VA hospital uses music to engage injured vets

From LJ Anderson at the Palo Alto Daily News in California:

John Rola was recuperating from a kidney transplant last year in the Portland VA Medical Center when he began to do what he often did when he needed a diversion — strum his guitar. His fellow patients wanted to learn, and soon Rola was teaching them how to play. Not surprisingly, they experienced the same pleasure that Rola had found decades before when he first picked up a guitar as a young boy in Detroit.

The wards of 153 VA medical centers scattered across the country are filled with injured veterans. Some 273,300 veterans are rated as 100 percent disabled, and more join the ranks as partially or fully disabled on a regular basis. More than 300,000 soldiers were wounded in the Vietnam War — many of whom still seek treatment at VA centers — and more than 30,000 soldiers have been wounded thus far in the Iraq war.

To help veterans cope with their medical challenges, sound engineer and disc jockey John Rola founded Strumming for Vets (www.strummingforvets.org), a program that provides guitars and instruction for veterans at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Rola, a Vietnam veteran, is also owner of AB Productions, a DJ entertainment company, and has worked as a recording engineer for numerous musicians.

Q: How did you get the program started?

A: It only started a month ago, but it's been going gangbusters. I have Yamaha Musical Instruments, luthiers — the people who build and repair guitars — and several music stores behind me. I get guitars from Yamaha through Guitar Showcase in San Jose, and Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto has given me guitars and music books. The luthiers have given and sold me guitars, and they do inexpensive repairs for free. I've had veterans donate guitars, and we will be doing some concerts and fundraising. Everyone is jumping on board — they love the idea, and want to be involved with it as much as they can.

Q: How is the program structured?

A: We provide acoustic and electric guitars, and I do one-on-one lessons once a week on the wards. I give five lessons, and if they want to continue learning how to play, they can keep the guitar, case, strings and stand. I've got about seven guys right now, and they are probably all Vietnam vets. I don't have the young guys yet, but their injuries are still pretty raw to them — especially, if they're in the trauma unit or the spinal-cord injury unit. They've got a lot of anger issues to deal with, but they know what I'm doing. When they're ready to take that step, I'm there for them.

Q: How do you relate to what the injured veterans are going through?

A: I'm a disabled vet myself from Vietnam, where I served in 1969-'70. I know what it was like when I had to go through the transplant, and post-traumatic stress disorder counseling. Your mind is on that stuff all the time. I'm sure that people get sick of hearing about my kidney. I have to make sure that I take my pills at the proper time, do all the liquids, and if you get a weird feeling where the kidney is, you think "I'm in rejection." And it's the same with these guys — they're losing their legs, and they're just sitting there. If I can take their mind off of what they're going through — for a few minutes — I've accomplished my purpose.

Q: What has been the feedback from the veterans?

A: I was a corpsman (treating soldiers) in Vietnam, and as I watch these guys while I'm teaching them, you can see that the music is just filling their soul. They get so much enjoyment from it. They're not in a wheelchair anymore. They're not in that bed anymore. They're doing something that they enjoy, and that keeps their focus completely away from (their problems). To watch the smiles on these guys' faces when they say "thank you," they really mean it.

Q: How has music helped you in your own life?

A: At 10, I started playing in my cousin's polka band, and from there, in a couple of junior high and high-school bands. I was 14 when I started working with Bob Seger, who was 17. In Detroit there were a lot of teen clubs, and I went along setting up the stage for them. And, I went to school with Glenn Frey of the Eagles. When I got out of the service, I started doing radio and some engineering. I have one of the oldest DJ companies in the Bay Area, and began that in 1974. I've always enjoyed playing guitar, but I'm not good enough to make a living at it. I can make a living at the engineering and DJ work, and have been, really, since I was 14.

For me, music takes me wherever I want to go. When I get bummed out, I'll grab a guitar. When I think of a time in my life, I relate to it in music. That's what people do.
With the vets, music can take them back to another time when they weren't disabled. To be stuck with (medical problems) like these guys have been — probably since the late '60s — that's a long time. If I can get them away from that and give them a sense of stability — and another life — that's the most rewarding thing I can do.