Veterans

NEHSA takes pride in welcoming our Veterans with disabilities home, whether it is for therapeutic reasons or for rest and relaxation.

Partnering with VA Healthcare Systems across New England, NEHSA hosts several multi-day and single-day events for servicemen and women with disabilities.

These events promote rehabilitation by instructing Veterans with physical and psychological needs in adaptive alpine skiing, adaptive snowboarding, adaptive kayaking, adaptive hiking and other adaptive activities and sports.

“What you need is a willingness to learn and a sense of humor,” “if I can ski, anyone can,” Tony Santilli, Marine Corps Veteran.

Tony Santilli, Marine Corps Veteran whose leg was amputated after being wounded in Vietnam, had a dream of sharing the feeling of freedom and motion that he gets from skiing with local area Veterans. Tony found that skiing helped him to overcome PTSD and his disability.

Through combining resources and contacts, Santilli and Ralph Marche, Chief of Voluntary Service at Boston VA, established the New England Winter Sports Clinic for Disabled Veterans turning Santilli’s dream into reality in January 1998. He wanted to make a difference in the lives of other disabled veterans by giving them the same opportunity to learn to ski. They developed the program for any Veteran who is physically disabled and medically stable. The focus is on downhill skiing with some alternative recreational activities, such as wheelchair basketball, provided. Prior to the New England Winter Sports Clinic, Veterans would travel to Colorado to attend a National Disabled Veterans Ski Program.

In the past five years, over 140 participants have benefited from the clinic. Santilli would tell all his fellow Veterans, “what you need is a willingness to learn and a sense of humor”and “if I can ski, anyone can.”

Stories are Many

A visually impaired female Veteran learning to ski at 82 years young. A young man who had suffered a spinal cord injury participating one month after being discharged from the medical center and active duty. He realized that he was still able to ski, a favorite activity prior to his accident. A bilateral amputee living in a VA nursing home unit who said after attending the clinic, “If I can learn to ski at 72 with no legs, I guess I can go home.” He had modifications made to his home and moved back with his wife.

“This is my feel good program of the year,” notes Marche. “You can’t leave here and not feel good. The participants show unbelievable courage just coming up here. They come together because it is for veterans – it’s a camaraderie they shared on the battlefields and a bravery they shared in military life that they’re willing to share on the mountains.”

Perhaps more than ever, adaptive skiing is seen as a key to healthy rehabilitation and therapy for people with disabilities.