Elks kayak program supports vets with PTSD

MIDDLETOWN — This year, the Middletown Elks 771 veteran’s kayaking project was brought to the attention of the Middletown Emblem Club 452 by Elk Morton Pear, an Air Force veteran and Kayaking Committee member.

Others involved were Kathleen McPherson, Vietnam veteran Jerry Augustine and veteran Bill Currlin, the Elks Americanism chairman, according to a press release. Elks member Pat Valenti, vice president of the organization, and Nancy Pahl joined Georgie Leone, Emblem Club corresponding secretary, at Lake Beseck in Middlefield to help out.

Weather permitting, the program will be held for 16 weeks, hosted by members of the Rover’s Lodge, owned by veteran Sam Babcock, the release said.

The kayaking project was founded due to the need to support veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Being supportive of a nondrug-related treatment is always preferred, as it supports the goals of the Elk’s Drug Prevention Program, as well as the Emblem Club’s Drug Awareness Committee’s ongoing projects, according to Leone.

It began last year, and uses an approved treatment for

PTSD. This type of program often works with veterans who have been injured in explosions with resulting brain injury and mental stress, the release said. “The brain may protect itself by shutting down. The stress keeps them wound up … in a state of hypervigilance,” Leone said.

“Until they can understand what’s happening to them, and unwind, their reuniting with family, facing employment or continuing their education is extremely difficult. So, when they try facing the water with kayaking or just being near it repetitively they may begin to relax,” according to the release.

“They realize that the better feeling of relaxation can replace the constant tensions they were carrying on a daily basis,” Leone said. Veterans are introduced to a sport that can incorporate physical, occupational, recreational and mental therapy at the same time. The effectiveness of kayaking is believed due to the symmetrical, repetitive activities like those seen in cross-country skiing and inline skating.

These are widely recognized as effective therapy for PTSD. In kayaking, the steady left-right-left-right tempo works in the same way. It helps decrease the frequency and intensity of symptoms.

The Elks helping with the project were trained by experienced Kayaking Committee members to introduce the veterans safely into this new activity. The veterans are invited free of charge to this program of recreational therapy. Each week, lunch is served. The involved Elks have the chance to enjoy the camaraderie of these disabled veterans, volunteers and other supporters.

Even though there is no charge to attend and participate, soon the veterans themselves begin to pay it forward as they shared the physical tasks involved with moving the kayaks and other supplies, Leone said.

“They are cheerleaders for those who join the group after them. When they choose to help someone new to the program become comfortable, their own tensions can take a back seat,” she said.

The Emblem Club takes valued veterans’ programs very seriously and participate in many other programs, she said. “I personally find a great sense of peace while helping with this project. It has become a weekly necessity for me as well, Leone said.

“It’s another way to give respect and support to those who have served their country and who just may need some quiet kindness as well as boisterous laughter rolled into a morning at a lake,” she said.