Article Contributed on: 8/4/2008 5:01:38 PM
A little sand didn't do much to deter a fleet of wheelchairs from reaching the water's edge.
More than 40 patients with spinal or brain injuries wheeled across the beach at Cherry Creek Reservoir on Aug. 1 to participate in the 29th annual Craig Hospital Hobie Day.
The event gave patients an opportunity to spend the day on the waves in Hobie Cat sailboats, motor and pontoon boats.
"Our goal is to give them life back and show them the world,"
Claire Cahow, Craig Hospital recreational therapist, said.
Besides a day of fun, patients are taught how to navigate the beach in a wheelchair and are shown how to be active post-injury. For many patients, this is also the first time they have been out in public since being hurt.
"They're learning skills as well as getting out of the hospital," said
Brynn Friedlander, public relations coordinator for Craig Hospital.
Hobie Day is the hospital's largest patient function and is well-received by participants.
"You don't get many chances to work on your tan," joked
Chani Capps, 18, of Grand Junction, in between bites of hot dog zig-zagged with yellow mustard.
Capps took advantage of the barbecue lunch after returning from a trip around the reservoir in one of the Hobie sailboats.
"It was awesome," Capps said. "It was so outside of anything we would do in the hospital."
Capps has been a patient at Craig since suffering a C5 cervical injury in a car accident in Idaho on a post-graduation road trip May 30.
"It was a great trip, at least [the accident] was on the last day," Capps said.
Initially, Capps had no movement after the accident, but with the help of physical therapy at Craig, is now regaining movement in her limbs. Capps hopes to be out of the hospital by mid-September.
Craig is one of the nation's top hospitals specializing in spinal and brain injury treatment. Patients come from across the county to be treated at Craig.
"I came in all the way from Hawaii just to go boating," patient
Cedric Kahue said with a smile.
Kahue suffered a work-related injury June 12 and has been at Craig for two weeks. Kahue said he was a quadriplegic, but with therapy he has been able to start moving both arms and one of his legs.
"I've got to work on my motor skills," Kahue said, pun intended, as he got ready to be loaded into
Werner Uebelhoer's18 ½ foot Larson ski boat.
Uebelhoer, of Colorado Springs, and his brother are just two of many volunteers who bring their boats and donate their time to Hobie Day year after year.
"It's really rewarding," Uebelhoer said, "the whole purpose is to show them they can do more than they think."
Over the years, Hobie Day has grown, improved and even patients who have been released come back to participate and be an inspiration to newly-injured patients.
"It's just evolved into something that really works," Cahow said.