PN Magazine November 2015

Transcription

NOVEMBER 2015
■
VOLUME 69
■
NUMBER 11
Extended SCI
Extended
SCI Care
Care
N w center
Ne
New
cent
ce
ent
nter
er opens
ope
penss in
in Long
Long
Lo
g Beach
Bea
each
ch
ch
Talking Veterans’
Talking
Veterans’ Health
Health
T e 5th
Th
The
5tth Annual
A nu
An
nual
a PVA
al
PVA Summit
Sum
ummi
mt
mi
P VA M AG .C OM
Stay in Step
Veteran opens
Veteran
opens Tampa
Tampa rehab
rehab center
center to
to help
help everyone
ever yone w
with
ith SSCI
CI
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contents
NOVEMBER 2015
VOL . 6 9 NO. 11
ON THE COVER
Romulo “Romy”
Camargo created a SCI
rehab center in Tampa,
Fla., to help veterans
and civilians.
Photo courtesy of Stay In Step
32
18
18
20
20
F E AT U R E S
26 Care Collaboration
20 Long-Term Care in
Long Beach
Devon O’Brien
Greg Yee
The VA’s first West Coast long-term
care facility for veterans with SCI/D is
being hailed by residents and PVA.
SCI/D care within the VA, robotic suits
to help people walk and new discipline
tracks for brain injury were among the
highlights of September’s 5th Annual
PVA Summit & Expo.
DE PA RTM E NT S
6
6
12
13
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Contributors
Editor’s Desk
PVA Chapter Roster
PVA Points
40
44
47
48
Newsbeat
Sports & Rec
Calendar
PVA Service Office Roster
49
49
Classified Ads
Index of Advertisers
9/30/15 10:13 AM
Visit us online at
pvamag.com
If you like wheelchair sports and recreation,
you’ll love our sister publication — SPORTS ’N SPOKES !
Preview online at sportsnspokes.com
The VA has been
good to me and I’m
happy I’ve been able
to give back, one
smile at a time.
36
16
26
26
COLUMNS
8 PVA From the Top
Al Kovach Jr.
10 Reasons & Remarks
Redivivus
Richard Hoover
16 Health Smarts
Farnaz Firoz, RN, BSN
18 Financial Focus
Daniel C. Jones
32 People
Devon O’Brien
36 Viewpoint
Frank Cáceres, PhD
38 Caregiver Connection
Suzanne Mintz
50 And Finally
Scoba Rhodes
PN is now in its 69th year of publication. An official organ of the Paralyzed Veterans of America,
it is dedicated to the presentation of all news concerning spinal-cord-injured/-disabled civilians
and veterans and wheelchair living. PN welcomes manuscripts and articles for publication
consideration. Manuscripts must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope if return
is requested. PN neither endorses nor guarantees any of the products or services advertised.
Readers should thoroughly investigate products and companies before making purchases.
PN STAFF
RICHARD HOOVER
Editor
Ext. 101 / [email protected]
TOM FJERSTAD
Deputy Editor
ANDY NEMANN
Assistant Editor
JOHN GROTH
Editorial Coordinator
DEVON O’BRIEN
Editorial Coordinator
CHRISTOPHER DI VIRGILIO
Web Content Manager
DIANE DOYLE
Office Assistant
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Advertising Sales Representative
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[email protected]
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Marketing & Circulation Director
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Circulation Coordinator
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Art & Production Director
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ADVERTISING OFFICE
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PN (ISSN 0031-1766) is published monthly by Paralyzed Veterans of America, Inc., 2111 East Highland
Avenue, Suite 180, Phoenix, AZ 85016-4702. Periodicals postage paid at Phoenix, Ariz., and additional
mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PN, 2111 East Highland Avenue, Suite 180, Phoenix,
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© 2015 Paralyzed Veterans of America, Inc. All rights
reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the
contents without permission is prohibited.
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NOVEMBER
Editor’s
DESK
PARALYZED
PARALYZED
VETERANS
VETERANS
OF
OFAMERICA
AMERICA
NATIONAL
NATIONAL OFFIC
OFFICEE
801
801Eighteenth
EighteenthStreet,
Street,NW
NW
Washington,
Washington,DC
DC20006,
20006,USA
USA
202-872-1300
202-872-1300 •• www.pva.org
www.pva.org
PVA OFFIC
OFFICERS
ERS
PVA
.
great articles I urge you all to read
This issue of PN is packed with
rien, is going to a new job in a field
One of our fine editors, Devon O’B
impores us with an excellent article on an
she loves. We’ll miss her, but she leav
and
d Veterans of America (PVA) Summit
tant issue from this year’s Paralyze
alissue is caring for veterans with spin
Expo (Care Collaboration, p. 26). The
lth
artment of Veterans Affairs (VA) hea
cord injury or disease within the Dep
I) centers.
rs care at VA spinal-cord injury (SC
system. Needless to say, PVA favo
-awaited long-term care center
There’s also a fine story about a long
ch,
center (Long-Term Care in Long Bea
opening at the VA’s Long Beach SCI
e to
hope this is the beginning of a mov
p. 20). We need many more and
.
veterans are going to need them
build them. Our country’s Vietnam
give thanks for the blessings we
Finally, we’re at the time of year to
people
y the uniqueness of our nation that
have in this great nation. We can enjo
erna common language and wrote gov
of all nationalities came here, adopted
Thanksy as when they were written. This
ing documents that are as valid toda
nation.
thanks for their leaving us a great
giving, let’s bow our heads and give
Bill Lawson
Al Kovach
Jr.
President
President
Al Kovach
DavidVice
Zurfl
uh
Senior
President
Senior Vice President
David Fowler
Hack
Albertson
Vice
President
Vice President
Eduardo Oyola-Rivera
Vice President
Charles
Brown
Vice President
Ken Weas
Vice
Joe President
Fox
Vice
President
David
Zurfluh
Vice President
Ken Weas
Vice President
Craig
Enenbach
Treasurer
Tom Wheaton
Frank Rigo
Treasurer
Secretary
Larry Dodson
Gene
A. Crayton
Secretary
Immediate Past President
Bill Lawson
Immediate Past President
PVA NATIONAL OFFIC E
Homer S. Townsend Jr.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
PVA NATIONAL
OFFIC E
Executive Director
John
Ring Jr.
Homer S.
Townsend
Chief Financial
Officer
Executive
Director
WilliamGillums
Mailander
Sherman
Jr.
Counsel
Deputy General
Executive
Director
AED Veterans Benefits
Douglas Vollmer
Associate
Executive
John
Ring Director
Government
Chief
FinancialRelations
Officer
Sherman Gillums
Len Selfon
Acting Associate Executive
General Counsel
Director: Veterans Benefits
Carl Blake
Mark
Dowis
Associate
Executive
Director
Associate
Executive
Director
Government
Relations
Development
contributing to this issue…
Lana
LanaMcKenzie
McKenzie
Associate
Executive
Director
Associate
Executive
Director
MedicalMedical
Services,
Health and
Policy,
Services
and
Research
Health
Policy
Mark Lichter
Ernest
Butler
Director:
Director:Architecture
Sports
Daniel C. Jones
(p. 18)
Suzanne Mintz
(p. 38)
Farnaz Firoz, RN,
BSN
(p. 16)
Andy Dowis
Krieger
Mark
Sports
AssociateDirector:
Executive
Director
Development
Marketing
Mark&Daley
Director: Communication
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PVA
A L K O VA C H J R .
fromtheTOP
Ensuring Care
Nov. 11 has become a day to thank and
honor all those who served honorably in the
military and acknowledge their contributions
to our national security.
As we gather to celebrate veterans of all
eras, the time to recognize those who served in
World War II is running short. The average age of
a WWII veteran is 93 and we’re losing them at a
rate of more than 500 per day. The
Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) estimates less than 1 million
of the 16 million Americans who
served during WWII are still alive.
Currently, there are 246 Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
members who served during WWII
and many are at the point in their
lives where they need more attentive care than what’s available at
home. Dreading community nursing homes where the nuances of
spinal-cord injury (SCI) are often
unheeded, moving into one of the
VA’s SCI centers is their only option.
One such WWII veteran is
Capt. William Bramwell, who sustained a SCI
after bailing out of his ill-fated B-17 in 1943 over
German-occupied Belgium. Despite his paralysis, he survived more than a year as a prisoner
of war and returned to a grateful America.
Over the next 70 years, Capt. Bramwell lived
a pretty normal life. But after sustaining a serious injury from a fall, he checked into the Long
Beach (Calif.) VA’s SCI center, which became his
new home. Capt. Bramwell has remained at the
SCI center because of his declining health and
the lack of options in the community.
Nevertheless, his longevity despite being
paralyzed needs to be highlighted. Born in
1917, Capt. Bramwell is the oldest living member of PVA and, at the age of 98, has exceeded
the average U.S. life expectancy by 20 years!
Those in Capt. Bramwell’s generation
who survived the first couple years of SCI were
rewarded with poor quality of life. However,
with the advances in medical care, the average
Along with the
extended lives of
WWII paralyzed
veterans comes a
requirement for more
resources that meet
their unique and
complex needs.
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008_9523146.indd 08
age of PVA members is increasing. Still, with
near-normal life expectancy comes other challenges for veterans and medical facilities.
Along with the extended lives of WWII paralyzed veterans comes a requirement for more
resources that meet their unique and complex
needs. For example, availability of long-term care
beds is reaching critical levels.
The VA has about 30,000 long-term care
beds, but only 150 are equipped for those with
SCI. Construction for some new VA facilities
has reached a standstill and shortages in medical staff remain to plague a system of care
that’s top-heavy with non-clinical managers.
To make matters worse, the movement
to privatize an increasing number of the VA’s
health care functions remains a concern for PVA.
Yet, there’s no better system of care for extending
the lives of veterans with SCI than the VA.
On Sept. 9, the VA Long Beach Healthcare
System officially opened the doors of its new
SCI Long-Term Care Unit. It’s the sixth in the
nation, and the only one west of the Mississippi
River. This state-of-the-art unit is an overdue
addition to an already stellar system of care.
This center has a reputation for successfully
rehabilitating SCI veterans for 70 years. The
dedicated interdisciplinary team approach
ensures SCI veterans are getting the proper
preparation before they’re discharged.
Unlike many other SCI centers, Long
Beach also provides care for ventilatordependent patients proving that the experienced bedside nurses have a long-standing
record in promoting quality of care regardless of a patient’s level of injury. I praise the
work of this dedicated staff; they’re the reason our members are living longer.
It may have taken 10 years to build, but PVA
is proud to see the clinical and architectural
expertise we provided finally pay off. Capt.
Bramwell was the first to be admitted to Long
Beach’s SCI Long-Term Care Unit and I’m sure
he would admit it was worth the long wait.
Whether it’s the Greatest Generation or the
latest generation, PVA is committed to ensuring every generation of veterans come home
and enjoy the opportunity to live the American
Dream they helped defend. ■
November 2015
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&
reasons
remarks
redivivus
RICHARD HOOVER,
EDITOR
Care To Rely On
“Reduce the
layers of
management.
They put
distance
between the
top of an
organization
and the
customers.”
– Donald Rumsfeld
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This November is slightly over a year
since Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald took office.
McDonald took his position as the head of
the nation’s largest health delivery system on
July 29, 2014. The Senate voted 97-0 to confirm
McDonald whose previous management experience had primarily been in the civilian sector
where he established an outstanding record.
It was the fi rst time a VA secretary had
been appointed who didn’t have a substantial background in the military or veteran
sector at either the state or national level. The
new secretary has been watched closely to
see what he was going to do to fi x a seriously
broken system.
I, as a seriously injured veteran, hoped
that as we approached Thanksgiving the secretary would be a much-needed gift to us that
was long overdue and we could be thankful
for President Barack Obama taking action that
would help us. Initially, it looked like McDonald was the gift we had been waiting for.
Congress gave him authority they hadn’t
given any prior secretary. He has the authority to remove senior managers from office on
the spot and the time they have for appeal has
been significantly reduced. The same action is
under review by Congress for employees who
are further down the management chain than
were targeted in the fi rst bill. In my opinion,
both actions are appropriate.
I also believe McDonald has been too
cautious in taking action which targets senior
managers who are guilty of faulty patient
scheduling, appointment delays, manipulation of records to cover such actions and any
of the above which resulted in a veteran’s
death. During the past year, a total of six
senior executives have departed — three
were the focus of termination and three were
voluntary departures. I would not call this
aggressive action.
One of the local unions which represents
VA employees at the central office in Washington, D.C., stated in a July 24 story in the
Washington Post that it was unaware of any
departures or removals in the central office
during the new secretary’s tenure.
Having been involved with veterans
issues since the mid-1970s, a significant number of times which were in Washington, D.C., I
believe this is where a lot of bad management
originates from and where a lot of the bad
managers reside.
The secretary has a little over a year
remaining to leave a record which he will be
remembered for in making the VA a smooth
functioning system. He’s not using the limited
time he has to do those things which he needs
to do. Many veterans in rural locations have to
endure poor care by physicians and hospital
managers in primary care hospitals who have
no knowledge of VA handbook 1176.01 and
paralyzed veterans end up with violations of
the 72-hour transfer requirement to a spinalcord injury (SCI) center.
I had a VA physician where I live get in an
argument with me when I asked to be transferred to an SCI center in compliance with VA
requirements and tell me I was wrong. I had
to have a doctor in a SCI center tell him he was
wrong. My reward was removal to a small isolation room with no bathroom and insufficient
room for my aide to help me.
The doctor told me on the following day he
was going on a fishing trip the next week and
I could either discharge myself or wait until
Monday and start over with a new physician. I
don’t call that patient care.
These instances are not unique. We tend
to focus on the big hospitals and don’t look at
the smaller ones where the abuse is even more
rampant. The past practice of transferring bad
physicians and bad managers to other locations instead of removing them is demoralizing to both needy veterans and dedicated
lower-level VA employees.
Mr. Secretary, if you read this, please by
next Thanksgiving, give us something we can
be thankful for. Those of us of the Vietnam era
are just beginning to hit the VA hospitals in
huge numbers. We need assurance that we can
rely on them to take care of us. We don’t have
that now. ■
November 2015
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pva chapter roster
ARIZONA
GEORGIA
MISSOURI
PUERTO RICO
Arizona PVA
5015 N. 7th Ave., Ste. 2
Phoenix, AZ 85013
800-621-9217
602-244-9168
www.azpva.org
Southeastern PVA
4010 Deans Bridge Rd.
Hephzibah, GA 30815
706-796-6301
706-796-6338
Gateway PVA
1311 Lindbergh Plaza Center
St. Louis, MO 63132
314-427-0393
314-427-4183 (fax)
www.gatewaypva.org
Puerto Rico PVA
Urb. Country Club
812 Iturregui Ave.
San Juan, PR 00924
787-757-6465
787-257-2553 (fax)
NEBRASKA
SOUTH DAKOTA
Great Plains PVA
7612 Maple St.
Omaha, NE 68134-6502
402-398-1422
North Central PVA
209 N. Garfield
Sioux Falls, SD 57104-5601
800-505-4782
605-336-0494
605-332-8656 (fax)
ILLINOIS
CALIFORNIA
Bay Area & Western PVA
3801 Miranda Ave.,
Bldg. 101, Rm. A1-219,
Mail Code 816
Palo Alto, CA 94304
800-273-6789
650-858-3936
California PVA
5901 E. Seventh St.
Long Beach, CA 90822
800-497-0565
562-494-5713
[email protected]
Cal-Diego PVA
VAMC, Rm. 1A-118
3350 La Jolla Village Dr.
San Diego, CA 92161
800-423-2778
858-450-1443
www.caldiegopva.org
Vaughan PVA
2235 Enterprise Dr., Ste. 3501
Westchester, IL 60154
800-727-2234
708-947-9790
708-947-9755 (fax)
www.vaughanpva.org
IOWA
Iowa PVA
7025 Hickman Rd. Ste. #1
Urbandale, IA 50322
515-277-4782
www.iowapva.org
NEVADA
Nevada PVA
704 S. Jones Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89107
702-646-0040
702-646-3712
www.nevadapva.org
TENNESSEE
Mid-South PVA
VAMC, Rm. 2D100
1030 Jefferson Ave.
Memphis, TN 38104
901-527-3018
NEW MEXICO
Zia PVA
833 Gibson Blvd., SE
Albuquerque, NM 87102
800-597-5580
505-247-4381
505-247-4382
TEXAS
Kentucky-Indiana PVA
4801 Paoli Pike, Ste. 200
Floyds Knobs, IN 47119
502-635-6539
www.kipva.org
COLORADO
MASSACHUSETTS
OHIO
Mountain States PVA
12200 E. Iliff Ave. #107
Aurora, CO 80014-5376
303-597-0038
303-597-0039 (fax)
www.mscpva.org
New England PVA
1600 Providence Hwy., Ste. 143
Walpole, MA 02081
800-660-1181
508-668-9412 (fax)
www.nepva.org
Buckeye PVA
26250 Euclid Ave., Ste. 115
Euclid, OH 44132
216-731-1017
Texas PVA
2656 South Loop West, Ste. 130
Houston, TX 77054
800-933-4261
713-520-8782
713-520-8217 (fax)
DELAWARE
MICHIGAN
Colonial PVA
356 E. Main St., Ste. 103
Newark, DE 19711
888-963-6595
www.colonialpva.org
Michigan PVA
40550 Grand River Ave.
Novi, MI 48375
248-476-9000
248-476-9545 (fax)
FLORIDA
MINNESOTA
Central Florida PVA
2711 S. Design Ct.
Sanford, FL 32773-8120
407-328-7041
407-328-7139
Minnesota PVA
1 Veterans Dr.
SCI-Room 238
Minneapolis, MN 55417
612-467-2263
612-726-9472 (fax)
[email protected]
Florida PVA
3799 N. Andrews Ave.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
954-565-8885
954-565-8843 (fax)
Florida Gulf Coast PVA
15435 N. Florida Ave.
Tampa, FL 33613
800-397-6540
813-264-6285 (fax)
www.floridagulfcoastpva.org
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KENTUCKY
MISSISSIPPI
Bayou Gulf States PVA
15489 Dedeaux Rd.
Gulfport, MS 39503-2667
228-832-6864
228-539-5494 (fax)
[email protected]
Lone Star PVA
3925 Forest Ln.
Garland, TX 75042
800-583-5252
972-276-5252
[email protected]
OKLAHOMA
Mid-America PVA
6108 NW 63rd St., Ste. A
Oklahoma City, OK 73132
405-721-7168
OREGON
Oregon PVA
3700 Silverton Rd., NE
Salem, OR 97305
800-333-0782
503-362-7998
503-362-9837 (fax)
www.oregonpva.org
PENNSYLVANIA
Keystone PVA
1113 Main St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15215-2407
800-775-9323
412-781-2474
412-781-2659 (fax)
[email protected]
VIRGINIA
Mid-Atlantic PVA
11620 Busy St.
Richmond, VA 23236
800-852-7639
804-378-0017
804-378-0026 (fax)
WASHINGTON
Northwest PVA
616 SW 152nd St., Ste. B
Burien, WA 98166
800-336-9782
206-241-1843
206-433-0749 (fax)
WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia PVA
336 Campbells Creek Dr.
Charleston, WV 25306
304-925-9352
WISCONSIN
Wisconsin PVA
2311 S. 108th St.
West Allis, WI 53227-1901
800-875-9782
414-328-8910
414-328-8948 (fax)
November 2015
9/30/15 10:19 AM
pva points
COURTESY OF PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA
Food City Funds
Virginia grocery giant
Food City is again stepping
forward to provide a major
gift for Paralyzed Veterans
of America’s (PVA) Mission:
ABLE campaign.
NASCAR icon Richard Petty, in cowboy hat, helps Food City officials present former Paralyzed Veterans
of America (PVA) President Bill Lawson, seated, with $170,000 for PVA’s Mission ABLE campaign.
Food City raised a record
$170,000 in July for the pro-
gram that improves lives
and builds better futures for
many of the nation’s veterans with disabilities.
Now in its fi fth year,
the campaign has raised
more than $610,000 for the
Mission: ABLE campaign.
“Food City is a longstanding partner and friend
of the Paralyzed Veterans of
America family,” says PVA
National President Al Kovach
Jr. “Their dedication to our
mission is unwavering and
invaluable to our fundraising
efforts to support veterans
and their families.”
Contributor: Brittany
Ballenstedt.
Hockeytown Help
Sweeping Up
Paralyzed Veterans of America member
Shaun Castle (seated right) must have been
the lucky charm for NASCAR driver Joey
Logano (standing left) late this summer at
Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen,
N.Y. Castle was on hand as Logano swept a
pair of weekend races by winning the Xfinity Series Zippo 200 on Aug. 8 and the Sprint
Cup Cheez-It 355 the next day.
A new arena for one of
the NHL’s famed “Original
Six” franchises is being built
with input from Paralyzed
Veterans of America’s (PVA)
Michigan Chapter.
Olympia Development
started construction earlier
this year on the new home
for the Detroit Red Wings
that is currently called the
Detroit Events Center. The
estimated $450-million
arena is expected to be
open in time for the 2017
Red Wings season.
November 2015
013_9523146.indd 013
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| 13
9/30/15 10:20 AM
COURTESY OF STEVE KIRK
Learning About SCI/D
Paralyzed Veterans of America’s (PVA) Central Florida
Chapter helped some orthopedic therapy students get
firsthand information about spinal-cord injury and disease (SCI/D) in August. Students from Keiser University
visited the PVA Central Florida office in Sanford, Fla.,
where chapter president Steve Kirk (seated at center
facing the students) answered questions about patient
care and other issues facing those with SCI/D.
PVA Scholarships
Almost a dozen students are attending college across the country this semester thanks to some help from Paralyzed
Veterans of America (PVA). The PVA Educational Scholarship Program has awarded 11 students $1,000 scholarships
each to help them pursue their higher education goals.
These are the 2015–16 PVA scholarship winners:
Miah Crockett
Sonoma State University (Calif.)
Daughter of George Crockett Jr.
Cal-Diego Chapter
Hope Harmon
Lipscomb University (Tenn.)
Daughter of Steve Harmon
Oregon Chapter
April Saint
Walden University (Minn.)
Spouse of Stuart Saint
Member at large
Lynn Curley
Navajo Technical University (N.M.)
PVA Member — Zia Chapter
Baylie Mann
Appalachian State University (N.C.)
Daughter of Brian Mann
Southeastern Chapter
Chris Santistevan
Western Governors University (Utah)
PVA Member
Cal-Diego Chapter
Shannon Palmer
Miami University (Ohio)
Daughter of Kevin Palmer
Buckeye Chapter
Robert Taylor
Liberty University (Va.)
PVA Member
Mid-South Chapter
Kalani Prokop
Eastern Washington University
Daughter of Maria Arroyo
Cal-Diego Chapter
The scholarship program will
again be available for the 2016–17
academic year. For more information, visit pva.org.
Samantha Gardner
University of Nebraska
Daughter of William Gardner
Kentucky-Indiana Chapter
Hannah Groce
Milligan College (Tenn.)
Daughter of Lewis Grogg
Southeastern Chapter
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November 2015
9/30/15 10:21 AM
©ISTOCK / VENI
The center is capitalizing
on PVA’s expertise in designing arenas and stadiums that
comply and sometimes go
beyond the requirements of
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“The Red Wings reached
out to us,” says Michael
Harris, executive director
of the Michigan Chapter.
“For most chapters, it’s gotten to a point over the years
where they have formed
close relationships with the
management of local sports
teams, so whenever there is
an ADA-related issue, we are
usually contacted because
Detroit will open a new home for its beloved Red Wings in 2017
with some help from Paralyzed Veterans of America.
our opinion on how they
should proceed is valued.”
The Michigan Chapter
will continue working with
Red Wings’ team owners as
part of a building advisory
board that includes a range of
disability groups.
This enables the groups
to highlight what issues
impact their ability to have
a positive experience at a
hockey game, Harris says.
“Architects have come a
long way, but we like to reinforce and ensure that nothing has been overlooked,”
Harris says. “It allows the
sports team building the
facility to have the confidence to know they’ve met
their obligations.”
For more information
on the new arena, visit
districtdetroit.com.
Contributor: Brittany
Ballenstedt. ■
November 2015
013_9523146.indd 015
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hea lth
smarts
FA R NA Z F I ROZ , R N, B SN
Working With SCI/D
For many individuals with spinalcord injury or disease (SCI/D),
employment is a vital part of their
lives, not only for fi nancial reasons,
but also to maintain their independence and sovereignty.
person with a disability, unless the
accommodation causes an undue
hardship on the employer.
Typical examples of reasonable
accommodations are:
■
Flexible work schedules that
allow an employee with SCI/D
These reasonable accommodations eliminate barriers that may prevent an individual with SCI/D from
being able to perform the necessary
functions of the job.
In addition to obtaining reasonable accommodations, it’s critical to
clinically manage the health conditions associated with SCI/D.
©ISTOCK / IS_IMAGESOURCE
Manage Your Bladder
Research has consistently shown
that people who are employed after
SCI/D live longer, have higher satisfaction with life and better health
outcomes than individuals who
aren’t working.
Although many with SCI/D have
successful careers, they have to overcome a great number of barriers not
faced by able-bodied individuals.
Knowing how to properly manage
SCI/D-related issues in the workplace
is imperative in overcoming some of
these barriers.
who has a lengthy morning personal care routine, to start his or
her workday later.
■
■
Raising an office desk and
making supplies, materials and
office machines easily reachable
and accessible.
■
Providing a private changing area
for individuals who may have
occasional bladder accidents.
■
Allowing more frequent work
breaks to accommodate medical
care needs.
Know Your Rights
The Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) requires all employers to make
“reasonable accommodations” for a
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016_9523146.indd 016
Installing special software and
hardware so a person with minimal or no hand function can work
on a computer.
The main goal of bladder management is to protect and preserve
kidney function.
Emptying your bladder on a regular basis throughout the workday is an
essential component in maintaining
kidney function. There are two general
guidelines for bladder management.
The first is to have a regimented
bowel program. Constipation can impair
bladder function and increase the risk of
a urinary tract infection. Secondly, keep
the genital area as dry as possible.
As mentioned earlier, a reasonable accommodation by the employer
is to provide a private changing area.
This can be used for intermittent
catheterization and other bladder
management needs.
In addition, it’s essential to maintain adequate fluid intake throughout
the day. This decreases the risk of
infection and limits kidney stones.
Regulate Your Bowel
After sustaining SCI/D, your bowel
may not work the same as before.
Therefore, establishing a regular bowel
program ensures predictable bowel
movements and helps avoid accidents.
While addressing this topic with
your employer may be uncomfortable,
it’s extremely important for them to
be aware of your care needs throughout the workday.
Many individuals with SCI/D
prefer to schedule bowel care early
in the morning prior to their daily
November 2015
9/30/15 10:22 AM
Although many with SCI/D have successful careers, they have to overcome a great
number of barriers not faced by able-bodied individuals.
activities. Therefore, it’s essential to
allow enough time in the morning to
perform bowel care and to work out
a schedule with your employer that
meets this need.
In addition, it’s important to
eat a well-balanced meal with highfiber foods and to drink an adequate
amount of fluids.
recommended that skin checks be performed at least twice a day, preferably
in the morning and at night.
During the workday, perform
pressure releases every 15 minutes to
take the weight off the tailbone and
other bony prominences. Various
types of pressure releases include:
■
Monitor Your Skin
Several skin concerns caused by the
loss of sensation can also happen to
people with SCI/D.
Performing routine skin checks
throughout the workday is essential
in preventing pressure ulcers and
maintaining proper skin integrity. It’s
Pushing up out of the seat of
the wheelchair and holding for
30–60 seconds
■
Moving side to side, lean to each
side for 30–60 seconds per tilt
■
Bending the chest forward onto
your knees and holding the position for 30–60 seconds
Shift positions as much as possible throughout the workday. A
good way to ensure these pressure
releases are done routinely is to set a
reminder on your watch or phone. It’s
also imperative to use a well-maintained seat cushion that gives good
pressure relief.
The key to a successful work career
is setting up a specific routine and communicating your medical care needs to
your employer to create a positive and
comfortable workplace environment.
Farnaz Firoz, RN, BSN, serves
as an Associate Director of Paralyzed
Veterans of America’s Medical Services
Department in Washington, D.C. ■
November 2015
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f inancial FOCUS
DANIEL C. JONES
Year-End Planning
The holiday season is upon us and
while we’re all looking forward to parties and time with family and friends,
don’t forget it’s the perfect time to do
some planning for your 2015 taxes.
Tax planners often start by making checklists to guide taxpayers
toward year-end strategies that might
help reduce taxes. These are a few
good places to start.
Filing Status & Exemptions
■ If you’re married, compare
the tax liability for yourself and your
spouse based on all fi ling statuses.
■ Determine whether you’re entitled to claim a dependency exemption
for a parent or other relative.
■ If you’re claiming a dependency
exemption for a child who is 19 or
older (age 24 or older if a full-time
student), make sure the child’s gross
income doesn’t exceed $4,000.
Family Tax Planning
■ Determine whether you can
shift income to family members who
are in lower tax brackets in order to
minimize overall taxes.
■ Consider making gifts up to
$14,000 per person under the annual
gift tax exclusion.
■ Take advantage of tax credits for
higher education costs if you’re eligible
to do so. These credits are based on the
tax year rather than the academic year.
Employee Matters
■ Self-employed individuals
(who generally use the cash method
of accounting) can defer income by
delaying the billing of clients until
next year.
expenses exceed 2% of annual
adjusted gross income (AGI).
Business Income
& Expenses
■ Accelerate expenses in the current year to lower your tax bill.
■ Increase your employer’s withholding of state and federal taxes to
help you avoid exposure to estimated
tax underpayment penalties.
■ Pay last-quarter taxes before Dec.
31 rather than waiting until Jan. 15.
■ Make sure you meet the required
threshold percentages of your AGI to
deduct expenses by “bunching” miscellaneous expenses into the same year.
■ Use installment sale agreements
to spread out any potential capital
gains among future taxable periods.
■ If you have significant business
losses this year, it may be possible to
apply them to the prior year’s returns
to receive a net operating loss carryback refund.
■ Employees can deduct their
business expenses as long as these
■ In certain circumstances, it may
be possible for the full cost of last-
ILLUSTRAION COLLAGE KERRY RANDOLPH
© ISTOCK/ASKOLD ROMANOV - ALMAGAMI - MERKURI2 - HENRIK5000
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minute purchases of equipment to be
deducted currently by taking advantage of Section 179 deductions.
■ Generally, you’re able to make
a contribution to your retirement
plan at any time up to the due date
(plus extensions) for fi ling a given
year’s tax return.
Financial Investments
■ Pay attention to the changes
in the capital gains tax rates for individuals and try to sell only assets held
for more than 12 months.
■ Consider selling stock if you have
capital losses this year that you need to
offset with capital gain income.
■ If you plan to sell some of your
investments this year, consider selling the investments that produce the
smallest gain.
Personal Residence &
Other Real Estate
■ Make your early January mortgage payment (due no later than Jan.
15 of next year) in December so you
can deduct the accrued interest for
the current year that’s paid in the
current year.
■ If you want to sell your principal residence, make sure you
qualify to exclude all or part of the
capital gain from the sale from federal income tax. Generally, you can
exclude the gain only if you used the
home as your principal residence for
at least two out of the five years preceding the sale.
■ Consider structuring the sale of
investment property as an installment
sale in order to defer gains to later years.
Retirement Contributions
mature IRA payouts to avoid the 10%
early withdrawal penalty. You may be
able to contribute and deduct more if
you’re at least age 50.
■ Set up a retirement plan for yourself if you are a self-employed taxpayer.
■ Set up an IRA for each of your
children who have earned income.
■ Minimize the income tax on
Social Security benefits by lowering your
income below the applicable threshold.
Charitable Donations
■ Make a charitable donation
(cash or even old clothes) before the
end of the year.
■ Use appreciated stock rather than
cash when contributing to charities.
■ Use a credit card to make contributions in order to ensure they can
be deducted in the current year.
Itemized Miscellaneous &
Medical Expenses
■ Take advantage of the adoption
tax credit for any qualified adoption
expenses you paid. In 2015, you may
be able to claim up to $13,400 per eligible child (including children with
special needs) as a tax credit.
■ Maximize the use of itemized miscellaneous expenses and/or
medical expenses by bunching such
expenses in the same year, to the
extent possible, in order to meet the
threshold percentage of your AGI.
This information was developed
by Dan Jones of Raymond James, and
Broadridge, an independent third
party. It’s general in nature, isn’t a
complete statement of all information
necessary for making a financial decision and isn’t a recommendation or a
solicitation for services. ■
■ Make the maximum deductible
contribution to your individual retirement account (IRA). Try to avoid pre-
November 2015
018_9523146.indd 019
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9/30/15 10:23 AM
LongTerm
Care
by Greg Yee,
Long Beach Press-Telegram
photos by Marc Hubbard,
VA Long Beach Healthcare
System
The VA’s first
West Coast longterm care facility
for veterans with
SCI/D is being hailed
by residents and PVA.
Lyndon Wells considers
himself one of a lucky few in Long Beach.
The 91-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran was
paralyzed in a car crash in 1959. Today he is among
12 spinal-cord injury patients at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Long Beach Healthcare
Executive Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders System of Care Sophia Chun, MD,
left, Paralyzed Veterans of America National President Al Kovach
Jr., seated, and VA Long Beach Healthcare system Director Michael
Fisher, right, open the VA’s new spinal-cord injury long-term care unit.
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in Long Beach
System’s newest center — a state-ofthe-art long-term care facility that
officials say is the only one of its kind
west of Mississippi.
Local and national VA officials and
members of Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) dedicated the center, at a ribbon
cutting Sept. 9. Open for only a week at that
time, four of the 12 rooms were already fi lled.
“I’m very happy,” Wells says. “It’s something new to me. Usually, we’re four to a room.”
The new Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Long-Term
Care Unit located in the VA Long Beach (Calif.) Healthcare System, above, includes
public living room areas, below, that encourage socializing and camaraderie.
Private Rooms, Packed
With Technology
The unit is designed for veterans with a spinal-cord
injury or disorder who aren’t able to live independently or with family, according to information provided by the VA. Each room is private and gives residents
access to 24-hour care.
The rooms serve to provide a permanent home for each
resident and come with a centralized control unit that allows
patients to change such settings as the lights and bed position,
access the Internet and watch television on their own.
November 2015
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Kristen Pressler, OT, top, shows a resident’s room to
Paralyzed Veterans of America Deputy Executive Director
Sherman Gillums Jr. and Associate Executive Director for
Medical Research, Health Policy and Research Lana McKenzie
and others, bottom, at the new Spinal Cord Injury Long-Term
Care Unit in Long Beach, Calif.
The controls can be operated via a touch screen or customized with voice command or eye movement detection for
patients who cannot use their hands and arms.
The facility is the sixth long-term care unit the VA operates.
Robert John Grant, a 61-year-old U.S. Army veteran who
sustained a traumatic brain injury in 1975, was nearly
speechless after seeing the rooms.
“It’s heaven-sent,” he says. “They’re so beautiful.
I’m beyond words.”
Building On A Legacy
For VA Long Beach director Michael Fisher, opening the unit is the latest development in a long
tradition of innovative spinal-cord injury care
in Southern California.
Ernest Bors, MD, whose work at the
Birmingham General Army Hospital in
Van Nuys, Calif., — now a complex of
schools — after World War II helped set
the standard in the field and oversaw
the development of the Long Beach
VA, he says.
Now Fisher hopes the facility
will be a model for other VA centers across the nation.
Getting the facility
built has been a decade-long
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November 2015
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Left to right: Colin Lenington, Alex
Calvo and Jennifer Sebastian celebrate
the opening of the new Spinal Cord Injury
Long-Term Care Unit in Long Beach, Calif.
journey that would not have gotten off the
ground without advocacy from PVA says
Sophia Chun, MD, now national director for the
VA’s spinal-cord injury program. Chun used to
run the program in Long Beach.
Facilities similar to Long Beach’s might be
increasingly in demand in the coming decades
because at least 40% of the nation’s veterans are 65
years or older, Chun says.
“VA hospitals will be the fi nal resting place for a lot
of veterans,” says Al Kovach Jr., national president of PVA.
“There was a time when spinal-cord injury patients didn’t
live very long. [They] have unique needs. We need quality
long-term care to ensure older veterans have a place to live
their older years in dignity.”
For more information on the center, visit
longbeach.va.gov.
Article reprinted with permission and courtesy of the
Long Beach Press-Telegram. ■
“The Long Beach SCI Long Term Care
Center is a starting point for many
more facilities like this to open.”
– Lana McKenzie
Members of the Paralyzed Veterans of America California Chapter were on hand to tour the Department of
Veterans Affairs new Spinal-Cord Injury Long-Term Care Unit in Long Beach, Calif.
November 2015
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Championing Long-Term Care
by Andy Nemann
It took a long time and a lot of advocacy from Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), but the first long-term care
facility for veterans with spinal-cord
injury and disease (SCI/D) west of the
Mississippi River is finally open.
The Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) Long Beach Healthcare
System officially opened the doors of
its new Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) LongTerm Care Unit Sept. 9 in Long Beach,
Calif. PVA has advocated tirelessly
for a long-term care unit in Long
Beach for more than 10 years and was
instrumental in providing clinical and
architectural expertise in the design.
“After 10 years of championing the construction of the new
center, we are proud to see the
clinical and architectural expertise
we provided finally pay off,” says
PVA National President Al Kovach
Jr., who attended the opening.
“The doors are now open and
ready to serve those veterans who
might otherwise have nowhere
else to go for long-term care.”
A Long Battle
“Championing” the VA’s first such
facility since 2011 was an important
mission for PVA because of the
vital need for its services. Before
the Long Beach center was created,
options for long-term SCI/D care
weren’t very practical.
“If you were an aging veteran
and you lived west of the Mississippi
[River] about the best you could
hope for was some type of community nursing home that probably
didn’t know anything about spinalcord injury,” says Fred Cowell, a
retired PVA health policy analyst
who has testified before Congress
several times on the long-term
SCI/D care issue.
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Cowell says PVA started focusing on Long Beach for the VA’s sixth
such facility years ago after a demographic study of its members in the
area showed a need for it. He notes
that a 2004 report from the VA
called for the Long Beach Healthcare System to realign 30 unused
beds for long-term SCI/D care.
A combination of money,
politics and government red tape
is what Cowell believes led to the
long delay between that VA report
and the actual opening of the facility in September.
“It’s been a whole, long uphill
battle in this long-term fight that
we’ve been in,” Cowell says.
A Team Approach To Care
Despite the lengthy wait, the new
facility is being widely hailed and
provides a much-needed comfortable home for veterans with SCI/D.
Designed and built for non-acute
patients, the Long Beach Spinal Cord
Injury Long-Term Care Unit leverages
the latest in high-tech equipment to
enable veterans to have better access
to entertainment, socialization and
independence. The center offers
a home-like feel with public living
room areas that encourage socialization, as well as private rooms that
give each patient personal space.
PVA Associate Executive Director of Medical Services and Health
Policy Lana McKenzie, who was
also on hand to help open the
facility, says Long Beach is unique.
A former nurse at the Long Beach
spinal-cord injury center, McKenzie says the center’s variety of
resources beyond medicine such
as peer counseling, caregiver support services and weekend passes
help measure a veterans’ readi-
ness to return home. She believes
those resources play into a team
approach to care that, in many
cases, has enabled veterans to live
longer, more fulfilling lives.
“We know the challenges of
discharging and placement of an
SCI patient; there are not a lot
of options,” McKenzie says. “The
Long Beach SCI Long Term Care
Center is a starting point for many
more facilities like this to open.”
In addition, an original building
for SCI care at the Long Beach VA
was the first to partner with PVA’s
Architecture Department in 1984,
McKenzie says. That early relationship promoted engagement, which
resulted in the voices of patients
being heard.
“Paralyzed Veterans of America
is the only veterans service organization that employs physicians,
nurses and architects,” she says.
“We know without these clinicians
advocacy doesn’t go far.”
Those trio of experts are now
helping PVA work on getting new
long-term SCI/D care facilities open.
The design phase has already been
completed or is underway for facilities in San Diego, Dallas, New York
City (Bronx) and Brockton, Mass.,
in the Boston area. PVA is currently
advocating for the funding to get
those facilities built. It’s also in the
early stages of pushing for facilities
in Albuquerque, N.M., Memphis,
Tenn., and Palo Alto, Calif., in the
San Francisco area.
PVA Associate Director of
Media Relations Lani Poblete and
freelance writer Brittany Ballenstedt contributed to this article. ■
November 2015
9/30/15 10:27 AM
025_9523146.indd 025
9/30/15 10:31 AM
DEVON O’BRIEN
Only two months into the
by Devon
O’Brien
job, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
newly appointed Under Secretary of Health,
David Shulkin, MD, appeared in front of
almost 800 spinal-cord injury and disease
(SCI/D)-focused health care providers at
the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
5th Annual Summit and Expo in September.
Sworn into a government agency riddled with
problems blasted nationwide, Shulkin is making an effort to initiate change.
“The VA has come through a very rough time
over these past 18 months and this is a year where
we’re going to be building upon the momentum
to build back the strength and confidence that
people have in the VA health system,” Shulkin
says. “We’re going to do it in a number of ways
and we’re making some terrific progress.”
Core Concentration
Luckily for veterans with SCI/D, Shulkin considers specialty care services a core program of
the VA, and an aspect to focus on.
“Specialty care services are really the
core of what we do at the VA and it’s what VA
26 |
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026_9523146.indd 026
does in particular in terms of its emphasis
on treating veterans,” Shulkin says. “My role
as undersecretary of health is to make sure
that we have the right resources and the
right allocations of staffi ng and equipment
to make sure that specialty care services are
providing state-of-the-art care.”
During his fi rst day on the job, Shulkin
met with veterans service organization (VSO)
leadership and now, two months later, he continues to build a relationship with PVA at its
Summit in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I view our relationships with PVA and other
VSOs as absolutely vital. They are our partners
and without their help and support we would not
Bottom right, opposite page: Paralyzed Veterans
of America (PVA) Associate Executive Director
of Medical Services and Summit Task Force Chair
Lana McKenzie (left) and PVA Deputy Executive
Director Sherman Gillums Jr. (center), pose with
newly appointed Department of Veterans Affairs
Under Secretary of Health David Shulkin, MD,
(right) at the 2015 PVA Summit and Expo.
November 2015
9/30/15 10:34 AM
SCI/D care within the
VA, robotic suits to
help people walk and
new discipline tracks
for brain injury were
among the highlights of
September’s 5th Annual
PVA Summit & Expo.
DEVON O’BRIEN
Above: Only two
months into his
position as the
Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA)
Under Secretary of
Health, David Shulkin,
MD, spoke at the
Paralyzed Veterans of
America 5th Annual
Summit and Expo
about progress being
made in the VA Health
Care System and his
focus on specialty
care services such as
spinal-cord injury
and disease.
November 2015
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I EN
BR
O’
N
VO
DE
be able to do the type of work that we do every
day,” Shulkin says. “And I consider their council
and advice and guidance extremely important to
the success of our organization and look forward
to continued relationships with them.”
Executive Director of
the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA)
Spinal-Cord Injury
and Disorders (SCI/D)
System of Care Sophia
Chun, MD, steps up
in a session about the
Veterans Access, Choice
and Accountability Act
to share how it affects
SCI/D care in the VA.
Permanent Choice
DEVON O’BRIEN
The buzz at this year’s Summit started in the
fi rst breakout session, which focused on one
of PVA’s main points of concern with the VA’s
health care—the Veterans Access, Choice and
Accountability Act—and how it affects specialty care services at the VA.
“One of the things that Paralyzed Veterans
of America does besides health policies and
besides benefits is we have a legislative agenda.
So, we get involved in any legislation or proposed bills that are intended to impact care in
New at the Summit
For the past five years, the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA)
Summit and Expo has focused on
health care surrounding veterans
with spinal-cord injury and disease.
This year, the event, comprised
of various sessions on an education track that allows attendees
to learn about new and different
practices from their peers, added a
new discipline to the agenda: traumatic brain injury (TBI).
28 |
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“I think it’s widely welcomed
by these clinicians who obviously
have a piqued interest in anything related to the spine, brain
and nerves,” says Lana McKenzie,
Summit task force chair and PVA
associate executive director of
medical services. “So I think we
are going to continue that path
and eventually incorporate part
of that practice and information
into the next Summit.”
McKenzie also mentioned other
upcoming changes to the Summit
including adding some interactive
workshops to what has been three
full days of lecture-style sessions.
“Therapists, they like to do
some demonstrations how to fit
patients in a better wheelchair,
wheelchair measurements. Those
types of things that can be very
interactive, engaging, versus
lecture,” she says.
November 2015
10/2/15 9:59 AM
Hello, Exo!
O N O’ B R I EN
some way,” said PVA Deputy Executive Director
Sherman Gillums Jr., in that first session.
With news of a recent bill introduced by
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that could make
the VA choice program permanent, many Summit attendees and presenters in the sessions
expressed concern on how it affects care. Executive Director of the VA SCI/D System of Care
Sophia Chun, MD, stepped up in the session to
share how the Choice Act threatens comprehensive lifetime care because it “would lend
itself to fragmented care.”
DE V
Ann Spungen, EdD,
associate director
of the Department
of Veterans Affairs
(VA) Rehabilitation
Research and
Development National
Center of Excellence for
the Medical Consequences
of Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) at
the James J. Peters VA Medical
Center in New York has been leading a
study on exoskeleton use in SCI rehab, which
will soon expand to 10 additional VA SCI centers.
It’s no doubt exoskeletons — robotic suits to help people with
lower-limb paralysis walk — are gaining popularity in rehab for
people with spinal-cord injury and disease (SCI/D).
Ann Spungen, EdD, associate director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Rehabilitation Research and Development National
Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord
Injury at the James J. Peters VA Medical Center in New York,
has been studying the use of exoskeletons, specifically the
Food and Drug Administration-approved ReWalk, for SCI/D
rehab in a pilot study at the VA and presented the results
at September’s Paralyzed Veterans of America Summit.
“The SCI technology to allow individuals to walk
is lagged behind because it’s a much more difficult
technology. But it’s here now. It’s in a primitive form.
But perhaps us in the rehabilitation field need to
rethink our paradigm for rehabilitation,” says Spungen
in her keynote speech. “None of us would not prescribe an
eligible amputee a prosthetic limb, and that’s because we all
know that staying in a wheelchair is not good for us. So with this
new technology, as it develops and gets better, perhaps we should
consider opening our eyes and consider those spinal-cord injured
patients who would be interested in walking.”
The reported findings from the pilot study show similar results
to starting a new exercise program, including increased energy,
fat loss, improved bowel and bladder function, improved mental
health, and reduction in pain. Spungen says these benefits in health
and mobility are reasons to advance the field, which is exactly what
the VA plans to do after receiving a grant to expand Spungen’s
research into a five-year study at 10 more centers.
Six centers will start research in year one of the study and four
more centers will join the following year. Each center is required to
enroll eight participants in its first year of research and an additional
eight the following year for a total of 160 participants in the study.
Comprehensive vs. Fragmented
In a comprehensive lifetime model, care is
given based on a patient’s condition versus a provider’s specialty. This is how VA
spinal-cord injury centers are currently
run. You can be treated for SCI/Drelated complications, like pressure sores, but also receive care
Veteran Gene Laureano
(center in red shirt)
demonstrates the ReWalk
exoskeleton at the 2015
Paralyzed Veterans
of America Summit
and Expo.
November 2015
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when you have a problem with your heart,
get a separate oncologist if you have cancer, visit a urologist for a urinary tract infection or any doctor available at an urgent
care center.
for other ailments such as severe urinary tract
infections, cancer, etc., from the providers who
know your history from life until death.
On the other hand, in a fragmented
model, you would go to a cardiology unit
DEVON O’BRIEN
DEVON O’BRIEN
Paralyzed Veterans
of America (PVA)
Deputy Executive
Director Sherman
Gillums Jr., (left)
socializes with PVA
Summit attendees
at the welcome
reception.
Paralyzed Veterans of America Summit Task
Force Chair Lana McKenzie pumps up the crowd
at the welcome reception.
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November 2015
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Excellence Awards
Each year at the Paralyzed Veterans of America Summit and Expo four people are honored with Advocacy/Clinical Excellence Awards in four categories. Opposite page, PVA
Summit Task Force Chair Lana McKenzie (far left) and Program Committee Chair Paul
Gutierrez, MD, MS (far right), present the awards to the 2015 recipients. From left to
right: Mary Susan “Sue” Biggins, MBA, BSN, RN, CRRN of the Edward Hines Jr. VA
Hospital in Hines, Ill. (nurse award); I. Manosha Wickremasinghe, MD, Chief of
the Spinal Cord Injury Center at the North Texas VA Medical Center in Dallas.
(physician award); Jeri Muse, PhD, DAAPM, of the VA San Diego Healthcare
System (psycologist award); Adrienne Toubbeh, OTR/L, of the New Mexico
VA Healthcare System in Albuquerque, N.M. (therapist award).
D E VO N
O’ B R I EN
“The other thing that I see with this
choice is that it’s taking the SCI system of
care backwards to the fragmented care era,”
Chun says. “ … It basically is a situation
where you’re not getting care by staff and
clinicians who are familiar with SCI and who
have expertise in SCI. And that was the whole
reason why spinal-cord injury system of care
in the VA system was started.”
Of course, someone with SCI/D could
choose care at any of the country’s 14 private
spinal-cord injury model systems. However,
Chun says those centers only offer comprehensive acute rehab.
“VA is the only system of care that actually has a health care system that’s actually
built around a medical condition, which is
spinal-cord injury. It’s a complex medical
condition and in this model, the
patient is at the center, so all the
specialties that belong and need
to be part of this SCI health care
system is all under one umbrella in one
location. So it’s a huge sort of shift in thinking
for health care,” Chun says. “ … So, certainly
on the rehab side if they go to a model system
they will get truly an interdisciplinary comprehensive care. But if a patient had medical
problems or surgical problems, then you’re
still back to the fragmented care where you
have to go to a surgeon who really hasn’t had
any SCI background or hasn’t seen enough
SCI patients to really understand; and so this
choice is kind of essentially taking SCI backwards to a time pre-World War II.” ■
Paralyzed
Veterans of America
(PVA) Associate Director
of Meetings Stacy Kulig
(left) and PVA Prosthetics
Consultant Fred Downs
(right) socialize at the
PVA Summit and Expo
welcome reception.
Paralyzed
Veterans
of America
5th Annual
Summit
and Expo
attendees
dance the
night away
at the
welcome
reception.
DEVON O’BRIEN
026_9523146.indd 031
November 2015
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9/30/15 10:36 AM
people
DEVON O’BRIEN
One Step Forward
COURTESY OF STAY IN STEP
Active and driven have always
been good descriptors for Romulo
“Romy” Camargo. Ever since he joined
the Army in 1995, he’s pushed himself to
be better and work his way up the ladder.
But in the last four years, Camargo says
he’s done more than ever before.
“Coming up from E1 to E7 (pay
grade) and then becoming a warrant
officer, it was just in me to never quit.
You know even when I was a young
ranger in 1st Ranger Battalion, you
know surrender was never a
… word so I just kept doing
what I needed to do and I
wanted to recover,” Camargo
says. “And you know, it’s
one of those things that was
instilled in me. But I tell you
what, I’ve done more in the
last four years than I did the
16 other years that I was in
the Army.”
On Sept. 16, 2008,
Camargo was directing fi re
during an ambush in an
Afghanistan village when a
bullet hit him in the back of
the neck, shattering his C3
vertebrae, rendering him
a quadriplegic.
When Camargo returned
stateside to start his rehab,
Romulo “Romy” Camargo,
above and right in photo at
right, has been in the United
States Army since 1995. As
a U.S. Army Special Forces
warrant officer he served
three tours in Afghanistan.
His last time there, he was
shot in the neck during
an ambush, making him
a quadriplegic.
that drive immediately took over. On
his website (stayinstep.org) he states,
“Nobody expected me to live. But I did.
Medical experts told me I would never
breathe without a ventilator. But I do.
Doctors said I would never again be able
to walk or use my arms. But I will.”
His determination to recover
and remain an active duty member
of the Army led him to petition the
Surgeon General of the Army to allow
him to go to Portugal to take part in a
“I’ve done more in the last
four years than I did the
16 other years that I was in
the Army.”
– Romy Camargo
research surgery. He received permission and became the fi rst active duty
service member to receive Olfactory
Mucosa Autografts.
His actions eventually led the way
to a Department of Defense policy
change that allows active duty service
members to fi ll out an application
to go abroad for research surgeries.
He also played a role toward a policy
change that allows active duty service
members to apply to necessary diaphragmatic stimulators, like the one
he needed after his injury.
Creating Community
Following the Olfactory Mucosa Autograft surgery in Portugal, Camargo
was to return to the U.S. for an intensive, activity-based exercise rehabilitation regimen five days per week.
For the next six months,
Camargo and his wife, Gaby, drove
two hours, five days a week to the private center where he rehabbed, when
fi nally Gaby piped in to tell her husCOURTESY OF STAY IN STEP
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9/30/15 10:48 AM
Romulo “Romy” Camargo, below and right,
received a stem cell research surgery in
Portugal after his spinal-cord injury and did
exercise-based rehab two hours from home
five days a week — that is until he and his wife
opened their own center in Tampa, Fla.
Gaby Camargo, standing left, had a vision to open a familyfocused center for excercised-based rehab for people, like her
husband Romulo “Romy,” seated left, who have spinal-cord
injury (SCI). Her vision came to life and the Stay In Step SCI
rehab center is now open in Tampa, Fla.
band that they could do this at home in Tampa, Fla. She
wanted to start their own rehabilitation center.
“I told her she was crazy and then I said, ‘You know
what? We’ll get people involved,’” Camargo says. “ … So that
was my wife’s mission, to bring a center to Tampa where
we could help the military community and the civilian SCI
(spinal-cord injury) guys here in the Tampa Bay area.”
So they reached out to the community they received
so much support from after his injury to build the team
that would start Stay In Step, a SCI recovery center.
That team includes: Scott Mann, a friend deployed
with Camargo in Afghanistan, serving as chairman of the
board; Steven Hill, the special forces medic who saved
Camargo’s life the day of his injury, as lead trainer; and
November 2015
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BOTH PHOTOS THIS PAGE COURTESY OF STAY IN STEP
On June 20, with support from Toyota, the Stay In Step rehab center for people with
spinal-cord injury opened it’s doors in Tampa, Fla. to provide exercised-based rehab for
veterans and civilians alike.
John Merritt, MD, who was the Chief
of the SCI Center at Haley Hospital in
Tampa and was Camargo’s doctor, as
chief medical advisor.
All those people, along with Camargo’s family, served as his support system
during his recovery. When he was at the
Department of Veterans of Affairs hospital, Camargo noticed not everyone else
had that support or community he had
and he started spending time with those
people to advocate for them.
When Camargo and his wife started
planning their new center, they immediately knew they wanted this sense of
community and family engagement at
the forefront. So, they decided to include
a family room in the center.
“We’re integrating the family
aspect into our center,” Camargo says.
“You know, spinal-cord injury isn’t a
personal injury, it’s a family issue. So
we’re going to invite some family therapy, some family group support and
you know Gaby and I, we have a family
room in the center where we can sit
34 |
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down with the caregivers, the wives,
the mothers of the spinal-cord injury
client, and you know we’re going to be
able to provide that service.”
Stepping Out
Including the family in the recovery process to provide a community who can
guide and talk each other through the
issues everyone has with SCI is just one
way Stay In Step stands out. The other
main element the center provides is the
intensive activity-based exercise that
Camargo has used since his surgery.
Those exercises include freestanding and other exercises any
able-bodied person would do, but
in this case the clients with SCI are
being helped by an onsite, certified
activity-based trainer and assistive
technology and equipment.
“Gaby and I, we’ve been about my
recovery, but we also wanted to bring
a center to Tampa and be able to provide those services that I’ve been able
to enjoy and find recovery,” Camargo
says. “So we just wanted to bring it to
Tampa so other people in the civilian
community and the military community could also enjoy and have a
chance at recovery.”
In January, Stay In Step held a
30-day crowdfunding event on social
media to raise the $750,000 needed to
open the center. When Toyota Motor
North America Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Simon Nagata got word about the center,
the company donated the remaining
$350,000 needed to reach their goal and
brought the Camargos’ vision to life with
a grand opening of the center June 20.
“It’s not about making money, it’s
about having a place where people
can come and workout and receive
recovery,” Camargo says. “Like I told
someone the other day, I can’t promise them recovery, but I can promise
them better quality of life.”
For more information, visit
stayinstep.org. ■
November 2015
9/30/15 10:48 AM
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v i e w poi nt
FRANK CÁCERES, PHD
You Made My Day
with William telling him, “You make
my heart happy,” and, “Go and work
your magic.”
Speaking with William has
become my pep talk before making
the trek to the nursing home.
At A Loss For Words
Once there, I go into the Flamingo Way
Café where I see some of my regulars.
One veteran, a stroke victim, can’t
walk or speak. That’s until I hand him
a treat and tell Kobe, “Up!”, to get the
snack from the man’s hand. Despite
the man’s inability to talk, he laughs
when he sees Kobe approaching and
COURTESY OF FRANK CÁCERES
I love volunteering at the James A.
Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Fla.
It’s an honor to bring a few smiles
to my fellow veterans, if only for a
moment. Some of the vets there have
served in multiple wars, including one
who is a World War II, Korean War and
Vietnam veteran. I know how much
simple things like this mean since I’m
a veteran and a patient there, too.
Living with ms (I refuse to capitalize the acronym for multiple sclerosis because it would imply a respect
for it I don’t have) qualifies me for care
at the hospital’s spinal-cord injury/
disease (SCI/D) center.
I was diagnosed with ms in 1996
and have gone from a slight limp in my
gait to riding in a motorized wheelchair.
In 2010, I was introduced to my new
best friend, Kobe (sorry George).
Since then, the 80-pound yellow Labrador retriever goes everywhere with me, including helping me
bring joy to patients and staff at this
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
medical facility.
eyes light up when they see Kobe. We
see some faces that wear the stresses
of life’s daily hurdles, but upon seeing Kobe, frowns reverse and teeth
appear. Worries are cast aside, even if
only for a few moments.
Research shows stroking an animal’s fur has positive health effects,
including lowering high blood pressure, eliminating stress and improved
cardiovascular health.
In the SCI/D lobby, I come upon
William, an employee who’s always
fi rst to greet people with a smile and
a cheerful, “Good morning.” Kobe
has become William’s favorite pooch,
A Welcome Sight
Haley is large and my appointments
are often at opposite ends of the facility. As we traverse the halls, Kobe is
the focus of attention.
Kobe elicits many smiles and comments, such as, “He’s beautiful,” and
“He’s a perfect example of a yellow Lab.”
These folks obviously have a keen eye
and good taste. Who am I to argue?
I’ve been a volunteer for more
than a year and have gone to the hospital’s nursing home almost every
week since. In that time, I’ve become
a welcome sight to many patients and
staff. OK, Kobe is the welcome sight.
From the moment I exit my van
until I reach the nursing home, I
encounter countless people whose
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036_9523146.indd 036
Frank Cáceres with his service dog extraordinaire, Kobe, above and opposite page top right.
November 2015
9/30/15 10:50 AM
COURTESY OF FRANK CÁCERES
genuinely enjoys having the big fellow
on his lap. He even managed to sing
America the Beautiful to Kobe.
Another gentleman who doesn’t
speak managed to say, “Thank you,”
after one of our visits.
One patient tells Kobe, “I love you
so much,” when he strokes his soft fur. A
doctor asked if he liked Kobe. My friend
answered by saying, “No. I love him.”
I can’t be sure what the most
gratifying part of being a volunteer is — seeing the nursing home
residents’ reactions when they see
Kobe or the numerous patients and
employees who stop to pet him. Their
frowns and facial wrinkles betray the
stresses of a hard day.
Some have even sat on the floor
to scratch his belly, the “service dog
extraordinaire” rolling around on his
back as he enjoys every stroke. After a
few minutes of spoiling him, several
people have said, “Thanks, you’ve
made my day.”
me, “You bring joy to the hearts of
many people here.”
Kobe wears a “VA Volunteer” patch
on his cape and people have asked how
they can get a service dog. So, I compiled a list of the larger organizations
that train and donate service dogs. I
“Having Kobe at my side makes it a win-win situation for
patients, employees and me.”
– Frank Cáceras
An author rarely fi nds himself
at a loss for words, but it’s difficult to
describe the feeling I get when I hear
that. It more than makes up for the
three hours it takes me to get ready
for the 21-mile drive from my house
to Haley.
A Winning Situation
I’ve been blessed with many things for
which I’m grateful.
Although I’m only one of approximately 1,800 volunteers at Haley, it’s
given me a new purpose in life. Having Kobe at my side makes it a winwin situation for patients, employees
and me. A fellow volunteer once told
put that information on cards and give
them to anyone who inquires.
As if volunteering wasn’t rewarding
enough, the VA will pay for veterinarian visits, prescription medicines and
annual teeth cleaning for qualified service dogs. I learned there’s a veterinarian here. I guess she’s a “vet vet.”
The VA has been good to me and
I’m happy I’ve been able to give back,
one smile at a time. When people who
stop to talk and pet Kobe say, “Thanks,
you’ve made my day,” I answer with,
“Thank you for making my day.”
Frank Cáceres, PhD, is a U.S. Army
veteran and author. For more information, visit frankcaceres.com. ■
November 2015
036_9523146.indd 037
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caregiver
© SUZANNE MINTZ
connection
Willing to Help?
By the time we reached Florida
I couldn’t walk on my right leg and
needed a wheelchair to get to baggage claim. We made quite a sight;
Steven was motoring along in his
chair and I was being pushed in one
by an airport employee.
Mom and her aide, Taylor, met
us at the hotel and Taylor drove me to
the nearest emergency room. X-rays
Why is it that some people are so
ready to help others and others aren’t?
The world is full of ordinary people
doing extraordinary things to help others. Unfortunately, the world also has
plenty of people who stand around and
do nothing or refuse to be of assistance.
I believe that when asked, most
people are more willing to lend a hand
than not. Recently, my husband, Steven, and I experienced both sides of
that spectrum.
A More Involved Trip
Take The Risk
On this trip I knew we would definitely
need assistance because I injured my
knee in the airport while leaving.
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038_9523146.indd 038
We’re in a hotel. I shouldn’t
have to call the fire
department just to help get
Steven into bed.
the chief engineer were on the property that late in the evening and the
desk person said, “I’m sorry, I have
my instructions.”
©ISTOCK / OCSKAYMARK
We went to Florida to visit my
98-year-old mother who no longer
feels safe flying. It had been about
two years since she and Steven had
seen each other, and we decided it
was time to make the trip together.
I visit my mother multiple times
during the year. I stay in her apartment
and rent an economy car. However, when
traveling with Steven, we have to check
into a hotel that has an accessible room
with a roll-in shower. We also have to rent
an accessible minivan. Needless to say,
it’s a more expensive and involved trip.
We made a reservation at a hotel
we had stayed in before located about
10 minutes from mom’s apartment. It’s
also right on the beach, which provided
us a bit of a vacation-like atmosphere.
When we check into a hotel, I
always tell the staff that we might need
help doing transfers and we always get
the same response: “Of course, just call
down when you need assistance and
we’ll send someone up.”
We’ve always found hotels to be
very accommodating and have come
to expect it.
“What do you mean?” I said with
a bit of annoyance in my voice. “We
received help last night. No hotel
has ever refused us before. I want to
speak to the general manager.”
The general manager (GM) and
the chief engineer came to our room
shortly after. Following a brief discussion of what we needed, the GM said
to ask for the chief engineer when we
needed help and he’ll assist us.
“Great,” I thought. Problem
solved. But when I called for help that
evening, I was stonewalled once again.
The person at the desk told me
they couldn’t help. Neither the GM or
Assistance From Others
showed no breaks, but I had a bad
sprain. I was outfitted with a brace
and a walker and sent on my way.
That first night we had no difficulty
getting the help we needed at bedtime.
I called the front desk and two gentlemen arrived in a couple of minutes and
easily helped Steven into bed.
However, it was a different story
the next morning. The manager on
duty refused my request. “We can’t
help you,” she said. “I can’t allow an
employee to take the risk of hurting
your husband or himself.”
We had no recourse but to call the
local fire department as we do at home
when we find ourselves in a bind.
The fi re department sent over
some men right away and got Steven
into bed and said they would come
again if needed. I thanked them profusely, but all the time I was thinking,
“This is too weird. We’re in a hotel. I
shouldn’t have to call the fi re department just to help get Steven into bed.”
The next morning when I
called the front desk I got the same
response as the night before. This
time I didn’t even argue. I went out to
the hallway and asked a male housekeeper if he could give me a hand.
November 2015
9/30/15 10:51 AM
©ISTOCK / SUSAN CHIANG
“Of course,” he said. “My mom
was in a chair and I cared for her for
two years.”
A couple of minutes later Steven
was in his chair.
At another point that day we
needed some assistance and I saw a
guest in the hallway and asked if he’d
be willing to help.
“Sure, what do you need?” he
responded.
Once again, it was no big deal.
I showed him how to do a lift and it
was done. Boom, zip!
We had planned to stay four
nights, but between my knee injury
and the humiliating treatment we got
we left after two.
Refused To Help
I offered to sign a waiver saying we
wouldn’t sue the hotel regardless of
what happened, but I couldn’t get the
managers on duty to budge.
They just refused to help. The
housekeeper and the guest didn’t
even hesitate. We were obviously in
need of assistance and they were
more than willing to provide it.
A call to the hotel’s corporate
office when we got home brought
many apologies and promises to fi nd
solutions the next time we came, but
we won’t be going back. ■
HAVE
YOU
MOVED?
For change of address, please notify us six weeks in advance, sending
your old address (as it appears on your mailing label) and your new one.
Email: [email protected]
or Call: 602-224-0500, ext. 109
November 2015
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newsbeat
Bucket Benefits
All those buckets of ice
water are resulting in some
key research for people
with amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis (ALS).
The ALS Association
announced in September that “a critical effort
made possible by the ALS
Ice Bucket Challenge”
is underway. The effort
involves almost 100 people
with ALS, caregivers,
researchers, clinicians and
industry experts to create
drug development guidance designed to accelerate
40 |
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the development of therapies to slow or stop ALS.
The guidance, which
will be submitted to the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), will serve
as a roadmap to help
companies navigate the development process
and provide the
FDA with an
ALS community-centered view of how it
should approach therapies
for the disease.
The goals are to make
the drug development
process, including clini-
cal trials, more efficient,
predictable, faster and
effective at assessing drug
efficacy. This will speed up
access, reduce costs, help
ensure resources are
most effectively utilized, and incentivize
industry to enter the
ALS market and
develop new treatments for ALS.
The group will
focus on seven specific areas
of ALS drug development and
provide an ALS communitywide view on topics that
include diagnosis, natural
history, clinical trials and out-
come measures, biomarkers,
benefit-risk, frontotemporal
dementia and public policy.
The draft guidance will
be posted for public comment
in February or March of next
year, then submitted to the
FDA for review.
For more information,
visit alsa.org.
Service Animals
The Department of Veterans Affars (VA) is making sure
its rules regarding service
animals on its property are
consistent with federal laws.
November 2015
040 Newsbeat wArt 040
9/30/15 10:53 AM
Revised VA regulations annouced late this
summer allow only dogs
certain areas on VA properties to ensure that patient
care, patient safety and
Stem Cell Study
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in
Chicago are exploring a new
therapy using stem cells to
treat spinal-cord injuries
(SCI) within the first 14 to 30
days of injury. Rush is only
the second center in the
country currently studying
this new approach.
The therapy uses a population of cells derived from
human embryonic stem
cells containing progenitor
© THINKSTOCK_ HUNTSTOCK 98955925
individually trained to
perform work or tasks on
behalf of an individual
with a disability to be considered service animals.
Other animals won’t
be permitted in VA facilities
unless expressly allowed as
an exception under the regulation for activities such as
animal-assisted therapy or
for other reasons such as law
enforcement purposes.
The regulation further
confirms that service animals may access VA property
subject to the same terms
that govern the admission
of the public to VA property,
and may be restricted from
infection control standards
are not compromised.
“As I have traveled to
VA facilities throughout the
country, I have heard from
many veterans about what
a vital role their service
animals play in their lives,”
says VA Secretary Robert
McDonald. “The revised
regulation will ensure veterans and employees have
clear guidance regarding
the presence of service
animals in our facilities.
VA remains committed to
ensuring America’s veterans
have access to the health
care benefits for which they
are eligible.”
COURTESY OF MIAMI PROJECT TO CURE PARALYSIS
cells that support nerve cells
and can potentially make
poorly functioning nerves
function better.
“This is a new era
where we are now able to
test whether a dose of stem
cells delivered directly to
the injured site can have an
impact on motor or sensory
function,” says Richard G.
Fessler, MD, PhD, professor
of neurological surgery at
Rush and principal investigator for the Phase 1 clinical
trial involving AST-OPC1
(oligodendrocyte progenitor
cells). “If we could generate even modest improvements in motor or sensory
function, it would result in
significant improvements in
quality of life.”
The clinical trial is
designed to assess safety
and activity of escalating
doses of the special cells for
individuals with a complete
cervical SCI. As of midAugust, one individual was
enrolled in the study.
The trial involves testing three escalating doses of
AST-OPC1 in patients with
subacute, C-5, C-6 and C-7
neurologically-complete
cervical SCI. AST-OPC1 is
administered 14 to 30 days
post-injury.
For this therapy to
work, the cord has to be
in continuity and not severed, according to Fessler.
The study seeks male and
female patients ages 18 to
65 who recently experienced a complete cervical SCI at the neck that
resulted in tetraplegia.
For more information,
visit rush.edu.
Airport Access
Recent amendments to
Department of Transportation (DOT) accessability
requirements should make
it a bit easier to get through
many of the nation’s airports
this holiday travel season.
The DOT issued a final
rule amending its accessibility requirements under section 504 of the Rehabilitation
November 2015
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AIRPLANE © 2003 THINKSTOCK LLC; DOG © THINKSTOCK_HUNTSTOCK;
VESTED SERVICE DOG © ISTOCK/JOVANKA_NOVAKOVIC
Act of 1973 for airport terminal facilities that receive federal financial assistance.
Some of its key changes
include service animal
42 |
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relief areas and mechanical lifts for boarding and
deplaning passengers.
When it comes to service animals, airports are
now required to provide at
least one wheelchair accessible relief area in each
terminal. Airports must
consult with at least one
service animal training
organization in the development of the relief areas.
These requirements go
into effect Aug. 4, 2016.
Airports will now also
need to negotiate with foreign
carriers about providing,
operating and maintaining
lifts, ramps or other devices to
allow boarding and deplaning when level-entry loading
bridges are unavailable.
Signed agreements
between airports and foreign carriers allocating
responsibility for meeting
the requirements were to be
completed by Nov. 3.
The agreement must
ensure that all actions
necessary to ensure accessible boarding and deplaning are completed no later
than Dec. 3.
U.S. carriers are
already required to have
such agreements. ■
November 2015
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sports & rec
Tyler Theide fi nished as
high overall winner, while
John Pilotte earned the
high overall spinal-cord
injury honor at the Aug.
21–23 Wisconsin Trapshoot
in Green Bay.
Theide, Pilotte
Shoot To Wins
Paralyzed veterans participate in the Aug. 21–23 Wisconsin Trapshoot in Green Bay.
Tyler Theide finished as overall
winner, while John Pilotte
received the high overall
spinal-cord injury honor.
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November 2015
9/30/15 10:58 AM
Winning In Colorado
Colby Kortum finished as the Handicap Division singles
champion, while Shawn Beam won the Scratch Division
singles title at the 11th annual Mountain States Chapter Paralyzed Veterans of America Bowling Invitational
in Colorado Springs, Colo., in late August. Kortum
recorded a tournament-high 15-game total of 3,502
pins, beating Dan Spotts by 282 pins. Beam finished
with 2,829 total pins.
Richard Guerrero and David Spotts (Colorado)
defeated Johnnie Baylark and Kenneth Hill (Illinois)
to take the doubles title. Twenty-five bowlers competed in the invitational.
Shane Hayden, Harold Collins, Gary Bowling, Kenneth Hill and Don Law teamed up to win the Up/Down
9-Pin No-Tap Tournament.
Theide totaled 286
points to win the overall title
by seven points over Dave
David. Theide scored 95 out
of a possible 100 points to win
A Division singles, 97 out of
100 to win A Division doubles
and 94 out of 100 to take the
Medium Handicap title.
Mike Martin won singles (93 points) and doubles
(87 points) in the C division.
Bryon Fennig (AA, 93
points), Shawn Borlace (A,
97 points), Sarah Schwacher
(D, 95 points) and Whitney
Prudden (D, 78 points) each
won individual singles titles.
David (B, 95 points) and
Jessica Strasser (D, 92 points)
won doubles titles. Peter
Tweedale (55 points) and
Prudden (55 points) tied for
the D doubles title.
Mike May (85 points)
took the Long Handicap
title, while Randy Lealiou
(91 points) and Strasser (91
points) tied for the Short
Handicap title.
Fenton rolls
Jeff Fenton rolled to the
Sept. 4–6 Keystone Para-
COURTESY OF THE AMERICAN WHEELCHAIR BOWLING ASSOCIATION
COURTESY OF AMERICAN WHEELCHAIR BOWLING ASSOCIATION
Colby Kortum (left) and Shawn Beam.
Richard Guerrero (left) and David Spotts.
lyzed Veterans of America
Trapshoot overall title in
Pittsburgh, winning three
individual divisions.
He fi nished with a 269,
defeating Rick Van Vorst,
the high overall spinal-cord
injury winner, by 23 points.
Fenton totaled 90 out
of 100 points to take the C
singles division, 87 points
to win the B doubles division and 92 points to take
the short handicap title.
Van Vorst won D division doubles with 75 points
and fi nished runner-up in
B singles with 87 points.
Other singles winners
included Dave David (B, 91)
and Arthur Bartman (D, 83).
David also notched the
handgun tournament title,
recording 343 points — 192
out of 200 from the 15-yard
mark and 151 out of 200
from the 25-yard mark. He
defeated David Gifford by
20 points.
LA Making
Paralympic Play
One of the biggest cities
in the United States is makNovember 2015
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| 45
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PN
0
0
3
1
Monthly
1
7
6
6
9/30/15
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$26.00
Suzi Hubbard
2111 E. Highland Ave., Ste. 180., Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, 85016
602-224-0500 ext 109
2111 E. Highland Ave., Ste. 180., Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, 85016
Groulx, Sanchez Lead
Team USA
ing a power play to host the Olympic
and Paralympic Games.
Los Angeles has launched its bid
to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the announcement coming at the Annenberg
Richard Hoover, 2111 E. Highland Ave., Ste. 180., Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, 85016
Richard Hoover, 2111 E. Highland Ave., Ste. 180., Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, 85016
Thomas Fjerstad, 2111 E. Highland Ave., Ste. 180., Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, 85016
Paralyzed Veterans of America
801 18th Street, NW, Washington DC 20006
X
PN
September 2015
24,690
24,795
20,628
20,224
0
0
419
465
3
3
21,050
20,692
1,723
1,712
0
0
0
0
152
200
1,875
1,912
22,925
22,604
1,765
2,191
24,690
24,795
91.8%
91.5%
PN - Digital Edition
53
125
21,103
20,817
22,978
22,729
91.8%
91.6%
X
November 2015
9/30/15
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044_9523146.indd 046
Community Beach House on Santa
Monica Beach in early September.
LA replaces Boston after the city
withdrew its bid in late July.
With its bid endorsed by the
United States Olympic Committee
(USOC) board of directors and Los
Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los
Angeles will try to become the fi rst
U.S. city to host the Summer Games
since Atlanta in 1996.
Los Angeles’ plan is based on the
core principles of the International
Olympic Committee’s Olympic agenda
2020 with 85% of proposed venues
in place or planned and five primary
venue clusters within 30 minutes of the
proposed Athletes’ Village.
“We are thrilled to be partnering
with Los Angeles as our U.S. bid city
for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic
Games,” says USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. “LA has the proven experience
in hosting the Games, and knows
how to deliver world-class events for
athletes and an extraordinary experience for fans. Coupled with the city’s
culture of creativity and innovation,
we are confident LA can deliver an
outstanding Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024.”
For more information, visit
LA24.org.
COURTESY OF PARALYZED VETERANS RACING
X
Paralyzed Veterans Racing (PVR)
Team members Will Groulx and Oz
Sanchez helped lead Team USA to a
golden end to the road cycling season.
A Navy veteran, Groulx (Portland, Ore.) doubled up with wins
in the 16-kilometer men’s H2 class
road (49 minutes, .07 seconds) and
the men’s H2 time trial (32:36) at the
International Cycling Union Paracycling Road World Cup in Pietermaritzburg,
South
Africa,
while Sanchez (San
Diego), a
Marine
Corps
veteran,
earned a
silver in
the men’s
H5 16-kilometer time
Oz Sanchez
trial (26:47).
Team
USA fi nished with 18 overall medals, including 11 gold, and collected
five total world cup titles. For more
results, visit www.uci.ch.
But that wasn’t all for the PVR
Racing Team. In early September,
team members Todd Richardson
(H3), Dane Pilon (H5), David Neumer
(H4) and Brian Muscarella (H2)
each nabbed criterium titles at the
Tour De La France in Anderson, S.C.
Pilon (H5, 31:46.9), Richardson (H3,
32:20.3) and Muscarella (H2, 38:19.4)
also earned road race titles. ■
November 2015
9/30/15 10:58 AM
calendar
2015
NOVEMBER
Abilities Expo — Bay Area
METAL & MUSCLE EXPO
Nov. 6–8, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston. A program to introduce injured
military men and women to Paralympic sports.
Contact: Chuck French, 713-562-4089.
Nov. 18–20, San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, Calif.
Contact: www.abilitiesexpo.com.
BEN TANNER OF BEN TANNER PHOTOGRAPHY
SHEPHERD CENTER LEGENDARY PARTY
Nov. 7, The Ritz-Carlton-Buckhead, Atlanta.
Benefits Shepherd Center’s Shepherd Fund.
Contact: www.shepherd.org.
NATIONAL ADAPTIVE SPORTS CONFERENCE &
NATIONAL DELEGATE ASSEMBLY
Nov. 12–15, Embassy Suites Hotel and Spa,
St. Charles, Mo. Training, education and networking opportunity open to all professionals
and students involved in adaptive sports.
Contact: www.wasusa.org.
CAREERS & THE DISABLED MAGAZINE’S
CAREER EXPO
Nov. 13, Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. Meet
with Fortune 500 companies and government agencies looking to hire new talent.
Contact: www.eop.com/expo.
PLYMOUTH ROCK ‘N’ RUN
Nov. 26, Yorba Regional Park, Anaheim,
Calif. A 5K, 10K or 15K run or walk in support of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at
the University of California-Irvine.
Contact: www.plymouthrocknrun.com.
10TH ANNUAL RALEIGH RUMBLE
Dec. 5–6, Barwell Road Community Center,
Raleigh, N.C. A six-team quad rugby
tournament.
Contact: Debbie Myers, 919-696-6031.
RICHARD CARTWRIGHT MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
Dec. 12–13, California State UniversitySacramento, Sacramento, Calif. A five- to
six-team Division II quad rugby tournament.
Contact: Debrah Whitehurst, 916-799-5730.
DISCOVER SCUBA
Nov. 13, A-1 SCUBA and Travel Aquatics
Center pool, Littleton, Colo. A $20 refundable deposit is required. Part of the Craig
Hospital Adventure Program.
Contact: www.craighospital.org.
DECEMBER
VETTES FOR VETERANS
Nov. 15, TGI Fridays, Carlsbad, Calif. An
all-corvette car show honoring San Diegoarea veterans. All proceeds go to Paralyzed
Veterans of America Cal-Diego Chapter and
the Semper Fi Fund of San Diego.
Contact: www.northcoastvettes.org.
2015 CHICAGO INDULGENCE NIGHT
Dec. 3, Gibson’s Steakhouse and Hugo’s Frog
Bar, Chicago. Hosted by the Chicago chapter
of the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis in
support of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.
Contact: 305-243-3863.
6TH AIR RIFLE & AIR PISTOL COMPETITION
Jan. 3, Point Loma Naval Sub Base, San
Diego. Hosted by the Paralyzed Veterans of
America Cal-Diego Chapter. All people with
disabilities are welcome. Air rifle or pistol
provided, if needed.
Contact: 858-450-1444.
LAS VEGAS INVITATIONAL
Dec. 3–6, Sunset Station, Henderson,
Nev. A wheelchair bowling tournament
sponsored by the Paralyzed Veterans of
America Nevada Chapter and the American
Wheelchair Bowling Association.
Contact: Julie Johnson, 713-849-9052.
The calendar of coming events is provided
as a service to our readers. PN cannot
guarantee the accuracy of information
given, so be sure to verify dates and
locations with the contact person or
organization listed. View the complete
calendar online at pvamag.com. ■
A MAGICAL EVENING
Nov. 19, Cipriani Wall Street, New York City.
A gala benefit for the Christopher & Dana
Reeve Foundation.
Contact: Benefit office at 212-763-8594 or
[email protected].
THE HARTFORD SKI SPECTACULAR
Dec. 1–5, Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge,
Colo. A winter sports festival for people
with disabilities.
Contact: 301-217-9842 or www.skispec.org.
JANUARY 2016
November 2015
047_9523146.indd 047
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pva service office roster
ALABAMA
VARO, Montgomery
800-795-3581
334-213-3433
ARIZONA
VARO, Phoenix
800-795-3582 / 602-627-3311
ARKANSAS
VARO, North Little Rock
800-795-9236 / 501-370-3757
CALIFORNIA (Hawaii, Manila)
VAMC, Long Beach
800-795-3584
562-826-8000, ext. 3774
VARO, Los Angeles
310-235-7796
VAMC, Palo Alto
650-493-5000, ext. 65046
VARO, Sacramento
800-795-3587 / 916-364-6791
VAMC, San Diego
858-552-7519
VARO, San Diego
800-795-3586 / 619-400-5320
Vocational Rehabilitation Office
Long Beach
888-771-8387, ext.4607,
562-826-8000, ext. 4607
COLORADO (Wyoming)
VARO, Denver
800-795-3588 / 303-914-5590
DELAWARE
VARO, Wilmington
800-795-3589 / 302-993-7252
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PVA National Office
800-424-8200 / 202-872-1300
FLORIDA
VAMC, Lake City
386-755-3016, ext. 2236
VAMC, Miami
800-795-3587 / 305-575-7180
VAMC, Orlando
800-795-3593
407-629-1599, ext. 1125
VARO, St. Petersburg
800-795-3594 / 727-319-7470
Augusta
706-733-0188, ext. 2875
MISSOURI
VAMC, Kansas City
800-795-3612 / 816-922-2882
PUERTO RICO
VACHS, San Juan
787-641-7582 ext. 11566
ILLINOIS
VARO, Chicago
800-795-3598 / 312-980-4278
VAMC, St. Louis
866-328-2670 / 314-894-6467
VARO, San Juan
888-795-6550 / 787-772-7384
VARO, St. Louis
800-795-3614 / 314-552-9887
SOUTH CAROLINA
VARO, Columbia
800-795-3631 / 803-647-2432
VAMC, Hines
800-795-3599 / 708-202-5623
Hines
708-202-5832
INDIANA
VARO, Indianapolis
800-795-3601 / 317-916-3626
IOWA
VARO, Des Moines
800-795-3602 / 515-323-7544
KANSAS
VAMROC, Wichita
800-795-3603 / 316-688-6875
KENTUCKY
VARO, Louisville
800-795-3604
502-566-4430 / 4431
LOUISIANA
VARO, New Orleans
800-795-3605 / 504-619-4380
MAINE (Vermont, New Hampshire)
VAMROC, Augusta
866-795-1911 / 207-621-7394
046_9523146.indd 048
NEW MEXICO
VAMC, Albuquerque
505-265-1711, ext. 5046
Rhode Island)
VARO, Boston
800-795-3607 / 617-303-1395
VARO, Nashville
800-795-3569 / 615-695-6383
TEXAS
VAMC, Dallas
800-795-3570 / 214-857-0105
VAMC, Houston
713-794-7993
NEW YORK
VAMC, Bronx
866-297-1319
718-584-9000, ext. 6272
VAMC, San Antonio
800-795-3572
210-617-5300, ext. 16819
VARO, Buffalo
800-795-3619 / 716-857-3353
VAMC, Syracuse
315-425-4400, ext. 53317
VAMC, Brockton
774-826-2219
West Roxbury
857-203-6091
OHIO
VAMC, Cleveland
216-791-3800, ext. 4159
MICHIGAN
VARO, Detroit
800-795-3608 / 313-471-3996
VARO, Cleveland
800-795-3623 / 216-522-3214
MISSISSIPPI (Louisiana)
VARO, Jackson
800-795-3610 / 601-364-7188
TENNESSEE
VAMC, Memphis
800-795-3568
901-523-8990, ext. 7795
VARO, Houston
800-795-3571 / 713-383-2727
NORTH CAROLINA
VARO, Winston-Salem
800-795-3622
336-251-0836
Minneapolis
612-629-7021
SOUTH DAKOTA
VAMROC, Sioux Falls
800-795-3632 / 605-333-6801
VARO, Albuquerque
800-795-3618 / 505-346-4896
MASSACHUSETTS (Connecticut,
VARO, St. Paul
800-795-3609 / 612-970-5668
PN
NEW JERSEY
VARO, Newark
800-795-3617 / 973-297-3228
RDAA, Syracuse
315-423-5013
Tampa
813-972-2000 , ext. 5681
48 |
VAMC, Reno
775-321-4789
MARYLAND
VARO, Baltimore
800-795-3606
410-230-4470, ext. 1020
VAMC, Tampa
800-795-3595 / 813-978-5841
VAMC, Augusta
800-795-3597 / 706-823-2219
NEVADA (Utah)
VARO, Las Vegas
800-795-3583
702-791-9000, ext. 14458
VARO, New York
800-795-3620 / 212-807-3114
MINNESOTA (North Dakota)
VAMC, Minneapolis
612-629-7022
GEORGIA
VARO, Atlanta
800-795-3596 / 404-929-5333
NEBRASKA
VARO, Lincoln
800-795-3615 / 402-420-4017
OKLAHOMA (Arkansas)
VARO, Muskogee
800-795-3624 / 918-781-7768
VAMC, Oklahoma City
800-795-3625 / 405-456-5483
OREGON (Idaho)
VARO, Portland
800-795-3627 / 503-412-4762
PENNSYLVANIA
VARO, Philadelphia
800-795-3628 / 215-381-3057
VARO, Waco
800-795-3573 / 254-299-9944
San Antonio
877-469-5300, ext. 10148
210-617-5300, ext. 10148
VIRGINIA
VAMC, Hampton
800-795-1350
757-722-9961, ext. 2943
VAMC, Richmond
800-795-3574 / 804-675-5316
VARO, Roanoke
800-795-3575 / 540-597-1707
Richmond
866-752-8105 / 804-675-5155
WASHINGTON (Alaska, Montana)
VAMC, Seattle
206-768-5415
VARO, Seattle
800-795-3576 / 206-220-6149
WEST VIRGINIA
VARO, Huntington
800-795-3577 / 304-399-9393
WISCONSIN
VARO, Milwaukee
800-795-3580 / 414-902-5655
VARO, Pittsburgh
800-795-3629 / 412-395-6255
November 2015
9/30/15 11:03 AM
classifieds
Classified ads are printed at the editor’s discretion. PN neither endorses nor guarantees any of the products or services advertised.
MISCELLANEOUS
THE COMFORT COVER: Urinary bag cover,
machine washable, maintain your privacy and
dignity. www.lifecomfortcover.com.
USA WHEELCHAIR JEANS & SLACKS:
Highest-quality seated comfort. For FREE catalog, call 800-935-5170 / www.USAJeans.net.
REAL ESTATE
FLORIDA
JACK KELLER, INC., REALTORS
2440 West Bay Drive, Largo, FL 33770
727-586-1497
www.WheelchairAccessibleHomes.com
(LEGEND = BEDROOMS/BATHROOMS/GARAGE SIZE)
NEW! NEW PORT RICHEY: 3/2/2, roll-in shwr. &
sink 1653 sq ft. $119,900. NEW! PARRISH: 3/3.5/3,
roll-in shwr. & sink 2115 sq ft., pool $318,250.
NEW! GENEVA: 4/3.5/5+, roll-in shwr. & sink 3928
sq ft., $450,000. NEW! BARTOW: 4/2/2, roll-in
shwr. & sink 1995 sq ft., pool $199,000. MAITLAND: 4/3/2, roll-in shwr. & sink, level entry, pool.
2759 sq ft $475,000. TAMPA: 5/4.5/2, roll-in shwr.
& sink, 3657 sq ft $384,900. SEMINOLE: 2/2, VILLA, roll-in shwr. & sink, ramped entry, community
pool. 1180 sq ft $62,900. THE VILLAGES: 1/1/1,
VILLA, roll-in shwr. & sink, level entry, community
pool. 804 sq ft $148,400.
+ PHOTOS & MORE ON OUR WEBSITE!
VEHICLES
2005-2014 10" LOWERED-FLOOR MINIVANS: Call Shawn, 866-869-0808..
2008 FORD E350 15-passenger van, full
conversion, and 2006 POLARIS RANGER,
fully-converted for wheelchair. Pictures/
info call Jim Pittman, 213-705-4669 cell,
616-642-9956 (MI).
YOUR AD COULD BE HERE: Classified ads
must be prepaid and are not commissionable
($1/word—personal,
$1.50/word—business, bold lead-in no extra charge). Contact Sherri Shea, [email protected] or
602-224-0500, ext. 102.
I N D E X O F A DV E R T I S E R S
PAGE
Apex Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
HAVE YOU MOVED?
TRAVEL
Aquila Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
WHEELCHAIR ESCAPES
Concepts In Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Over 22 years of hands-on wheelchair
travel experience. Personalized service.
EX N FLEX International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
visit www.wheelchairescapes.com
or call Kristy at 866-382-3596
Freedom Mobility LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Why not have the benefit of a Certified
Accessible Travel Specialist and the power of
WHERE WILL YOUR
BUCKET LIST TAKE YOU?
Circulation Department, PVA
Publications
2111 E. Highland Ave., Suite 180 / Phoenix, AZ
85016-4702
602-224-0500, ext. 109
Innovations Health Devices LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
KEMPF Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
working for you?
For change of address, please notify us six
weeks in advance, sending your
old address (as it appears on your
mailing label) and your new one.
Freedom Motors USA Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Australia & New Zealand
Egypt & Israel
Vietnam & Cambodia
Fascinating India
Rome/Florence/Venice
Austria & Switzerland
Peru & the Galapagos
South Africa & South America
Begin today. Call
Accessible Journeys
800.846.4537
Mobility Ventures LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
NMEDA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Nuprodx Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Orion Medical Group Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Permobil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Pride Mobility / Quantum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
PVA Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Redman Power Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Sure Hands Lift & Care Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Toyota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
University of Miami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Making the world accessible since 1985
November 2015
049_9523146.indd 049
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9/30/15 11:04 AM
SCOBA RHODES
andfinally...
Being Grateful
This month usually marks the
beginning of the holiday season,
starting with Thanksgiving.
We used to travel back to our
family nests, spend the long weekend
celebrating with family and friends,
and feast on turkey, stuffi ng, potatoes
and the usual local fi xings.
For the most part, I think nowadays Thanksgiving has become a
race for the stores to see who is going
to open fi rst on Black Friday. That
race has now gotten so competitive
that some stores no longer close on
Thanksgiving Day.
Lines outside of Best Buy, Target
and Wal-Mart can begin to form as
early as the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The holiday has become for some
people a quick dinner and a race to
their favorite store or mall.
A Mountain Of Things
I was brought to life one year when my
wife and I went to Indiana to spend
Thanksgiving with my family.
We stayed downtown, and my
wife almost on instinct, woke up early
on Friday and headed out anticipating the usual crowds and long
lines. Imagine my surprise when
she returned 30 minutes later with a
strange look on her face saying that
not a single store was open.
When I inquired what we were
going to do, she replied, “I guess we’ll
spend more time with your family since
we’re here.” Wow, what a concept.
The missing deals that were no
longer available really weren’t worth
leaving the party with family, many of
whom we don’t see that often.
We even sat around the living
room and began discussing in earnest
the things we were grateful for. I was
really astounded how difficult it was
at first for me to talk. But once I really
50 |
PN
050_9523146.indd 050
thought about it, I have a mountain of
things to be grateful for.
A New Meaning
First, I want to say how grateful I am
for the fact that there are veterans’
hospitals.
I’m grateful there are doctors
who are willing to spend time away
from their own hospitals, and drive
sometimes almost an hour to take
care of the veterans seeking assistance with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
I have a group of friends
within PVA that have some
of the biggest hearts I’ve
ever met.
I’m grateful for the outstanding
nurses who have chosen to spend part
of their careers at the VA. Most of all, I
am grateful for the Paralyzed Veterans
of America (PVA) and the monitoring,
evaluating and advocating it does on a
daily basis for me and all veterans.
Also, I’m grateful for the opportunity to attend school and learn a new
career. Thanks to the Swim with Mike
Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund, I’m not just going to
school, but the classes are on a beautiful campus and the students are more
than helpful.
The subject matter is also enlightening and allowing me to really help
other veterans who are returning
battle ridden and scarred, inside and
out. This has given my life a meaning
it didn’t have before my paralysis.
Big Hearts
Furthermore, I have a group of friends
within PVA that have some of the biggest hearts I’ve ever met.
I watch these men and women
constantly bond with each other, visit
with each other in the hospitals, laugh
and joke when things are great, and
cry with you when things are not.
As they push their wheelchairs
through the VA hospital, I can see all
they mean to the well-being of the veterans in the hospital, and yet, are also so
busy on the outside raising money and
awareness on the plight of veterans.
There are times when I fail to realize that my personal well-being is tied
directly to the efforts of these other paralyzed veterans, and they too give me
lots of reasons to be constantly grateful.
A Lucky Man
Then, there’s my family. My mother,
father, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles
and cousins have all been there for me
one way or another. They’ve helped
make this experience not just bearable, but fruitful.
Along with my family, there’s my
wife who has never left my side since
my injury. She has spent so much time
sitting beside me holding my hand,
bringing me home-cooked food and
visiting with me while I was lying in a
hospital bed when she could have been
doing so many other things. There’s no
way I could have made it this far without her, and for that I’m forever grateful.
You know, as I look back at this
list a huge notion just blows over me.
To paraphrase New York Yankees and
Baseball Hall of Fame legend Lou
Gehrig, it may be easy to say that I’ve
gotten a bad break in life, but when I
really think about it, I believe I truly
am one of the luckiest men around.
Now, that’s something to be
grateful for. I think I’ll have a second
plate of turkey this year.
Scoba Rhodes is a U.S. Navy veteran
and author of Rules of Engagement: A
Self-Help Guide for Those Overcoming
Major Personal Trauma. ■
November 2015
9/30/15 11:05 AM
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9/30/15 11:06 AM
bc_9523146.indd 052
9/30/15 11:07 AM

PN Magazine November 2015

Transcription

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