Florida Tomorrow is a day...
when we eliminate or minimize disability through the advancement of rehabilitation science.
Florida Trauma Rehabilitation Center for Returning Military Personnel
When the mortar hit, Pete Herrick had a feeling of flying through the air and a tingle went through his body like an electrical shock. Six days later he woke up halfway around the world in Bethesda, Md.
“My initial thought was I was happy I was home alive,” Herrick said.
Later Herrick learned the extent of his injuries: shrapnel had struck every part of his body except for his head and stomach. His left leg had to be amputated and a hit to his neck fractured the tips of his third and fourth cervical vertebrae, causing quadriplegia.
A self-employed custom carpenter and father of two, Pete Herrick joined the Navy Reserves in July 2001 at age 34 and was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in the spring of 2004 as a member of the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14. During inspections, his battalion came under mortar attack, killing five service members and wounding 33.
Herrick spent 11 months at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, one of four VA centers specializing in care for soldiers with polytrauma, which is severe injury to several parts of the body. There, he began the long process of rehabilitation.
To advance rehabilitation approaches to serve returning military personnel like Herrick, the College of Public Health and Health Professions founded the Florida Trauma Rehabilitation Center for Returning Military Personnel. The center will address the rehabilitation and long-term health needs of our soldiers, from improving mobility to treating post traumatic stress disorder. To ensure that research results make their way to treatment facilities, the center is collaborating with the Veterans Health Administration, rehabilitation professional associations, consumer organizations and other UF programs to transfer new rehabilitation approaches from the lab to the clinic.
Rehabilitation played an important role in improving Herrick’s health and quality of life.
“The first thing a therapist did for me was to get me to breathe on my own so I wouldn’t be dependent on a ventilator,” Herrick said.
VA rehabilitation specialists also equipped Herrick with a special system so he can use a computer. It features an infra-red camera atop the monitor that interacts with a reflective sticker on the end of Herrick’s nose. By moving his head he can maneuver the cursor around the screen and a pause in his movements acts like a mouse click.
Herrick continues to receive occupational and physical therapy several times a week in his Fort White, Fla. home.
“I’m a big advocate for continued therapy,” said Herrick, adding that regular therapy prevents joint stiffness and has given him more movement in his shoulders.
“I credit the therapy with keeping me healthy,” Herrick said. “It’s exercise and it’s hard work. I get a cardiovascular workout from the occupational therapy and that has helped me keep muscle tone.”
