Kayak Fishing Trips Help Wounded Veterans Heal
July 8, 2009
By Ginny Estupinian
Heroes on the Water (HOW) is a Texas-based volunteer organization that takes wounded veterans on kayak fishing trips. This nonprofit was formed in 2007 and has served about 130 veterans.
HOW schedules these fishing trips on private waters because this provides a safety aspect of not sharing the water with power boats. Also, the game fish are generally easier to catch on private lakes.
Aiken, who’s starting a nationwide U.S. Marine Corps Chamber of Commerce, said that having an organized activity involving other veterans is a good transitional activity for men and women reconnecting with society.
“During service, and particularly on deployment, military personnel operate as a team,” he said. “Transition is reverse culture shock. Most veterans groups focus their attention inward or to the past. HOW focuses on an activity, and most young warriors would rather do something other than swapping war stories around a bar. With HOW, we’re swapping stories across a pond, without the hangover.”
HOW went national in June, with events in Georgia, Virginia and Washington state, said Dolan, a commercial airline pilot who lives in Allen. The Air Force veteran got involved in kayaking through his love of coastal fishing.
“Fishing from a power boat is like driving a car through Yellowstone National Park,” he said. “Fishing from a kayak is like riding a bike through Yellowstone. The kayak experience is much more personal.”
HOW volunteers have been told that kayak fishing may have the same impact on wounded warriors suffering traumatic brain injury as horseback riding has on autistic children.
Heather Gardner is a recreational therapist at the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center. Her specialty is adaptive sports with ties to the U.S. Paralympics. Gardner defines recreational therapy as a way of distracting one’s mind from the toll the body may be taking on and diverting it to something that is pleasing to the mind, body, soul, or a combination of those aspects.
Gardner is not surprised at therapeutic breakthroughs related to kayak fishing. She has led several groups on HOW outings. The first involved wounded warriors who were missing both legs above the knees. The majority of those participants said they wanted to fish but not kayak. A few wanted to kayak but not fish.
Within 20 minutes, with no encouragement from anyone, said Gardner, every one of them was in a kayak with a fishing rod in their hands. How does Gardner assess the therapeutic value of that experience?
“I’m sure it was different for each participant,” she said. “Getting away from the hospital and a daily routine can be therapeutic. Putting them in a boat where they are the sole controller can be therapeutic. Doing an activity that is not physically challenging and entirely in their control can be therapeutic.
“The HOW program is absolutely wonderful,” Gardner said. “Their hard work and dedication to our warriors is truly inspirational and does not go unnoticed.”
A $50,000 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant, the cost of a single high-end bass boat, enabled HOW to buy 40 kayaks, paddles, life jackets and other necessary fishing gear. Volunteers for HOW events mostly come from TexasKayakFishermen.com, an online forum with 12,000 members, about 2,000 of them very active.
Dolan said HOW needs access to more private lakes in all Texas regions, as veterans are spread throughout the state. Some landowners have gone beyond merely granting access to their lakes. They host the events, providing food for everyone who shows up. Most outings are small, with 10 or fewer veterans.
By Ginny Estupinian
Green jobs have recently been the buzzword among U.S. policymakers who say they could be one answer to rising unemployment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Labor Department’s Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program grants are being awarded to various organizations to help veterans enter this growing field.
Through the program, veterans receive skills assessments, individual job counseling, classroom or on-the-job training, skills upgrading and placement assistance. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, announced these agency grants with the objective to provide about 3,000 veterans nationwide with training and employment in green jobs.
Participating veterans will be trained for jobs including: residential and commercial solar energy system installation, solar water heater repair, solar energy roofing, and electrical installation and maintenance, and solid wastewater treatment.
At present seventeen groups nationwide, will receive $500,000 in grants to train and find jobs for veterans. Besides California the other states awarded grants include Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Indiana and Arizona. ”This grant will provide our veterans with tools and skills that will ensure they are certified and trained in green jobs,” said Solis, adding that there was great need for such training.
By Ginny Estupinian
Returning service veterans who are dealing with post traumatic stress and other disabilities can often benefit from specially trained dogs that provide companionship, help and love for these veterans.
For Example specially trained psychiatric service dogs help veterans overcome their social isolation. One way that they do this is due to the need of the dog to be walked several times. This need causes the veteran to get outside and be in the public. Furthermore, a working dog will often illicit people to ask questions about the service dog and this allows the veteran to socialize and meet people in the community.
Many veterans with these dogs have reported that their anxieties and fears have been greatly reduced as a result of having the dog with them at all times. Some veterans have reported dealing better with nightmares due to the fact that when they wake up they are relieved by the fact that the dog just is tranquil just lying on the floor. Rationalizing that If there really was a threat the dog would have responded.
For wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan these dogs can help these wounded veterans: by walking alongside a wheel chair, opening a refrigerator, pulling socks off, pushing the light switch on/off, bringing a ringing telephone, and many other duties.
Providing these dogs is an expensive process. The Veterans Administration does not pay for any of this and this is service is left to non-profit organizations.
On Saturday the 11th, of July 2009, you can see these animals in action and visit one of the wonderful groups that train them . The Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) Southwest Regional Center in Oceanside, CA is hosting their second annual “CCI Salutes Independence” event, an open house for active duty military members, veterans, their families, and friends, from 11AM to 3PM.
