This year the Wounded Warrior Games was held at the Air force Academy due to it being an Olympic year and the OTC could not accommodate all the training Olympians & military athletes at once. Due to this situation .. We (USMT) traveled out to the games... It's a LONG trip for anyone who has never done it.. and for those of you who have... well I don't need to explain.. It's an adventure..and one that we will not forget all too soon. We had to drive through 11 states.. lots of things can happen... I'm not a big fan of having my truck struck by lightening! True story, can't make it up! Dwayne kept us entertained all the way..
Needless to say.. the truck ( AKA.. The BEAST) was "shut down" for a day until we could get it fixed. Keen Ford in Missouri is fantastic!! I would also like to say that Vans Garage & Towing is pretty incredible as well... they all were very considerate and professional ..they took care of us and got us back on the road in no time! Thank you.. Thank you.. Thank you!!!!
One of the reasons we drove is because we needed all of our gear & supplies:
Things we needed to be completely successful for the week.
- 3 tables / 3 usmt cover
- towels / large & small ( over 150 total)
- face cradle covers (30)
- Clorox wipes / sanitize tables
- germ X - hand soap - paper towels
- lotion - biofreeze - prossage
- soothing touch massage cream
- massage star
- tools ( soft tissue mobilization)
- kinesio tape
- athletic tape
- first aid kit & extra supplies
- mobile office & supplies
- SOAP CHARTS
- ice packs & wraps
- USMT bracelets - we use them as our traveling business cards
- MISCELLANEOUS ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES
We ultimately treated 89 wounded warriors ( military athletes) over a 2 1/2 day work week.
Once we were set up, it didn't take the athletes long to find us. We are a fine tuned operating machine ~ that's how the USMT rolls!!
Our day would start at 9 am each morning and ended approximately 6:30 / 7 pm each night.
We spent 30 minutes on each athlete and let them know if they needed to follow up with an additional session to resolve the issue they may have been dealing with.
Types of injuries we saw at the games:... but not limited to these...
- Burns -- some so significant that 30 to 50 % possibly more of body was effected
- Visual impairments
- Skin grafting
- Shrapnel injuries / IED injuries
- Strokes / seizures
- Traumatic Brain Injuries TBI
- Paralysis
- Amputations
- Surgeries needed to resolve bigger life threatening issues which unfortunately created other muscular & nerve issues.
We lost a day working on athletes due to the truck issues and we wanted to see some of the athletes compete first hand. Last year we only took in one event and that was the last event of the games..
So we went to Track & Field on Friday morning and was able to stay for about 3 hours before getting back in the truck and heading home.
Track & Field was important for us because we had worked with a majority of the athletes competing!
We are already planning for next year!!
Always & with the Glitter!!!!
Lori-Ann
 |
| Kristen, Ivan & Lori-Ann |
