36th Annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games - Looking for Volunteers for the Swim Events
Dear Coaches,
My
name is Valerie Lambiase, I’m a nurse at the Salt Lake City VA Medical
Center and I am the Event Coordinator of the Swimming Events at the
Veterans Wheelchair Games which will be hosted in Salt Lake City June 26th
through July 2nd. One of my responsibilities is recruiting volunteers
to assist the athletes in and out of the pool, before and after their
event. This will required approximately 40 teams of two and is a
specific volunteer opportunity for individuals who are comfortable in
the water and are in good physical condition to withstand lifting and
lowering athletes of various sizes and with various levels of
paralysis. We hoped that reaching out to the many coaches of high
school and college swim teams could assist with this recruiting process,
if only to post the volunteer link on a web page or better yet,
actively recruit members. Volunteers need to be at least 14 years old.
The
swimming events will be held at the indoor and outdoor pools at Steiner
on Wednesday, June 29th, with races starting at 6:00 PM, ending by
10:00, if all events run smoothly. There will be both paraplegic
athletes and quadriplegic athletes. These specialized volunteers will
work in teams of two, one team at each end of the pool (for the 25 meter
events), with one person in the water and one on the deck; each
assisting the athlete in or out of the water and back into their chair.
We will have physical therapists to train how best to accomplish the
task and there will be medical staff on deck throughout all the events
should anyone need any assistance, or if the athlete has a problem.
There will be certified lifeguards on deck as well.
The link to the volunteer registration is http://wheelchairgames.org/volunteers/. When registering, please just click on the Swimming Event option to be assigned to my volunteer team.
If
anyone has any questions regarding the Games or the actual volunteer
responsibilities, please feel free to contact Jacob Bowman at Jacob.bowman@va.gov. I’ll be out of the country until May 17th but will be happy to answer any questions after that. I can be reached at Valerie.lambiase@va.gov or please feel free to call at 303-548-4026.
