Finding the Beauty

in a New Normal
by Kara McDermott
Finding the Beauty
in a New Normal by Kara McDermott

To Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Miller, track, firearms training simulator, six-
a four-story, 65,000-square-foot lane swimming pool, 21-foot climbing
rehabilitation center is “one of the tower, a prosthetic center and a wave
most beautiful places you’ll ever see.” pool called a Flowrider — all places
that engage Miller and others like him
It is not a description you would expect to improve their strength, balance
for a rehabilitation center. In this case, and confidence.
“beautiful” is in the eye of a beholder
whose future hinges on what goes on The center is not a spa. Rehabilitation
inside. This place is beautiful because requires fortitude and hard work. In
it offers hope for troops like Miller, just one month since suffering his
whose dreams include completing injuries in Iraq, Miller labored through
everyday activities with ease and two-hour rehabilitation sessions, twice
learning to walk again. a day, from Monday through Friday.

In February 2009 Miller woke up in a “The physical therapist is your best

hospital in Germany after a roadside
bomb in Iraq blew through the bottom
of his vehicle and left him a bilateral
amputee. While in Germany, Miller
repeatedly heard people say “you
need to get to San Antonio.” And
so he went, eventually moving from
his home in Kansas to that place he
thinks is so beautiful: the Center for
the Intrepid.
The Center for the Intrepid—a
multimillion-dollar facility located on
the campus of Brooke Army Medical
Center at Fort Sam Houston, Texas —
is one of the most modern outpatient
rehabilitation centers in the world. Its
mission is to advance the science and
art of prosthetic rehabilitation and burn
care — one patient at a time. Equipped
with the latest technology, the center
is ideal for wounded warriors like
Miller. It includes an indoor running
friend when you need it and your worst
enemy when you need it,” says Miller.
“When you don’t feel like you can go
any further they are there to push you.”
Miller’s sentiment is echoed by other
patients at the center, including Spc.
Above: A servicemember
Ricardo Samudio. “Everyone, from
amputee demonstrates his
the nurses at Brooke Army Medical
surfing ability at Center for
Center to the physical therapists at
the Intrepid and the Fisher
the Center for the Intrepid, is like an
Houses in San Antonio,
extension of my family,” Samudio
Texas. The Center for the
says. “If I ever need anything outside
of the workout, I can call my physical Intrepid is a state-of-the-art
therapist or doctors on their personal medical treatment facility
phones. I love it here.” for wounded servicemem-
bers and their families. DoD
For Col. Jennifer Menetrez, the photo by Cherie A. Thurlby.
director of the Center for the Intrepid, (Released)
the beauty of innovation sparks
deep pride and satisfaction. “There
are things here that don’t exist
anywhere else in the world,” she

MHS Profiles Finding the Beauty in the New Normal


I expected the best and that’s
exactly what I’ve gotten.
says. For example, most gait labs —
which are designed to analyze the
movement and forward progression
of the human body — have only eight
cameras and one or two force plates.
The Center for the Intrepid gait lab
is fitted with eight force plates and
Finsing the Beauty in the New Normal
26 cameras that are mounted on an
automated truss and use infrared light
to analyze and calculate human motion
and joint angles. There is a treadmill
that has force plates embedded in it,
and two additional walking paths use
river rocks and sponges underneath
the ground to simulate varied terrain.
The lab uses parallel bars that elevate
to an incline so service members can
practice walking up a hill and analyze
their bodies.
Force plates in the floor, parallel
bars and treadmills measure ground
reaction forces in three directions.
Using these factors, the therapist can
determine the torque that muscles or
prosthetic components are producing.
“We don’t always just walk on
flat surfaces, so trying to analyze
what’s happening on different
MHS Profiles

It is really rewarding to me when a
spouse says, ‘Thanks, he is a totally different
person than he was last month’
terrain paths is very important,”
says Menetrez.
The Computer Assisted Rehabilitation
Environment is another thing of
beauty at the center. CAREN is a
21-foot simulated dome with a
300-degree screen that immerses
patients using sensors and high-
speed infrared cameras and a
moving platform that reacts to the
patients’ movements. The unit is
MHS Profiles
one of nine in the world. CAREN’s
comprehensive analysis of patients’
movement is important to improving
rehabilitative care and techniques
and is central to the research
mission of the center.
The staff at the Center for the
Intrepid use new and innovative
approaches to help patients relearn
how to function on a day-to-day
basis. In the realm of occupational
therapy treatment, activities are
designed so that patients can
successfully perform occupational
tasks and activities of daily
living such as bathing, dressing,
shopping, cooking, writing and
doing household chores.
There is even an “activities of daily
living apartment,” where patients
practice these skills in a real-world
environment. The apartment has a
fully equipped kitchen, bathroom
and living room, and its computer
workstation is outfitted with state-of-
the-art voice recognition software,
compact keyboards and a height-
adjustable desktop. Occupational
therapists also use a driving simulator
to help patients readjust to driving
in environments that are not dotted
with potential bombs or snipers and
Finding the Beauty in the New Normal
to practice using adaptive driving
equipment if needed.
Although there is no denying the
benefits of such a technically
advanced facility, there is much
more at the Center for the Intrepid
that makes it beneficial to service
members. The center also offers
patients the ability to access all
of the providers they may need
throughout the process of their
rehabilitation. It’s a “one-stop-
shop” in which patients are treated
holistically.
“I have never seen a team of
interdisciplinary providers work
this well together. It is absolutely
incredible,” says Wendy Foster, a
vocational rehabilitation counselor
with the Department of Veterans
Affairs at the Center for the Intrepid.
“There is no distinction between
active-duty providers, VA providers or
civilian providers, because we all have
the same goal. We just all have our
piece of the puzzle to plug together to
get the patient well again.”
The caregivers at the Center for
the Intrepid do not work only on a
patient’s most obvious injuries, such
as an amputated leg or a severe
burn. A dedicated team focuses
on training the patients to thrive,
not just survive. Patients have
access to a military performance
lab, occupational therapy, physical
therapy, prosthetics, physical
medicine, orthopedics, nutrition,
case management, vocational
rehabilitation counseling,
behavioral medicine, veterans
benefits counseling, a wheelchair
orthotist, veterans health care
administration counseling and
chaplains. The overarching goal at
the center is to treat the person, not
just the injury.
Finsing the Beauty in the New Normal
For patients at the center, learning
to thrive means addressing and
healing the mental and emotional
injuries as well. “Some people don’t
look like they are wounded very
badly, but they’ve got a pretty bad
traumatic brain injury, along with
some serious post-traumatic stress
disorder,” says Miller. “Those guys
are wounded just like the rest of us.
Those wounds run just as deep as a
missing leg.”
The center uses several therapies,
techniques and counseling methods
to treat the psychological wounds
that many service members
experience. These include supportive
therapy, prolonged exposure
therapy, cognitive assessment
and behavior therapy, alpha
stimulator, biofeedback, medication
management and family support
group meetings.
Sometimes results take time.
According to Jorge Torres, a clinical
nurse specialist in adult psychiatry
at the center, when it comes to
psychological health and traumatic
brain injury, progress isn’t evident
overnight. But for the patients and
their families, and for him, the efforts Left: Army Staff Sgt. Daniel
can have a profound impact. Miller on a rowing machine.
Photo by Maria Gallegos.
“It is really rewarding to me when
a spouse comes to me and sits in Above: SPC Ricardo
my office and says ‘Thanks, he is a Samudio is a patient at the
totally different person than he was Center. He is pictured here
last month,’” says Torres. on an exercise bike. Photo
by Maria Gallegos.
According to Torres, the stigma
of treating mental health issues
is real, but it is not as evident at
the Center for the Intrepid as it
might be elsewhere. This is due in
large part to how Torres interacts
with his patients. He is able to
gain their trust by participating in
everyday activities like cycling. He
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joined the center’s cycling club,
which meets every Wednesday.
“The amount of contact I get with
the patient here far surpasses
any other setting,” says Torres.
“If a patient was seeing me in
an outpatient clinic, they would
see me maybe once a week,
twice a week, or every month.
Here, whether the patient has an
appointment or not, they probably
see me almost every day because
when I’m not in my office, I’m
walking around chit-chatting with
the folks.”
MHS Profiles
It takes courage and determination
to adjust to and bounce back from
the serious injuries experienced
by the patients at the Center for
the Intrepid. For many, the road to
rehabilitation meant moving across
the country to face the long, uphill
and often painful battle to get better.
But beyond the impressive facility
and innovative therapy, the center
features another ingredient for
successful recovery — the resolve
that is brought by the patients
themselves. That determination and
camaraderie results in the formation
Left: The symbol of a broken ring,
cracked but still intact, marks
the entrance to the new Center for the
Intrepid. Photo by Daren Reehl
of a supportive band of brothers
and sisters who work together and
encourage each other every day to
push a little harder, go a little further.
“When I got to the Center for the
Intrepid there were people from all
different backgrounds and lifestyles,
but they’ve been through the same
experiences I’ve been through,” says
Samudio. “That really helped me feel
better and go through the treatment
faster, because whenever I felt down
or negative there has always been
someone to talk to.”
The Center for the Intrepid is
dedicated to those severely wounded
warriors whose selfless sacrifices
for our nation entitle them to the
best rehabilitative care. For many
patients, like Miller and Samudio,
the dedication of supporters, staff
and providers has paid off. “Every
bit of my expectations has been met,
and I expected the best,” says Miller.
“That’s exactly what I’ve gotten. The
equipment is the best, the people
are the best, everything I’m getting
is amazing. If you need it, they got it
or they’ll get it.”
For the service members at the
Center for the Intrepid, it is all about
finding a new sense of normal, a
new sense of self in a life that has
been turned upside down. Learning
to walk again, making friends who
understand the challenges that lie
ahead, finding success at a new job
or skill, wrapping both arms around
a child even if one arm is prosthetic
— those are beautiful things. 
Finding the Beauty in the New Normal
 This issue of MHS Profiles is dedicated to

Senior Airman Jessica Tarver, 1984-2009

She was my inspiration,

[the] first person to come
talk to me at the hospital that
wasn’t a doctor or family. She
didn’t have to do that. She
just did because we were both
bilateral amputees. Even when
she wasn’t feeling good she
would always give you a smile.
— Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Miller

In early 2009, Tarver shared her story for a video project about the Center for the Intrepid. View
the video below and experience for yourself the inspiration that Tarver gave to many.

Finsing the Beauty in the New Normal MHS Profiles

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