Program Helps Disabled Vets Back Into The Driver's Seat BALTIMORE, MD (wypr) - [John] Awesome!
And this is how easy you take it out! Done.
[John] That's easy. Outstanding. I'm going to take my leg off and put it back there with you.

WE ARE IN THE BACK SEAT OF A TWO-DOOR GOVERNMENT ISSUE CAR. UP FRONT, JOHN, A SPECIAL FORCES SEARGENT FROM FORT BRAGG, IS READY TO HIT THE ROAD. LYONEL BENJAMIN IS HIS DRIVER REHAB SPECIALIST:

Where we're going first is very light traffic barely no traffic.

JOHN, WHO DIDN'T WANT HIS LAST NAME USED, IS QUITE A CHARACTER, ANXIOUS TO GET BACK TO THE BATTLEFIELD AS MUCH AS THE ROAD. HE WAS DOING SPECIAL OPERATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN IN APRIL WHEN A BULLET SEVERELY DAMAGED HIS RIGHT LEG.

IT WAS AMPUTATED BELOW THE KNEE. SO, HE'S LEARNING HOW TO DRIVE WITH THE LEFT FOOT. A LEFT SIDE ATTACHMENT ON THE FLOOR, TRANSFERS PRESSURE TO THE ACTUAL GAS PEDAL. LYONEL HAS A BRAKE ON HIS SIDE OF THE CAR:

[John] Right on!
And this is me. If I feel any uncomfortable, I tell you to hands off and I'll stop the car.

V-A MARYLAND'S CLINIC IN NORTHEAST BALTIMORE IS ONE OF 42 CENTERS AROUND THE COUNTRY OFFERING AUTOMOBILE SKILLS REHABILITATION.

DRIVING ON THE ALAMEDA AND LOCH RAVEN BOULEVARD, RIGHT AROUND THE V-A'S CLINIC BUILDINGS, JOHN NOTICES A NUMBER OF BOLTS AND METAL PLATES AROUND THE STEERING WHEEL:

What's all these things do?
[Lyonel] For different people with different disabilities. If you had no fingers no arms...special attachment.
[John] Right on!


{ambs of whirring sound as machinery ramps up stereo track 2, 0:40ish }

THE V-A SPENT SIX-AND-A-HALF MILLION DOLLARS UPGRADING ITS CLINIC AND ONE OF THE BIG BENEFICIARIES WAS THE DRIVER REHAB PROGRAM, THAT MOVED FROM A CRAMPED ROOM INTO A MORE FITTING ENVIRONMENT.

AN INSIDE SIMULATOR WILL HELP FIRST LIEUTENANT CHARLES WHITLOCK OF ILLINOIS GET HIS MOTOR AND MOTORING SKILLS BACK IN SHAPE. LAST DECEMBER, WHITLOCK SUFFERED A SEVERE BRAIN INJURY IN IRAQ:

I've had a lot of problems with memory, focus, concentration, balance, mood alteration

{ambs from distance stereo track 2, 5:10ish }
WHITLOCK HAS BEEN DOING PHYSICAL THERAPY AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER IN WASHINGTON, WHERE SO MANY OF THE SEVERELY WOUNDED FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ARE TREATED.

{ambs up for brake pedal slamming stereo track 2, 6:14}
[slam] Good!

THE SIMULATOR, HOOKED TO A COMPUTER AND VIDEO PROJECTOR, SHOWS ROAD SCENES, ALBEIT CLEARLY FROM THE 1980S.

AT ANY MOMENT, A CAR MIGHT PULL OUT OR A PEDESTRIAN APPEAR AND LIEUTENANT WHITLOCK MUST DECIDE HOW TO REACT:

[humming noise; brake being slammed!; squealing tires]
[Lyonel] And relax!

{ambs of pedal and comments stereo track 2, 7:14ish }

THE IDEA IS TO TEST THE INJURED BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY GET BEHIND THE WHEEL. A VOICE OF GOD ANNOUNCER IS PART OF THE VIDEO:

The hood you see in the foreground is yours. Notice also, your rearview mirrors: the inside mirror in the upper-right corner of the picture; and your outside mirror in the lower left corner.

{ambs of lesson stereo track 4, 2:00ish }



BEING SO CLOSE TO WALTER REED, MANY DRIVER REHAB PATIENTS CHOOSE TO MAKE THE TRIP UP, VIA A SHUTTLE BUS OR FAMILY, TO SPEED UP THE OVERALL RECOVERY PROCESS, RATHER THAN WAIT FOR THEIR RETURN HOME.

REHAB SPECIALIST LYONEL BENJAMIN:

About 20 percent of people that I see come from Walter Reed. They're the young men and women coming back from the current conflict, with different injuries. But I also see the older population that's suffering from strokes which is also a form of brain injury.

IT RUNS THE GAMUT FROM WORLD WAR II TO KOREA TO VIETNAM TO AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ ALL WITH THE IDEA OF GETTING THOSE WHO SERVED BACK ON THE ROAD.

I'M BOB COSTANTINI, REPORTING FROM BALTIMORE, FOR 88.1, WYPR.

{closing ambs of braking, squealing and Lyonel Good job! stereo track 3, 2:04}
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