While Veterans engaged in activities and learned trades at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) since its inception after the Civil War, formal occupational therapy programs became components of rehabilitative care for Veterans beginning in the 20th century. This exhibit explores what type of activities were used to treat Veterans, to include items in the collection at the National VA History Center.
By Gage Huey, Museum Collections Manager, National VA History Center, Katie Rories, Historian, Veterans Health Administration and Kurt Senn Curator, National VA History Center
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Exhibits
Adaptive Exhilaration: Equipment from the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic
In 2024, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, hosted by the Grand Junction VA Medical Center and co-presented with Disabled American Veterans, will donate adaptive ski equipment from the early years of the event to the National VA History Center in Dayton, Ohio. The clinic started in 1986 when VA established it and then held the the inaugural event at Powderhorn the following year. The clinic welcomed approximately 90 Veterans from 27 states, bolstered by a volunteer staff of about 20. Despite skepticism from many health professionals of the era, the clinic underscored the importance of physical activity for persons of all abilities.
This exhibit includes multiple items that were used at the early clinics, which are finding a new home at the National VA History Center.
Exhibits
“Like Joan of Arc of Old”: The Origin of Health Care for Women Veterans
VA History Exhibit - While women have served in nearly all of America’s wars, some only achieved the right to Government-provided health care after World War One. This exhibit examines how women Veterans obtained admittance to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers 100 years ago in 1923, and profiles what care looked like for these first women patients.
Exhibits
Exhibit – American prisoner of war: Honoring those in National Cemeteries
VA History Exhibit - This exhibit presents the American prisoner of war experience and honors the Veterans who are buried in VA national cemeteries. The exhibit presents only a sample of the POW Veterans that are buried in VA national cemeteries, but hopes that all the sacrifices, courage, and sufferings POWs experienced are illustrated through the stories of those presented.
