Rehab Therapist Raises Money, Takes Patients to Swim With Dolphins

Cathy Herring’s life work has inspired and transformed the lives of countless others. For the past 26 years, she has encouraged, motivated and made it possible for adults and children with life-changing injuries to remain active members of their families and their community.

As a certified therapeutic recreation specialist at Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital in Miami, Cathy uses recreation as a treatment to address cognitive, physical and social behavior, and emotional deficits. Through goal-oriented and skill-based community outings, her patients have the opportunity to practice and incorporate the skills gained in rehabilitation. Cathy and her team give them the experience of learning from real-life situations under the guidance of professional recreational therapists. The ultimate goal is to reintegrate people back into their community, regardless of their life-changing injury.

Cathy routinely goes “above and beyond” for her patients – many of whom are paraplegics and quadriplegics in who have physical and/or mental damage due to a medical condition, like a stroke, or an accident. The importance of recreation to people with physical challenges used to be overlooked or considered a luxury.

One of the many recreational treatments Cathy provides is an aquatic rehab program for adults and children with spinal cord injuries. They learn to move their arms and legs in the water – something they often cannot do on land – and even learn to swim. Patients confined to wheelchairs often comment that they feel freedom in the water.

As a reward for their hard work in “swimming class,” Cathy’s patients are treated to a field trip to swim with dolphins in Islamorada. She first organized the dolphin swim in 2003 and has continued the day-long outing annually. Her patients travel together in a van to the Florida Keys. They spend the day at Theater of the Sea, watching shows, having lunch and swimming alongside the dolphins. They then go to a restaurant for dinner where they use other skills learned in recreation therapy sessions to order food, feed themselves and use the bathrooms. The dolphin swim costs nothing to the patients because Cathy raises money throughout the year, through raffles and hot dog sales in Alamo Park, to cover the expenses of the trip.

Cathy also hosts an annual beach barbecue on Key Biscayne, where she invites all outpatients and their families to play games, swim in the ocean with Jackson therapists, and practice BBQ cooking skills learned during therapy by making lunch.

“It is very rewarding to give our patients the opportunity to participate in this unique experience,” Cathy said. “It is something they will never forget.”

Cathy also partnered with City of Miami Parks and Recreation to start a hand cycling program at Jackson, which gives paraplegics, quadriplegics and amputees another recreation option. Outpatients regularly meet Cathy at a Miami park where they ride hand cycles, which builds endurance and strength, and works out the upper extremities. Those who excel and are able to ride at least 15 miles are rewarded with a day of cycling at Shark Valley in the Everglades.

Cathy’s energy, enthusiasm and expertise go far beyond her duties at Jackson. To meet Cathy Herring is to become immediately inspired by her and her unending commitment to Jackson and the patients she helps. Her attitude is contagious and her methods have proven successful time and time again. Her patients love her – and so do her colleagues.

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