'm just curious - have some of these Veterans gone on to maybe, when they go back home to maybe start up a golf kind of group for Veterans that maybe, that weren't able to go to the golf clinic? And do you guys support Veterans that are doing that when they get back home or - is that even a possibility?
(NB): So we, have seen that Pablo, we have seen Veterans who come, especially Veterans who've never golfed, limited golf experience and their experience at the golf clinic is so, again, I use the word invigorating. It's the right word - I feel their experience was so invigorating that they then go back and start,a local tournament at their community course or local program. When you ask about do we support that? We certainly love to see that happen. We love to know that's happening. We also do support those Veterans in those communities to, again, work through their VA. A lot of VAs across the country do adaptive recreational activities and recreational programming throughout the year, and so connecting them with their recreation therapists at their local VA or their physical therapist or whomever it may be. We work with a lot of visually impaired service technicians. They're called VIST coordinators. We work with them at a lot of sites, just given the significant proportion of visually impaired Veterans, but definitely want them connected back to the golf programming in their community. Because while I talk about this very individualized approach and all this customization, we are fortunate in the sense that we are a national program that has the experience and the support to do that. But back home, we do work with Veterans and their VAs to try to help them acquire adaptive equipment when they return home. There are Veterans, who have gotten adaptive golf carts through their local VA. There's a process to do that, but we, absolutely support that throughout the year. I mean, that's a huge win for us to know that we started something that they just have to do when they get back home. When you talk about rehabilitation and their rehabilitative journey, we want them to start with us or hone their skills with us and go back with this new passion that they just can't get enough golf. That they have to do it when they get back home.
(PM): Yeah. That's, wow, that's good to hear. Veterans are going to be coming from all over the country. When they get back, if they want to do that, they should definitely reach out to their VA clinics and hospitals. Before I go to the next question, I do want to say all of this is possible only if Veterans join the VA Healthcare System. So please do that, right? You need to be enrolled, so that's important. So, if you're not enrolled, please do that, that's how you're going to have access to, some of these great resources that we have, including the golf clinic. But I just wanted to throw it out there just in case anybody's listening who is not enrolled currently, in the VA Healthcare System you're talking about - you guys partner with DAV, but how is the clinic funded? And how can individuals or corporations support this important cause?
(NB): Yeah, so DAV our program partner, fantastic. Can't say enough about them, fierce advocates for the Veterans we serve, actively supporting throughout the year. Fantastic, I can't say enough about DAV. Beyond DAV, we do have sponsors who support the program at varying levels and the best way, again, for those sponsors to find out how they can get involved is reaching out. Go through our website VeteransGolfClinic.org [Link: www.veteransgolfclinic.org] and you can get all sorts of information on the program, sponsoring, how to be a part of it. Reach out directly to me. I do have sponsors reach out directly to me. That's the best way because then we can start to - like what I'm doing here today, describe the program to them and how their contributions would impact and enhance the program. Without DAV, without our sponsors, without them, we would look a lot different. So, it does take a lot of support to pull off the golf clinic every year.
(PM): Okay. Going back to the conversation I had with Jason, he mentioned there was a lot of volunteer opportunities, not just within the VA employees, but just overall. Can you kind of talk about if there are any VA opportunities or volunteer opportunities for the clinic?
(NB): Yes. So, definitely it takes a lot of volunteers for the golf clinic. The reason being is with the large contingent of visually impaired Veterans we serve, we have a one-to-one volunteer to Veteran ratio. What we call those volunteers is Golf Buddies and they function as a caddy for the Veteran. So, for visually impaired Veterans they help them navigate the terrain, they help them find their way about the course and the different hazards. For some reason, people put sand traps, ponds, lakes, and creeks out on the golf course and trees in places you don't want them. But Golf Buddy is the most needed role that we have and ideally, people who serve as Golf Buddies are, just golfers, people who are familiar with the game of golf familiar to help those novice skilled Veterans understand a little bit more about the game of golf. Because a lot of those Veterans, like I said, they know very little to nothing about golf. So, if you're a golfer who wants to support Veterans with disabilities, we're a great program and again, best way to find out more about that is at our website. There's a page, a volunteer page, that goes through the different roles and how to apply. They'll find out they end up talking to me a lot cause I'm the one who gets all the applications. So, we definitely need volunteers and just to say, it is beyond rewarding, the experience that the volunteers have. They end up being paired with a Veteran throughout the clinic, so they're out there golfing with them every day. We do offer alternative activities. I can get into that a bit later, but we do have golfing four days in a row. And the relationship, the rapport, that those volunteers and those Veterans develop is fantastic and we hear every year, we'll get Veterans who apply again and volunteers who apply again. Who say, please pair me with Veteran Mary or Veteran John and please pair me with volunteer Joe or volunteer Jane, because they develop that relationship and they want to stay connected. They want to get together with those people again and they learn something. Like once you go for a round of golf with a Veteran, you learn something - this person, they hit their seven irons this far or they like this wedge around the green or they like this. And that's important, it kind of, again, enhances that golf experience for the Veteran. And that's what it's all about for us.
(PM): Before, in our pre-conversation, before the interview, you were talking a little bit about the women's basketball, the Iowa Women's Basketball Team. So this is going to be a good time for you to talk about Iowa because my next question is can you talk about the logistics of the clinic and like where the Veterans stay at and how are the activities organized?
(NB): So, yeah, the logistics for this program are pretty significant, right? We're bringing in Veterans with profound disabilities from all over the country and, really that involves a lot of transportation and a lot of coordination with - there's an airport about 30 minutes north of where the program is hosted, the host hotel, which is in Riverside, Iowa. And the Riverside Hotel and Golf Resort is a beautiful location. It's the Iowa PGA section, it is actually housed down there at the Riverside Golf Course. But we bring Veterans in, all Veterans are lodged in the same hotel, and then we have our overflow hotels where some of our clinic staff and volunteers and sponsors are lodged. Then in the Iowa City area, we use anywhere from four to six different golf courses to support the number of Veterans we bring in. I mean, we have golf clubs for Veterans - when we talk about people who come who've never golfed before, we do have full sets of golf clubs that we offer to people who need them. Some people prefer to bring their own clubs, but the coordination of getting all those clubs, all the carts, all the people in all the right places - it's significant. We have a fully staffed logistics team. We have a fully staffed transportation team that operates in the days leading up to the event and then it's all systems go during the clinic to make sure everything is where it needs to be. We have, I'm trying to think - we have a lot of alternative activities we offer beyond golf. So, each day of the clinic - there's arrival day and registration day, and then we have four straight golf days and those in the morning to early afternoon, the Veterans are all getting golf instruction, golfing, and in the afternoons that's where we introduce a lot of our alternative activities. Those include adaptive cycling, kayaking, rock wall climbing, disc golf, bowling, and air rifle. We have wellness activities that include water aerobics, tai chi, and chair yoga. Really trying to introduce as many things and as many activities to encourage that physical activity, which is, as we talked, beneficial physically, emotionally, and mentally. Putting all that on during the week - there's different venues that we have to get for those. There's different support staff we have to get to lead those sessions. It's major, the amount of moving pieces and moving parts that go into this because you're working with Veterans with significant disabilities, with profound disabilities, so there's a lot that goes into making sure your shuttles are in the right place, you have the right type of accessibility. I mean, it�s a lot but it honestly is the greatest mission of any organization on the planet is the VA's mission - to serve those who have served, to paraphrase it or shorten it, so it's a great privilege to do it but there's a lot of work that goes into it.
(PM): So, you were talking a little bit about just the mission. So, I kind of want to go to this question - what's the most rewarding part for you as a part of as a person who works at the clinic and what keeps you motivated? You briefly touched on it, but I just want to go ahead and give you the opportunity to just kind of really dive deep into that answer.
(NB): Yeah. So, I mean, what I was so taken aback by last year, at last year's clinic, is the appreciation of Veterans for what we do. For me, it's such an honor to do it, right? So, to have someone who really - I mean, we, get Veterans from in their thirties to in their upper nineties. You had World War II Veterans out here last year and to have them be appreciative of what you do is, it stops you in your tracks. To be quite frank, it gets to me every time, how appreciative they are, and how I feel like it's the absolute least I can do. Right? It's the absolute least I can do. There's never going to be something I can do that repays Veterans for what they've done for me. So, I think it's, seeing those Veterans come here with some hesitation at first too, especially about what did I get myself into? How am I going to golf? How am I going to this? And, seeing them open up and seeing them widen up and just being to be in their presence while they go through this clinic is, it's very beyond rewarding. It, like I say, is a lot of work to do this. It's a lot of moving pieces, it's a lot of organization and it's all year that you're figuring this out. But you get to that clinic and you get to be with those Veterans and recharges your batteries, it refills your cup. It does everything. It charges you to get through the next round of all the pain and preparation just to get to be with them again. Because there's a lot of stories I could tell you and they all are that feeling of just, it's the least I can do for them and they're so appreciative that it's just, it's a privilege to do this. It's a privilege.
(PM): As a Veteran, I'm thankful for people like you with that kind of emotion. And as a member of the VA staff and employees, I'm very happy to be able to provide my services to the Veteran community because I agree with you a hundred percent. It's the least that I can do as well for my, community. My next question was what advice would you give disabled Veterans who are hesitant? But I feel like you just answered that right now, you were talking about just the feeling. I think you've answered it throughout most of the questions - networking, just overcoming some barriers, just seeing overall the emotions, and feeling empowered. I think you covered that question. So, I don't have any more questions, but I'll just go ahead and let you talk about the future of the program and go ahead and just say anything else you want to say before we close the show.
(NB): Yeah. Thank you again, Pablo, for having me on the show. I really do appreciate this opportunity and my last pitch to any Veterans or volunteers or sponsors who want get involved, we're going to be in Iowa, Sunday, September 10th through Friday September 15th. Our application period is closing the beginning of May. So the time is now, if you want to come, to go to our website, get the application, all my contact information is on there to reach out to me with any questions, to apply and come this year. And if for any reason this year there's a conflict in your schedule, you can't do it, remember we're the second week of September, in Iowa, every year. So, I always encourage you to connect with, either myself if you're volunteer or a sponsor, or connect with your local VA if you're a Veteran to find out more about this in January because that's when we open our application period every year. So, January 2024, be looking for this information, be checking our website because that's how you can get your applications in and come be a part of this. Because I just urge anyone who's hesitant to come, to come try us, because I think you'll be surprised and I think we'll make a golfer out of you, one way or the other. So, I really encourage you to ask questions. Never hesitate to reach out to me any time of the year. I'm always available. And again, if this year isn't a year, I can add you to our email distribution list or phone list to reach out to you for the next year's program.
(PM): Nick, thank you so much for being on the show. Thank you for taking the time today. The golf clinic sounds like an amazing resource for our Veteran community. We will have a blog alongside this episode with all the information Nick gave. So, it's going to be readily available. That�s all I have, Nick. Thank you so much for being part of the show.
(NB): Thank you so much for having me.
[00:40:47] End Monologue:
(PM): Before we sign off, I want to remind our listeners about the importance of enrolling in the VA Healthcare System. If you're a Veteran and haven't enrolled yet, please visit va.gov/health-care/how-to-apply [Link: www.va.gov/health-care/how-to-apply] to learn more about the benefits available to you and how to apply. Enrolling in the VA Healthcare System is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure you receive the benefits and resources you deserve. Thank you for tuning in to Borne the Battle, and we'll see you next time.
[00:41:21] Music