Into the Great Wide Open
People with disabilities experience outdoor adventures with the help and guidance of nurse volunteers

By Melissa Gaskill
December 23, 2003

As a member of the float pool at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, Susan Demars, RN, enjoys taking care of people in a variety of settings. She also loves the outdoors. As a volunteer for an organization called Environmental Traveling Companions, Demars combines the two in a meaningful way.

San Francisco-based ETC offers outdoor adventures to people with special needs. Every year, the organization takes more than 2,000 people-individuals who are paraplegic, visually impaired, developmentally delayed, even economically disadvantaged-white-water rafting, sea kayaking and cross-country skiing.

The outings couldn't happen without volunteers, and for Demars, it is a perfect opportunity to put her skills to work in a different environment.

"I think it is really important to use your skills outside of the hospital, if you can," she said. "It broadens you to a better understanding of the people you take care of."

Empathetic experience

Brad Coyle, RN, a surgical nurse at Marin General Hospital for several years and an ETC volunteer for more than 10 years, said, "The volunteer experience has absolutely made me a better nurse." Skills he has learned or perfected on ETC trips include the ability to prioritize tasks and a confidence in dealing with difficult situations. "Prioritizing is a huge part of the nursing ballgame. The ability to prioritize and think quickly is a valuable skill I built off of what I learned with ETC."

Coyle also sees people differently thanks to his volunteering. "Something I really learned is compassion and understanding. It has given me more of an appreciation for someone who just had hip surgery and is basically incapacitated. I remember taking a quadriplegic down a Class III river. Just watching someone who normally couldn't do this at all, couldn't get near it, gave me a real appreciation."

An ETC volunteer off and on for 20 years, Eric Rico, RN, works in a solo physician practice. To him, nursing is primarily a way to support a serious volunteer habit.

"For me, volunteering is a way of life," Rico said. "In ETC, you learn a lot about compassion and empathy for people who have disabilities and need special help. You learn a lot more about patience with people, and that comes in handy as a nurse in any setting. ETC and nursing require a lot of the same skills. I also learned to trust other volunteers. It makes life easier if you can trust the people you work with."

The volunteers said that their nursing skills, although not required, are an added bonus on ETC trips.

"The populations we bring out often do have medical issues, and it is reassuring to know that someone with a medical background is there," Demars said.

If this kind of volunteering sounds too much like real work, consider what these nurses say they get from the experience. "As a nurse, you see a lot of people with injuries or illnesses, and you take care of them and then send them home," Demars said. "Through the volunteer work, you see them in their lives. You see how people deal with things outside a hospital, and you get to know them on a more personal level. You get to sit around the campfire with them."

Sonja Hodges, executive assistant and outreach coordinator at ETC, hears similar sentiments from other volunteers who work in the medical field. "Here, you get to experience the triumphs with those who have disabilities. You see the joy of someone going beyond what they are capable of. One of the beauties of sea kayaking is that, when you're out there with a group, everyone looks the same. You can't tell who uses a chair."

Lifetime rewards

"Being with ETC adds to who you are," Rico said. "As guides we get more out of the trips than participants do. It is fairly low-key adventure for most of us, but there is a sense of fulfillment and personal growth. It feels good to help people."

Coyle enjoys sharing the outdoors and sea kayaking with people who wouldn't normally have access to them. "We've seen whales out in the bay. You watch the smiles, the excitement. It is a really nice meld of many things-working with people and exposing them to the beauty and wonder. I love exposing people to something I love."

"At ETC, we believe strongly in the power of outdoor adventures for learning about yourself, challenging yourself, building self-esteem and confidence, helping you to grow and break away from stereotypes," Hodges said.

Although the organization exists to offer those benefits to participants, the volunteers experience them, too.

Volunteers don't need previous experience with people with disabilities or in the outdoors, Hodges said. ETC has a rigorous volunteer training program that includes wilderness skills, leadership, environmental education (which is incorporated into each trip), disability awareness and first aid (a piece of cake for nurses). Volunteers do pay for training, depending on what they need, but then do not pay for trip expenses, food or lodging. ETC also offers skills practice days and fun paddle trips just for guides, opportunities to practice and stay in touch.

On any particular trip, Coyle said, the volunteers do everything, from meeting the participants to gathering the gear and setting up, then pairing participants with guides, depending on abilities. ETC volunteers also work with staff or volunteers who come with some groups.

They coordinate games to help orient participants and teach them pertinent safety for the activity. At the end of a trip, they debrief and send the group on its way, then break down and put away equipment. Outside of trips, volunteers help with outreach to the community.

Other organizations offer similar opportunities for adventuresome nurses. Colorado's Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center takes around 3,500 people a year out on the ski slopes during the winter and into the wilderness in summer.

"The experience we provide is often the first outdoor experience someone has ever had," said Roch Horton, administrative coordinator for the 27-year-old organization. "When the course is over and we ask participants about the experience, they always say the volunteering was the most important."

Volunteers help with equipment, cooking, cleaning and transportation, Horton said, as well as hands-on assistance with participants who need it. They are there for safety reasons and to help with practical matters like getting participants in and out of rafts or onto ski lifts, but also to provide companionship and conversation.

On the ski slopes, volunteers often are assisting an instructor, so there may be a ratio of two or even three people to one participant. Regular volunteers receive a season pass to the ski slopes, Horton said.

"Our volunteers need to like the outdoors. Nurses are generally patient and that is an attribute we really need," he said. "Nurses also may have flexible schedules that allow them to get involved in this kind of work. They are dedicated to helping people, and that is what we do."

Contact Melissa Gaskill at mlg6310@sbcglobal.net