Adaptive equipment provided by Milwaukee VA gets scuba enthusiast back in the water
A scuba enthusiast who sustained debilitating injuries in a fall is back in the water thanks to intensive rehabilitation and custom-made adaptive equipment made possible by the Milwaukee VA Medical Center.
Steve Rivera, 64, a U.S. Navy Veteran with more than 600 dives under his belt, suffered severe injuries in a fall in February 2022 that left him will little mobility in his arms. He was admitted to a community hospital for inpatient rehab and established care at the Milwaukee VA Spinal Cord Injury Center shortly after discharge, where the work to get him back on his feet — and in the water — began.
“When I was here a year ago, I couldn’t move my left arm; it was non-functional,” Rivera said. “I had no grip strength or pinch strength, so any idea of me going in the water again was not even on my radar.”
But under the guidance of occupational therapists, including the Milwaukee VA’s Katie Powell, Rivera has improved; he is now mostly independent and able to do daily tasks.
“He has come an incredibly long way and has worked incredibly hard,” Powell said. “When I met him, he needed help with basic self-cares; now he is nearly independent with those.”
As Rivera’s therapy progressed, he indicated his love of diving and his wish to resume it. The main problem: Rivera’s limited arm mobility prevented him from operating the buoyancy compensator, a vital part of scuba gear which makes submersion, and ascent, possible.
While Powell and the SCI team are adept at using 3D printing to create adaptive equipment for Veterans, the special buoyancy regulator was a bit more intricate, so they turned to their partners in the private sector, GSC in Germantown.
The result was an elongated lever that attaches to the buoyancy vest near the diver’s waist. Rivera can operate it with his arm at his side — much easier than a regulator typically located near the shoulder and the smaller lever traditionally on the vest.
Rivera tested the equipment during a recent session in the Milwaukee VA’s physical therapy pool.
Flanked by Doug Mazur, a divemaster from Mountain Bay Scuba in Appleton, and Tina Stoeckmann, a physical therapy professor at Marquette University and a certified adaptive diver with Diveheart, Rivera found himself back in his element, doing what he loves.
“You guys are awesome. You have really taken care of me,” he said to Powell and physical therapist Michelle Lanouette, coordinator of SCI’s assistive technology program, as he surfaced after a practice dive.
Mazur, who monitored Rivera during his practice dive, said the adaptive device was “functional, appropriate, workable and usable.”
“These guys did a fabulous job,” he said, citing the VA team as well as GSC. “They really need to take a bow for being able to put this together.”
Another key player was LifeWaters, based in St. Louis, that specializes in adaptive scuba diving training for Veterans. Rivera connected with the team through the Milwaukee VA SCI recreational therapists, and the team there worked with Rivera to make sure he had everything he needed to get back to his passion.
“This has been exciting,” Lanouette said. “We weren’t sure we’d be able to do it. It just took some time and some work. LifeWaters gave Steve the confidence to continue pursuing scuba diving after his injury.
“He’s pretty passionate about diving, and he was pretty nervous about it; he didn’t like the fact he wasn’t able to do it the way he used to. But now I think he’s feeling much better about it. Providing him a tool that allows him to do that is a win for everyone.”
Powell agreed.
“I was excited to see it work successfully for him,” Powell said. “This is one of the most rewarding parts of our job when you help someone return to a meaningful occupation or leisure activity and be successful.”
Rivera will put the device to use in mid-July during a dive trip to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It will be his first dive in more than 1½ years.
“I’m excited to go,” he said, noting that his therapy has been “long and hard. It’s been perseverance and mental fortitude … to work through it and work extremely hard to get healthy. I was able to do that, and now, a year-and-a-half since my accident, I’m back in the water.”