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Borne the Battle recognizes each battle, challenge, and sacrifice our Veterans endure during and after their service, as well as spotlighting important resources, offices, and benefits VA offers our Veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs does not endorse or officially sanction any entities that may be discussed in this podcast, nor any media, products or services they may provide.
Borne the Battle
Episode # 282
Jason Strickland The National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic
https://share.transistor.fm/s/06cf8a3f
(Text Transcript Follows)
[00:00:00] Music
[00:00:11] Opening Monologue:
Pablo Meza: We are pleased to present Borne the Battle, a podcast brought to
you by the Department of Veterans Affairs. I'm your host, Air Force Veteran, Pablo Meza. It's Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023, and we're excited to present an episode about the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. So, this episode was originally recorded a few weeks ago. But we decided to push it back so we could cover the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic, which was accepting applications at that time. But now we're back to explore the Winter Sports Clinic. It's an annual event that brings together disabled Veterans from all over the country and promotes active lifestyles, health, and rehabilitation for Veterans of all ages, including those who are wheelchair bound or disabled. Thanks to the support of organizations like DAV, Disabled American Veterans, and others, the Winters Sports Clinic has helped many disabled Veterans find hope and embrace new adventures. At the Winters Sports Clinic there are a lot of activities for all Vets, including skiing, snowboarding, and other adaptive sports. With that said, here's our episode on the National Disabled Veterans Winters Sports Clinic and the Veterans that participate in it. So, without further ado, let's get started.
[00:01:19] Music
[00:01:23] Interview:
Pablo Meza: Welcome to Borne the Battle. Jason, thanks for being on the show. We're very excited to have you on, but before we jump into the topic, can you just give us a quick rundown of your background and of the project that you're currently working on?
Jason Strickland: Great. Thanks for having me on, Pablo. I moonlight once a year at this time as the communications director for the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, which is why I'm in Snowmass, Colorado this week. Full-time, I am the Chief Communications Officer for the VA Rocky Mountain Network, which is the all the healthcare VA provides in the five-state region of Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Oklahoma. I'm a 20-year US Army Veteran, served as an intelligence officer, had the opportunity to deploy lots of locations and stateside as well and then joined the VA about six years ago and have been just enjoying what I'm doing ever since. And so, this week we're here at the Winter Sports Clinic, which is where we bring about 300 to 400 Veterans, disabled Veterans from across the country to this event, which is co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as DAV - Disabled American Veterans.
(PM): Awesome. Thank you. Very impressive. And thank you for your service. I guess the first question that I want to ask is, can you walk us through the process of how a disabled Veteran can participate in the National Veterans Winter Sports Clinic? And if there's any eligibility criteria and what kind of support or resources are available to help Veterans prepare for the event?
(JL): Yeah, so this event is for our profoundly disabled Veterans from across the country. So first and foremost, any disabled Veteran - hence the name of the clinic, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic is - you have to have a disability of some sort, but before we get to that the Veteran needs to be enrolled in VA healthcare. The first eligibility criteria is you're receiving your healthcare through the VA, you're participating in the healthcare that's offered there and the recreational therapy program at that particular VA Medical Center or VAMC across the country. So, for this week, we have Veterans from 42 different states representing about 80 different VA Medical Centers or outlying clinics across the country. What they do is - you need to work with your recreational therapist, the program that they have offered at those VAMCs, so that they can identify if the Winter Sports Clinic or any of the other adaptive sports programs or national programs across the country are appropriate for you. And we're here as a national level program � kind of a big deal, a big event, actually the world leader in a winter adaptive sports event. But there are also recreational therapy opportunities available at your local facilities in different capacities. So, for participating here each year, you go through those kinds of procedures to make sure that this is the right type of rehabilitation for your particular situation. And when I talk about disabilities, we're looking at those with profound disabilities - vision impairment, spinal cord injuries, amputations, traumatic brain injuries. All those sorts of things are what describe the people, the participants, that are here this week and how they're using this program as a part of their continuum of care and recovery.
(PM): When you're talking about this, the first question that came to mind was do these Veterans need to have any kind of background in some of these sports or is this something that they're going to be learning or developing while they're there?
(JL): As a part of a therapy program, a therapeutic program, no, they don't. And in fact, this could be the beginning or this could be the pinnacle of part of their recovery. Yesterday, I was talking with Lauren Arduser, US Air Force active duty � actually, we only have a couple of those here, but also a Veteran who receives her healthcare at the St. Louis VA Medical Center. She's never skied before in her life. She has a spinal cord injury. This is her first time skiing and I was with her yesterday going down the mountain. No experience whatsoever, but she's got the attitude of a gold medal Olympic winner, so this was a great opportunity for her. On the flip side, I also rode up the chair lift with Tony Drees, who had his leg amputated, and now he's an actual ski instructor. So, you�ve got two ends of the continuum here. Tony has had 75 surgeries on his body for his amputation, yet he's out here this week now - he's skiing black diamonds which are the most difficult ski runs that are out there, while Lauren, our 22-year-old Air Force Veteran is just going down a green circle, the beginner slopes, for the first time. So, no abilities needed, we cover it all. We have outstanding ski instructors that can take you from being a novice to an expert in whatever way, you're going to be heading down the mountain as just one part of the clinic.
(PM): Can you just dive into the history of the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic and how it started at the VA?
(JL): Yeah. Back in the early eighties the clinic founder and former director, Sandy Trombetta, a rec therapist from the Grand Junction VA Medical Center - Grand Junction is on the western side of the state of Colorado, he took some of the Veterans there getting rec therapy to a nearby ski resort and that provided physical and mental healing in a winter recreation environment. In 1987, wanting to expand the recreational opportunities for disabled service members, the VA joined Trombetta in creating what we now know as the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. The event kicked off with about 90 Veterans who were eager to learn how to ski with adaptive ski equipment and he had about 20 staff members who helped them participate in a variety of adaptive activities and workshops. So, while we're here at a ski resort, Aspen Snowmass here in Colorado, downhill or Alpine skiing is the focus but we offer a slew of other activities. We offer Nordic skiing - which is cross country, sled hockey, fly fishing. We have a rock-climbing wall out here, so there are lots of recreational therapy types of things. With the history of the clinic, the program's popularity grew and in 1991, Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, joined us as a co-sponsor of the event and they've been an outstanding partner ever since. And now, this year, we're in our 37th year conducting the clinic, and it has just been outstanding - the results that we've had for the Veterans who are a part of this, and it takes a whole group of people. We have about 300 Veterans out here. We have about 500 volunteers and about 200 sponsors who work all together to make this just a tremendous one-week event every year in the spring.
(PM): Wow. That is amazing. Can you talk about the logistics of the clinic and maybe how Veterans are selected to participate, where they stay during the event and how the activities are organized?
(JL): Yeah, so the logistics of the event - as soon as we finish here on Friday, we'll take about a month off from planning and then come May we'll begin planning for next year. So, it takes a long time to plan because there's a lot that goes on. We work with, as I said our co-presenter, DAV - they hone in on the financial aspect of bringing in sponsors who care about what we're doing, who care about the mission, who care about serving our Veteran community, especially our disabled Veteran community. They handle much of that aspect of things. From the VA side, we have a series of committees who are involved in planning and getting it ready. We have an orthopedic and prosthetics group that focuses on do we have the right equipment for the number of Veterans, for their types of disabilities that they have. We have a medical team. We set up the largest sick call outside of a DOD facility around and set that up in a hotel room. We have a lodging group that is responsible for making sure that we have enough lodging. As I said, I just named off all those numbers. There are about a thousand to 1200 people who descend upon the resort of Aspen while ski season is still going on, so lots of coordination is going on there. And then to accommodate many of our participants who are in wheelchairs, you don�t necessarily associate a bunch of wheelchairs at a ski resort, but we worked to make sure those accommodations are there, that they have mobility and access anywhere that they need to go. We have a food and beverage committee, and they help plan those kinds of things, so all those things are involved. And then, the things like having United Airlines as one of our premier sponsors and the accommodations that they provide - because as I said prior, we're coming from 42 different states to get here. Many of them are flying here and having a bunch of wheelchairs on an airplane, they have to take seats out. They make adjustments. We have all kinds of people, but United Airlines is able to help out, make those arrangements, offer a lot of in-kind support through reduced fares or free to get the people here. So, lots of planning goes on to make this a successful event here every year.
(PM): Awesome. And did you mention how the Veterans are selected? Is there a -
(JL): Yeah. As I said before when we were talking about the eligibility criteria, so you're receiving your healthcare and then working with recreational therapists - they help identify if this is appropriate. This is a clinic, it's not a competition. We're not trying to win anything here. This is a rehabilitation event. So, we look to work with Veterans who are trying to improve their care and become more independent and have full, as normal lives as possible, despite their disability. So, in talking with their recreational therapists, it's a two-way conversation. I heard a gentleman the other day from the Sacramento, California area who told me about how he heard about this clinic from a colleague of his at a different VA Medical Center and said, I'd like to try skiing. And this was 30 years ago, excuse me, 20 years ago. And so, he learned about it, talked to his rec therapist, and they determined that, yeah, this is an appropriate thing for you for your care, your healthcare. There are others where they've been a part of physical therapy at their local VA Medical Center, and they say, �Hey, you know what? We're ready to go next level on your physical therapy in your recovery. What would you think about going down a ski run even though you have a spinal cord injury? Do you think you'd be willing to try something like that?� And we will work with them to encourage them because it's an appropriate way for them to move to the next level and for them to have active, healthy lifestyles. So that's how they become eligible. It's a two-way conversation as a part of their clinical care.
(PM): Going back to the story about the person who started off and then eventually became an instructor. I feel like a lot of these Veterans that are going to the clinic really develop these skills. Is there any -can you share some examples of Veterans who have gone on to achieve greatness maybe as Paralympic athletes after participating in the clinic?
(JL): Yeah. While that's not the focus of what we're doing, we have had several Paralympic athletes participate � and not necessarily in winter sports. One that comes to mind is Orlando Perez. He receives his healthcare at our Salt Lake City VA Medical Center. He was actually a member of Puerto Rico's first Winter Paralympics team. And he's been able to receive his care there and represent Puerto Rico in the Paralympics. Another gentleman that comes to mind is Pat Ward. He's a US Navy Veteran. He was a USA World Rowing Indoor Champion. He's participating this year in his eighth Winter Sports Clinic. Another example - Terry, she goes by Scooter Terry �Scooter� Hayes. She started wheelchair fencing at the young age of 58 years old. And by 63 years old, she was competing in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic games for Team USA. So, these are the kinds of people that come here. Orlando is the one I mentioned who actually does alpine skiing or downhill skiing but these others are other examples of Paralympic athletes. The people that come here are contagious in their attitude, their perseverance, their tenacity, as they lead by example in some of the things that they're doing. So that's how we see some examples and they're inspiring to the other Veterans who are here and maybe a little bit timid the first time they come through.
(PM): Talk about inspiring. Can you share a heartwarming story of a Veteran that experienced kind of a miracle on the mountain side? Something that really touched your heart?
(JL): Yeah. Last year I met Ryan Garza. And Ryan was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. Ryan served in the US Marine Corps. If I recall, he did four tours in Helmand Province, Afghanistan and it was on that fourth tour that he suffered a life-changing wound. In 2011, Lance Corporal Garza's truck drove over an improvised explosive device, or an IED, severely injuring his right leg. And doctors, as Ryan told me, doctors tried for years - not months, years, to save Ryan's leg. However, he was the one who eventually made the decision to amputate it in 2015. Ryan was out here at the Winter Sports Clinic, and he shared with me how he went on to deal with thoughts of suicide, of depression, of hopelessness and he was spiraling downhill for a couple of years. He had alcohol addiction, anger issues, those sorts of things. And then to cap it all off, in 2016, he witnessed one of his fellow Marines take his own life. At that point, Ryan knew things had to change. So that Thanksgiving, he decided to give some food to the homeless just as a way of trying to change things and what that did was, that sparked a new hope where he decided to make a lifestyle adjustment. So, Ryan receives his healthcare in Colorado Springs, which is where I live, and he continues to push his mental and his athletic boundaries. As I said, Ryan joined us at the Winter Sports Clinic last year for the first time and while there, he had done a little bit of snowboarding as a part of his recreational therapy at his local facility, as I mentioned before, but now they brought him up to Snowmass where he was able to improve his snowboarding skills. He had the opportunity to gather with a couple of hundred other severely disabled Veterans, people that looked just like Ryan, and participated in all those different adaptive sports, to share in camaraderie to experience continued hope out here at an altitude of 8,000 feet above sea level. His story, is just miraculous. He shared how he gets on the snowboard and the feel and the sound of the snow grinding underneath the snowboard when he makes the turns and feels the wind rushing at his face - he said it's just awesome. He wasn't able to make it back this year, but he is planning to come back next year. It's those kinds of things that give him hope and serve as an example for the people that are around him. That's the kind of stuff that's happening here this week and all throughout the year.
(PM): Wow. That's a really great story. As you were talking about this -unfortunately, I've recently lost a fellow brother in arms to suicide. This is a good opportunity to talk about the Veterans Crisis Line. If you or any Veterans that you know need support, this is confidential 24/7, and all you have to do is dial 988, then press one. These are stories that are not few and far between. These are stories that affect all of us and we should definitely be looking out for each other. It just goes to show that the VA's doing a lot of stuff to make sure to bring rehabilitation as much as possible to all the Veterans. To move on, you mentioned a little while ago that this is the Winter Clinic, but that there are other clinics. Can you just briefly touch on that?
(JL): Yeah, so the Winter Sports Clinic is one of actually seven programs, but six national programs, that occur and are hosted by the Department of Veterans Affairs. I'll just kind of run down for you, a few of them. This is the first one of the year, every year, it occurs in March. We also have the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival where you become eligible by participating in some form of creative arts at your local facility, and then you can move on. That's more of an actual competition - whether it's songwriting or graphic design, painting, art crafts, anything like that. Another event is the National Veterans Golden Age Games. So those Veterans who are, I believe it's 50, it might be 55, around my age get to participate in games to push a healthy, whole health, active lifestyle for those who are a little older, a little more seasoned in life. There's the National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic, which occurs every summer in the San Diego, California area. Another great event where they're doing similar types of things and again, this one's called a clinic so it's very much focused on getting people out on a surfboard or doing summer sports types of activities. Very popular is the National Veterans Wheelchair Games and nearly every single participant is wheelchair bound and they take you through a series of activities. I had a chance to volunteer for that several years ago. Whether it's playing wheelchair basketball, sit volleyball, going through a wheelchair obstacle course, softball, it was amazing. I was an umpire for wheelchair softball, and these guys are super ultra competitive, let me just tell you. So that's another one. And then the last one, the last major event that kind of rounds out things is the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic where they help them. That occurs in Iowa City every year in the fall and September timeframe, helping them through golf and a few other associated activities for their rehabilitation. And then lastly, there's the Throw Down, which is more of a virtual event where you do various sporting activities and then they share them via video about what they're doing. All kinds of programs hosted by the VA, and we usually have a VSO or a Veterans Service Organization co-partner, co-presenter - whether it's Paralyzed Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior Project and so forth. Lots of different opportunities for these national level events.
.
(PM): Wow. That's very impressive. So, what advice would you give disabled Veterans who are hesitant to try adaptive sports?
(JL): I'm an able-bodied person, so I can't begin to imagine some of the things that they've experienced, some of the challenges that they may have and so forth. But for the ones that I interact with here, especially this one week out of the year, what I hear from them, the testimony that I hear from them, is that you just got to take the step and take a risk to get better. I remember talking to a rec therapist and one of the things that they say as a part of their rec therapy program is just traveling is a big deal because it's scary - what am I going to encounter? So, I would recommend that they take, intermittent baby steps, if you will, to move beyond their disability and to go to the boundary of what they perceive are the boundaries, but realize that through a team approach, through help with your rec therapist, your caregiver, these supporters that are all around you, you can experience next level recovery. So that would be my advice is just to take a risk with your rec therapist to go and try something new. Try something you didn't think you would be able to do it because we provide a safe environment. Now, I'm not gonna say there wasn't a little bloodshed on the mountain when some of these Veterans crash and burn, just like all of us, but they pop up out of that, they get their prosthetic adjusted. We make some adjustments, and they actually want to get back out there. And I hear about - someone was telling me how they were doing sled hockey and he was an amputee and he said, �I'm so sore on this side, but I can't wait to get back out there tomorrow and try it again and do better.� And so, my advice is take a risk, work with your rec therapist, try to push beyond what you think are your perceived boundaries.
(PM): Well said, yeah absolutely. Just from talking to you right now it shows that you really are passionate about this this project, this clinic. What do you consider the most rewarding part of this job for you or this project? And what keeps you motivated to continue this important work, year after year?
(JL): What really motivates and inspires me are these participants who are out here. As I said, I'm an able-bodied person. I don't have the some of the restrictions maybe that some of our disabled Veteran participants do, but we really focus in on the abilities that they do have, not disabilities. So, what inspires me is seeing their attitude, them talking trash to each other while they're out on the slopes and just the passion that they have to overcome their injuries. Lauren Arduser, I think I shared briefly before about her, she's been such an inspiration for me this year. About a year, less than a year ago, she was in an auto accident in Texas. She's a Russian linguist in the Air Force. Broke every limb in her body, broke her back, was put in a medically induced coma by doctors, and told that she likely wouldn't live and definitely wouldn't walk again. But Lauren has overcome and continues to fight and push those boundaries that I talked about earlier. She has since - all of her limbs are healed, but she still has a spinal cord injury, she's still wheelchair bound, but she says, I don't want to be a part of the 1% that give up, that don't overcome. I want to be someone who reaches new boundaries despite my limitations. I've been able to follow her story of recovery. She's out here this week and skied for the first time, and what really impressed me most, and this is the example of what kind of drives me, was I saw a picture of Lauren wearing her Air Force uniform, and it took her two hours to put on her uniform unassisted the first time she tried after her accident, and now she's down to a whopping thirty minutes. But just the fact that it takes her that long and that she's so driven to have as independent a lifestyle as possible. That's the kind of stuff that motivates me and that's just one example of the 300 plus Veterans who are out here who say, �I'm not going to be bound by these limitations. I'm going to push forward and live life to the fullest.� Those are the kinds of things that inspire me, and that's why this is the best week out of the year of my job working for the VA.
(PM): Just hearing you talk about this and actually working at the VA, it makes me really proud of what we're doing. Obviously, the VA is huge and there are different offices and different resources that we offer. Just understanding and getting to know a little bit more about this Winter Sports Clinic really makes me proud as a Veteran and as a VA employee. Before we go, I would like to give you the opportunity to just go over some ways that Veterans can connect with the Winter Sports Clinic team or what are the steps from their phone or from the computer that they need to take, numbers they need to call? Can you just briefly go over that?
(JL): Yeah. The best way to connect with what's happening with the Winter Sports Clinic is go to our website, WinterSportsClinic.org [Link: www.wintersportsclinic.org]. It's a website where we have all kinds of information about the event. So, whether you want to be a participant, a disabled Veteran participant, it shows you what to do, it gives you some videos on there, there's some stories of participants. You can get all the information you need about the program on that website, WintersSportsClinic.org [Link: www.wintersportsclinic.org]. If you want to be a volunteer, which we're always looking for volunteers, there's a tab on the website as well that shows you all the different committees, the teams that we have, everything from someone who helps, serve up eggs at breakfast to someone who drives a bus, to someone who can repair a wheelchair to people who are skilled as ski instructors and so forth, but there are ways to volunteer there. I will share that this is one of the most competitive volunteer jobs in all of VA. You might have to wait a few years because everybody's fighting to be a volunteer at this this event, because it's so spectacular. If you want to be a sponsor, there's a tab on there as well. Everybody from GigaTech to United Airlines to the Elks. All different kinds of groups sponsoring with volunteer hours, through financial donations, or in-kind contributions. This year, Smart Wool - a sock brand, they donated a bunch of socks to our disabled Veterans, to United Airlines, as I said before, giving tickets. So those are everything you need to know, right there on the website. Talking to your local rec therapist is a fantastic way as well. And then on social media, you can follow the handle @Sports4Vets and @DAVhq - they are our VSO sponsor. And then as always, our hashtag Winter Sports Clinic [Hashtag: #wintersportsclinic] will tie you in across the web to everything that we're doing, whether it's our Twitter handle or a YouTube video about what's going on. Those are all the ways to stay in touch with what's happening.
(PM): Awesome. Thank you, Jason. I just want to add - the most important thing, please enroll. That's what Jason said in the beginning, that's the first, one of the first, criteria. And then if this is something that can benefit you as a Veteran or a Veteran in your life, please go into the information that Jason just shared. We'll definitely have this information on the blog for this episode, and we'll also have it under our social media post. Thank you, Jason, for taking time today. I know you have a busy week going on, but definitely I want to give my thanks as a Veteran and also as your colleague here at the VA. This is really awesome stuff, and it was a pleasure talking to you.
(JL): Thank you, Pablo. Thanks for helping us get the word out about the Winter Sports Clinic and as we say in the skiing community, go out there and shred the nar.
(PM): Awesome. Thank you very much.
[00:34:10] Closing Monologue:
Pablo Meza: That was a great episode. But before we wrap up, I want to encourage my brothers and sisters in arms to get enrolled and get access to VA healthcare. Care for service-connected disabilities, mental healthcare and preventative care are all part of the VA healthcare system. Enrollment is easy and can be done online or by contacting a local Veteran Service Organization or get in touch with our Health Eligibility Center at 8 7 7 2 2 2 8 3 8 7 [Phone: 1-877-222-8387]. We're open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM until 8:00 PM Eastern time.
[00:34:47] Music
(Text Transcript Ends)