Bedford VA Medical Center, Massachusetts

Sensory and Physical Rehab Service

The Sensory and Physical Rehabilitation (SPR) Service Line provides Rehabilitation Services and Prosthetics and Sensory Aids to veterans to maximize their well-being and independence. The service line is made up of: 

Visual Impairment Service Team (VIST) Program 

Recreation Therapy and Creative Arts Therapy 

Adaptive Sports Resource Guide 

Mission Statement:

Provide Veterans with world-class Physical Rehabilitative Services, Prosthetic Devices and Adaptive Equipment

Vision:

Bedford VA Sensory and Physical Rehabilitation Service will be the benchmark in excellence and value in Physical Rehabilitation and Prosthetic services by providing exemplary services that are both veteran-centered and evidence-based. Services will be provided by engaged, collaborative teams in an integrated treatment team environment that supports learning, discovery, and continuous improvement

Recreational Therapy is a process that utilizes recreation and other activity-based interventions to improve leisure functioning based upon the assessed needs of individuals with illness or disabling conditions.

The purpose of recreational therapy is to improve or maintain physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual functioning in order to facilitate full participation in life.

What is Creative Arts Therapy?
Creative arts therapists in VISN 1 include art therapists, drama therapists, and music therapists. Creative arts therapists offer various arts modalities and use of the creative process to promote wellness, alleviate pain and stress, foster healthy expression and understanding of emotion, enhance cognitive abilities, learn new skills, relax, experience pleasure and provides unique opportunities for social interaction and connection.    

Recreation Therapy and Creative Arts Therapy

Bedford Staff Contact Information for the Events

The Golden Age games Coordinator:       Felicia Hall, recreational therapist, Phone: 781-687-3283.

The Creative Arts Festival Coordinators: Leah Sullivan, recreation therapist and Nadene Landry, creative art therapist.

National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic

This event is the world leader in promoting rehabilitation by instructing veterans with disabilities in adaptive Alpine and Nordic skiing, and introducing them to a number of other adaptive recreational activities and sports. For many newly injured veterans, including many injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Clinic offers their first experience in winter sports and gives them the inspiration to take their rehabilitation to a higher level. Participants include veterans with spinal cord injuries, amputations, traumatic brain injuries, neurological challenges and visual impairments. 

National Veterans Golden Age Games

Life begins at 55, at least it does for more than 600 veterans competing in this national event, the premier senior adaptive rehabilitation program in the United States. It is the only national multi-event sports and recreational seniors’ competition program designed to improve the quality of life for all older veterans, including those with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. It is one of the most progressive and adaptive rehabilitative senior sports programs in the world, offering 14 different sports and recreational activities.

National Veterans Wheelchair Games 

The largest annual wheelchair sports competition in the world, this event offers 17 different sports to veterans who use wheelchairs due to spinal cord injuries, amputations and neurological diseases. The Games promote rehabilitation through rigorous competition in such events as basketball, rugby, softball, hand cycling and others. A special “Kids Day” program allows children with disabilities to meet the athletes and be introduced to wheelchair sports. While past Games have produced national and world-class champions, the Games also provide opportunities for newly disabled veterans to gain sports skills and be exposed to other wheelchair athletes.

National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic

VA’s newest national program, the Summer Sports Clinic promotes rehabilitation of body and spirit by teaching summer sporting activities to veterans with significant physical or psychological impairments. The Clinic offers such sports as surfing, sailing, kayaking, track and field, and cycling to veterans who are newly injured from amputations, traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other neurological disorders, all benefitting from the therapeutic environment offered at the Clinic. Each year, the events offered will vary, allowing greater exposure to new adaptive sports and recreational activities

National Veterans Creative Arts Festival

This annual program is the culmination of talent competitions in art, creative writing, dance, drama and music for veterans treated in the VA’s national health care system. Each year, approximately 130 veterans exhibit their artwork or perform musical, dance, dramatic or original writing selections in a gala variety show. A professional orchestra accompanies the performance. All veterans invited to participate are selected winners of year-long, national fine arts talent competitions in which thousands of veterans enter, from VA medical facilities across the nation.