Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, BETHESDA, Md  –   Walter Reed has one of the most robust therapeutic recreation programs in the Military Health System (MHS), helping beneficiaries improve and recover from disabilities and illnesses through various of adaptive activities.

National Therapeutic Recreation Week, celebrated annually the second week in July, highlights the importance of recreation therapy in enhancing the lives of individuals facing disabilities or illnesses. This week-long observance serves as a platform to raise awareness, promote inclusion, and recognize the transformative power of recreational activities.

“Recreational therapists are trained clinical providers [who] enhance quality of life [of patients] through the focus on leisure engagement,” shared Cara Navarro, a certified therapeutic recreation specialist (CTRS) at Walter Reed.

“Being a recreational therapist means providing a holistic, non-pharmacological, strengths-based approach focusing on the patient and their leisure lifestyle to support positive outcomes in their treatment,” Navarro added. “It means meeting our patients where they are to support them in accessing a meaningful leisure lifestyle, to be their advocate in the healing process, and to foster and encourage skills to seek resources and connect with clinical and community supports.”

This can involve a various intervention modalities including adaptive sports, yoga, games, exercises, and creative arts such as painting, drawing, craftwork, music, dance, and drama, enhancing the patient’s motor, sensory, cognitive, communication, and behavioral skills.

Harvey Naranjo, the Adaptive Sports and Reconditioning program manager for the Department of Rehabilitation at Walter Reed, oversees hospital and community-based adaptive sports programs for MHS beneficiaries. The programs include sled hockey, adaptive boxing, kayaking, and other adaptive recreational activities.

Naranjo, who has served at Walter Reed since 2002, was instrumental in the development and implementation of Adaptive Sports and Community Reintegration programs for severely injured service members returning from war. “These programs allowed medical staff at Walter Reed to harness their patient’s competitive and warrior spirit allowing them to maximize their rehabilitation and independence post-injury,” according to Defense Health Agency officials. Walter Reed’s use of adaptive sports in military rehabilitation has become a model for treating wounded, ill, and injured service members at other military installations.

Naranjo has also served as an assistant professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the Uniformed Services University (USU), where he assists in educating future military physicians on adaptive sports and their benefits in rehabilitation.

Navarro shared that recreational therapists work with patients, their families, and the health-care team to develop individualized goals, such as enhancing strength, balance, community reintegration, motivation, or addressing depression. She added that it’s rewarding “to hear patients express positive shifts in their mood, improvement in social or physical functioning, improvement in motivation and initiation in activities of interest or seeking out resources and supports, finding meaning and purpose post illness or injury, and sharing stories to others about gains made during recreational therapy programs.”

“Given our patient population, we’re positioned to witness the remarkable journey of individuals as they engage in recreation-based therapies to build function and reduce depression, stress and anxiety,” said WRNMMC Director U.S. Navy Capt. (Dr.) Melissa Austin. “Often, they’re not only able to recover their baseline physical and mental abilities, but also build confidence and socialize more effectively.”

Austin noted that some patients begin their care at Walter Reed thinking they’ll never be able to do the things they love again. “But our therapists work miracles to restore function and, in some cases, encourage individuals to forge new paths. Mr. Naranjo has helped countless patients on their road to recovery, and his impact cannot be overstated.”

“My job is to rehab heroes, and fortunately, I get to do that every day,” Naranjo has said.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, “The recreational therapy profession can be traced back to the 1850s when Florence Nightingale [recognized as the founder of modern nursing], proposed that recreation experiences could be drawn upon to improve the human condition.”

While caring for wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, Nightingale advocated for holistic treatments, establishing recreation programs based on patients’ levels of functioning rather than relying solely on pharmaceuticals and surgery.

“In 1931, the American Red Cross began hiring recreation hospital workers. The term ‘recreational therapy’ was first coined by the Menninger brothers, who were enthusiastic for the inclusion of recreational therapy as a treatment of persons with mental health disorders. Since the 1940s, recreational therapists have served as active members of the interdisciplinary treatment team addressing the psychosocial and physical rehabilitation needs of consumers,” the VA has stated.