VA’s Office of National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events provides Veterans with opportunities for health and healing through adaptive sports and therapeutic art programs. These specialized rehabilitation events aim to optimize Veterans’ independence, community engagement, well-being and quality of life. They are built on clinical expertise within VA with essential support from Veteran Service Organizations, corporate sponsors, individual donors and community partners.
Each year, VA kicks off the adaptive sports season with the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. A world leader in rehabilitation, the event provides nearly 400 profoundly disabled Veterans with training and rehabilitation. Veterans with TBIs, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, amputations and other severe disabilities are challenged to overcome perceived limitations through adaptive skiing, sled hockey, scuba diving, rock wall climbing, education and other activities.
In the latest episode of New Horizons in Health, Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal sits down with two Army Veterans to learn more about how participation in the games has impacted their recovery.
For Veteran Koren Woodworth, who suffered a mild TBI during her service, the camaraderie of the games has been critical to her readjustment to civilian life.
“You have a common ground. We understand each other.”
“It’s kind of unwritten, unspoken. When we come together in events like this, you could not know somebody and it’s like you guys were friends before. You have a common ground. We can understand each other without having to explain everything to each other,” Woodworth shared.
Veteran Robert Morris, a quadriplegic skier, also appreciates the sense of independence that comes with his participation. “You start competing and realizing that you may not be able to do things the way you used to but you can still feel the way you used to. It really makes a difference.”
To learn more about Woodworth’s and Morris’s experience and hear from their coach and Veteran Super Fan VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher, watch the latest episode of New Horizons in Health on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
