Tying healing to recovery

Published May 3, 2012
By Spc. Juana M. Nesbitt
2d Eng. Bde. Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- A local branch of a much larger group is promoting fly fishing as a way to help combat veterans recover from their physical and emotional wounds.

Project Healing Waters is a nonprofit organization that provides fly-tying, fly-casting, and fishing instruction classes to wounded service members and veterans every Thursday from 4 until 6 p.m. in the JBER Soldier and Family Assistance Center.

The classes give participants a chance to do something and focus on other things besides the daily routine of their medical and physical appointments, said Project Healing Waters co-director Jan Schnorr.

It's also an opportunity for wounded warriors to talk to other fishermen, learn a new hobby and get connected with the community, she said.

"They're taking thread and putting it on a hook so it takes muscle memory, hand-eye coordination - it's a therapy situation for the shoulder, the arm and hand," said co-director Damon Blankenship.

"It's therapeutic because they actually see something developing," Blankenship said. "As they work with it, they make them faster and easier, and they make a better product, they make a better fly."

As a former volunteer, now a participant, Air Force Staff Sgt. Brent Allen has seen both sides of the program.

Due to complications with a pinched nerve in his neck, Allen recently endured a second neck surgery. He said he is trying to rehabilitate his arm.

"Just using these fine motor skills is helping me rehabilitate," Allen said.

Guided fly-fishing outings to the Kenai River, Green Lake, Cantwell, Glennallen, the Russian River, Clear Creek, Nenana, Middle Kenai and the Anchor River are scheduled throughout the summer months, all at no cost to participants.

The trips cover a wide variety of fishing styles which provide different avenues of experience and therapy to the participants.

Family members are welcome to attend some of the trips.

The fishing trips tend to have a calming effect on the service members allowing them to relax and meditate, said Warrior Transition Battalion Operations Supervisor Maj. Raul Rovira.

Active duty members who have experienced physical or emotional trauma are often referred to Project Healing Waters by doctors involved in their treatment, Rovira said.
The program can be geared to each participant's specific needs, according to Blankenship.

"We had some folks that did not want to be with a big group - they were just stressed, so we got them with a smaller group," Blankenship said. "They tied and then after a while they could be with the big group; that's growth."

'There's more to it than just the fishing: the camaraderie, the development, the anticipation of the season," Blankenship said.