Both featured speakers and attendees leaned on those themes when talking about their SCI&D experiences.

South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS) interim director/CEO, Jason Cave opened with a few stories about patients who relied on their families, both birth and SCI.

A Veteran, who was non-verbal, but working very hard with his therapists Cave explained, finally uttered a few words that happened to come on Christmas Eve. The staff, excited and in tears, called the family who joined him. The patient told the staff, “every week, every session was helping, I just couldn’t tell you.”

A person can be receiving the best healthcare in the world, but the most significant impact on their prognosis is their family support, that social network support, having someone in your corner fighting for you, Cave said.

That sense of family is what brought SCI&D patients Robert Preston and Jose Liguez to the open house.

“I had a back operation in 2009, and became an SCI patient then,” Preston said.

Preston was excited to meet an old friend and fellow patient who took him under his wing when he first went into a wheelchair. He was nervous to use the bathroom in public. “I don’t know how I am going to get there,” Preston said. Preston explained that he received reassurance and even a transportation van from his fellow Veteran to ease his transition.

“I’ve been having excellent services here,” Preston said. “It’s all about helping each other out.” Preston was delighted to see some of the staff that he hadn’t seen for a while. “It’s like a big family.” Preston said.

Liguez smiled when he saw Sylvia Garcia. He has known her since he started receiving services right when the unit opened in 1991. She worked on the unit, has since retired, and still volunteers at SCI&D. Liguez said he considers her family.

Rose Zimmer was also drawn to the open house, eager to see the patients and staff again after COVID restrictions had shut off many of the volunteer activities she participated in. “I would come over from time to time when he [husband] and help out,” Zimmer said. After about a year, he passed away and I felt like I wanted to volunteer someplace,” Zimmer said.

Zimmer was grinning when pointing out Claudia Surita and Maybelyn Bautista. “Some of the nurses like the girls there”, Claudia and Mabel were both his nurses and took great care of him,” Zimmer said. When asked if it feels like family, Rose grinned and said it is easy to get that way with the patients, recalling her coffee klatches on Thursdays.

One of the guest speakers, Jose Laguna, knows the SCI unit at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital well, providing recreational therapy for patients for over 20 years. He is now a consultant for the Texas Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America.

“There have been tons of stories and adventures over the years, memories I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Laguna said. “They include Tammy and Anne [SCI patients], and others who were part of my extended family,” Laguna said.

Laguna told the attendees that the relationships were deep, especially with Anne, because their children were born the same time and that developed a connection.

Laguna said inclusion of family is crucial to success.

“For us in our programming approach, the inclusion of family and caregivers is key,” Laguna said. He said there is a disconnect when you teach independence to a Veteran, but exclude family in the learning process, and that often sets up a hurdle.

The open house was also about technology, with many demonstrations on display for patients and staff to experience like a ping pong robot, advanced mobile chairs, vehicle driving systems, the newest smart beds and some not so advanced in design, but innovative in delivery like getting a service animal like Kemmerle, a Golden Lab, who was ready to demonstrate her not-so-technological-act of picking up a dropped leash and returning it to its owner, a small task with a huge impact on quality of life.

Technology can be a game-changer for patient and clinicians, but only go as far as the organization lets it.

We started building a community of practice call and we do have one for extended reality in VA, and on our first call we had about 10 staff members,” said Dr. Anne Bailey, Director, Clinical Tech Innovation Co-lead, VHA Extended Reality (XR) Network.

“There were about eight different facilities represented and we quickly began to realize that the clinicians needed support to continue to grow,” Bailey said.

And grow they did. Bailey said the network now involves over 1250 frontline staff members representing 160 medical centers. It’s the goal to get that technology down to the field to improve the services for Veterans who need it, like Jose Liguez.

Liguez has been with the unit since its inception and has seen technology’s impact on services.

“Now it’s really advanced, even the medication and solutions to problems like bedsores are more advanced,” Liguez said.

Liguez stated that when he went into the chair 46 years ago, they only gave him a life expectancy of five to 10 years. He attributes his longevity to SCI.

“Thanks to spinal cord. If it wasn’t for them and the advances they made in the nursing staff and administration and all that, it’s great,” Liguez said.

Dr. Divya Singhal, chief of SCI&D, said it will take all of these things and more.

“We all can continue to serve our Veterans in a variety of ways, combining the technology Chaplain Haynes just referenced, whether it’s virtual reality, or more remote and telehealth,” Singhal said. “Even newer and more innovative ways of serving needs that arose during COVID-19 or come with time and longevity and with different healthcare and environmental experiences,” Singhal said.

Liguez’s new healthcare environment now includes telehealth and tablets. “Right now I have a tablet at home and whenever I get into trouble I can call the unit and talk with the doctors,” Liguez said. “Instead of me travelling all the way over here putting pressure on the sores, I can do it on telehealth,” Liguez said.

Liguez said a challenge for him was using the device because he admitted he was computer illiterate.

“I don’t know much about computers, but when I run into problems, there is a nurse here, where that is her specialty,” Liguez said. “I can call her up and she tells me which gadgets to push.”

The spirit of the event was to bring people together for a common cause.

“I hope we can grow our team of collaborators and partners,” Singhal said. Just like it takes a village to raise a wonderful child, it takes a village and more to have a wonderful and sustaining healthcare system that can continue to grow,” Singhal said.