I'm in. This is great. Thanks Al. ________________________________ From: Al Gordon <aljr@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: "seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tue, October 13, 2009 5:13:55 PM Subject: [seaventures] Invitation: Walter Reed Try-Scuba Event @ Fri Jan 8, 2010 (seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) more details » Walter Reed Try-Scuba Event Sea Ventures is sponsoring another Scuba event with the Life Skills Transition group at Walter Reed. If you are available and interested in helping out with a pretty cool event please let Ron know. We can squeeze by with with four people, ideally we really need 5-6. In addition to 3-4 divecon/instrs in the pool, we need 1-2 people on deck to keep things running, serve food, help setup, etc. For those who weren't part of the original event last June, this event is being conducted in conjunction with the Life Skills Transition out-patient program run by Ward-53 at Walter Reed. In this program, Soldiers participate in various "Field Training Exercises" where the are exposed to environments where they must navigate new situations or circumstances. These might be either socially, mentally or physically challenging in some way. These experiences provide material which is used in subsequent individual or group therapy sessions and is an important tool for transitioning folks back to their units or to a post military life. This is one of several new programs that Walter Reed is using to work with PTSD patients. The program was well received in June when we did this the first time, and the Walter Reed staff is excited about doing another introductory Scuba event as part of this program. All of the patients we saw last time have now transitioned out of the unit, and a whole new batch of folks has arrived. Those of you who helped out last time, remember a lot of concern on the part of Walter Reed staff on how to provide us the information/access we needed (waivers, medical paperwork, patient access, etc.), without exposing the staff at Walter Reed to some sort of potential HIPAA litigation. They asked us not to photograph, not to advertise or telegraph the event in any public way and to limit participation to immediate Sea Ventures staff. In final analysis, we never actually involved the Walter Reed staff in any collection of personal info. I personally provided the legal forms to the patients who, as a prerequisite to their participation provided forms themselves, back to us at Sea Ventures. We intentionally kept the Walter Reed staff out of this loop. The concern was/is that a patient might have grounds to bring a HIPPA law suit at some future date against the Medical Center or staff individually. So this is a fine line the staff is walking. We will follow a similar approach this time. Any personal information will be provided by the patients themselves directly to Sea Ventures. We will not be posting this event on the website or broadcasting it in any way. There will not be any photography unless specifically requested by one of the soldiers. However, this time I'll leave the definition of "Sea Ventures Staff" up to Ron. If someone's spouse wants to help with food and Ron's okay with it, they are welcome. I've already informed the WRAMC folks of this change and they've agreed to it. However, out of respect for the patients, remember that this is privileged access and limit your conversations to Sea Ventures staff or immediate family members. So that's the story. We need a minimum of 4, and ideally 5-6 folks to make this work. If there isn't enough support, we'll punt until June. If you have any questions, shoot Ron or me an email. Or chat with one of the guys who made this a huge success last time - Bill, Bud, Craig Sr. or Tim. v/r Al Gordon 703-587-5468 When Fri Jan 8, 2010 Eastern Time Where George Mason McKay Aquatic Center (map) Calendar seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Who • Al Gordon- organizer • seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Going? Yes- Maybe- No more options » Invitation from Google Calendar You are receiving this courtesy email at the account seaventures@xxxxxxxxxxxxx because you are an attendee of this event. To stop receiving future notifications for this event, decline this event. Alternatively you can sign up for a Google account at http://www.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar.