MossRehab Therapists and Volunteers Help Surfers With Disabilities in Wildwood, NJ

We here at MossRehab have a simple but strong motto when it comes to helping patients and the people with disabilities: Challenge Accepted.

When organizers of They Will Surf Again, a free event allowing people with spinal cord injuries to ride waves with the help of volunteers and adaptive surf boards, asked our therapists to share their professional expertise, we simply accepted the challenge.

On Saturday, June 16, a volunteer corps of 20 MossRehab therapists, staff and supporters joined over 200 other volunteers at Rambler Road in Wildwood Crest NJ, to help 36 registered participants with disabilities (one of which was a former MossRehab amputee patient) get up and down the beach, in and out of wetsuits and assist surfers in the water as they rode the waves past them on their way towards the shore.

"We were thrilled to have MossRehab involved with us," said Chad DeSatnick who organizes They Will Surf Again events in New Jersey. "We're never short on volunteers, but to have actual therapists who can physically handle people with disabilities with the proper techniques and dignity, say if a surfer falls off their board for instance, makes the experience that much safer and more comfortable for the surfers."

Beach-goers (roughly 450 people on this particularly beautiful sunny day) checked out the event, met volunteers and surfers and learned about living with disabilities. A good number of them also rang MossRehab cowbells-- handed out before the event--every time a surfer caught a wave and rode in towards the beach.

They Will Surf Again is the flagship program of Life Rolls On, a non-profit that serves as a resource and advocate for young people whose lives have been affected by spinal cord injury (SCI). Life Rolls On utilizes action sports to push the boundary of possibility for those with SCIs.

MossRehab staff came back to work on Monday, excited to tell their coworkers about the event and are already recruiting more volunteers for next year!