| Showing patients how to sail away to wellness |
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BY BONNIE DELANEY STAFF WRITER Asbury Park Press A wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in the great room of Dr. Stephanie Argyris' home in Brick show a spectacular view of the Barnegat Bay. On a gray day at the end of the summer, the wind whips the water into a choppy froth and you can see the distant Mathis-Tunney Bridge that connects Seaside Heights to mainland Dover Township. Despite the gloomy weather the morning of Aug. 31, Argyris is a picture of peace and contentment as she talks about the healing power of water, whether it be the bay, the ocean, a lake, a pond, a river or a stream. "After my son died, I moved to Lavallette in the late '80s. I've lived on the water in Brick since 1994," said Argyris, whose son, Brian, died Sept. 1, 1988, after he was struck by a car while walking at night on the campus of Rutgers University, where he was a freshman. "I needed to be by the water after he died," Argyris said, adding that her family sought solace from the water in the past. After her mother died when Argyris was 7 years old, she said her father, Peter Argyris, took her and her brother, Steven, sailing on the Navesink River in a sneakbox. "It became a weekend ritual. He'd pick up a pizza and a bottle of Coke, and he'd tie the soda bottle to the back of the boat so it would stay cold in the water and put the pizza inside the boat," Argyris recalled. "'And then we'd sail and sail. By the time we got to the little island, the pizza would be cold and the soda would be warm." Still, Argyris, who keeps the 90-plus-year-old boat that she restored in her garage, said the experience of sailing and being on the water helped her family deal with their grief. Years later, Argyris said, she was inspired to start a program she calls Sail-Habilitation after working with a patient named Janet DeLuca in Dover Township. DeLuca is now a resident of the long-term care program at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital, formerly Garden State Rehabilitation, in Dover Township, where Argyris had worked as a physiatrist. "Janet had been in a head-on collision 18 years ago and had head injuries. She used to sail before her accident," Argyris said. "She inspired me to want to get her out sailing." Argyris, whose program has brought sailing to hundreds of area people with special needs and disabilities, is this week's Hometown Hero. Antoinette Gobar of Barnegat, who was a patient when she first met Argyris, said she admires the doctor's dedication to fulfilling her patients' needs and for sharing her knowledge of sailing to promote healing and wellness of people with special needs. "I admire her tenacity to start a program with the bare essentials and to stick with it all these years even when the cooperation of others at times was nil," said Gobar, who signed on as a volunteer for Sail-Habilitation and now serves as its vice president. "I respect the fact that she put the needs of the program at times before her own to bring smiles and camaraderie to the disabled community," Gobar said. "I have a great deal of respect for who she is as a person and her willingness to go above and beyond to help others. What she has done for the community comes from within and not for any monetary or social gain." "She took a dream and made it a reality and still does as much as she did 14 years ago years ago to share that dream with as many people as possible," Gobar said. Program enhances rehab Argyris said the sailing program enhances the rehabilitation process through physical activities and cognitive- and psychological-skill building, by focusing on capabilities rather than disabilities. The Community Sailing Days, in which skippers from local yacht clubs take individuals with disabilities out on their private boats, has been well-received, she said. The Lavallette Yacht Club has participated in the event for three years. During a Community Sailing Day at the club July 15, there were 22 boats and skippers, as well as 150 volunteers, according to Patrick McGoohan, a Jackson resident and Sail-Habilitation volunteer. The volunteers, he said, served as crew and transfer team members, cooks and servers, and equipment handlers. Brian Perkowski, a Westampton resident and physical therapist, headed the transfer teams charged with helping people on and off boats. He said five people boarded boats via a swing-like device Sail-Habilitation purchased last year through a grant from the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. The Community Sailing Day in Lavallette marked the first time a service dog had sailed with a participant in the program, he added. Argyris said Sail-Habilitation has created a new education and research division to investigate and write about the therapeutic effects of sailing for the disabled. Argyris, therapeutic specialist JoEllen Ross of Brielle, and psychologist Vera Hoffman of Brielle, are conducting the research. Also, Hoffman created a 50-minute documentary titled Sea Change about the Community Sailing Days last year. "It's an exciting time, and we hope to move ahead with the program," she said. Bonnie Delaney (732) 643-4218 or ABOUT SAIL-HABILITATION The nonprofit, volunteer-staffed program was founded in 1994 by Stephanie Argyris of Brick, a former competitive sailor and doctor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. In conjunction with local yacht clubs, Sail-Habilitation hosts three annual Community Sailing Days for people ages 8 and up with physical disabilities and other special needs. The sail events, which are followed by a barbecue, are free. The next sailing day is scheduled for Sept. 17 at the Island Heights Yacht Club. For information, visit www.sailhabilitation.org or call (732) 505-0202. STEPHANIE ARGYRIS AGE: 55 HOMETOWN: Brick OCCUPATION: She is a doctor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, and teaches Native American medicine and energy medicine in the holistic health master's degree program at Georgian Court University in Lakewood. BACKGROUND: She was clinical chief of the brain-injury unit at Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation in West Orange, worked as a physiatrist at Garden State Rehabilitation Hospital in Dover Township and established a private practice across the street from that facility. CAUSE: A former competitive sailor, Argyris founded the nonprofit program Sail-Habilitation in 1994 to help her patients with special needs. The group, in conjunction with local yacht clubs, hosts Community Sailing Days, weekly sailing lessons and a competitive sailing program. EDUCATION: A 1969 graduate of Ocean Township High School, Argyris attended the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and did her internship and chief residency at Robert Wood Johnson Rehabilitation Institute's John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison from 1983 to 1986. FAMILY: Father and stepmother, Peter and Val Argyris, live in the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, and a younger brother, Steven Argyris, lives in New Hampshire. Her son, Brian, died Sept. 1, 1988, during his freshman year at Rutgers University in New Brunswick after he was struck by a car. |
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