Helios Warriors: Health Care Program For Veterans

Story & Photos By Paul M. Howey - Post Date: 03.01.2011

“This is a safe, supportive environment that helps you heal.”

Nonprofit organizations throughout Asheville and the surrounding area nourish the people within our communities, caring for those in need, protecting our historic heritage, educating young and old, and nurturing our cultural soul. Each month, The Laurel is bringing to our readers some of the stories behind these agencies. This month, the “spotlight” is on Helios Warriors, an agency that helps veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Most everyone would agree that we, as a nation, are doing a better job caring for the members of our Armed Forces than we’ve done in previous years. Still, many of these veterans have unmet needs, and it was these that inspired Gayle Sovinee and Deborah Nixon-Karistinos to sit down together in February 2007 to form a plan of action.

From that initial meeting arose an organization they named Helios Warriors. Their concept was simple yet comprehensive: they would provide complementary and alternative therapies to aid in the healing of the veterans’ wounds, seen and unseen. Helios Warriors opened its doors in October 2007 and began offering chiropractic, acupuncture, massage therapy, and other services two Sundays a month. There were no specific charges for these, just a tip jar on the counter for donations.

“We soon started seeing vets from all over western North Carolina and from Tennessee and South Carolina,” says Gayle. “Some printed materials but mostly word of mouth was how we were found.”

In 2009, Deborah moved to New Jersey for family reasons, and Helios Warriors closed its doors for nearly a year. During this dormant stage, Gayle was the driving force to get Helios back up and running. Through a lot of networking, especially at Asheville Chamber of Commerce functions, she was referred to the right folks who helped her complete the 501(c)(3) application to become a nonprofit organization and assisted in her search for a new location.

Through it all, Gayle says she was undeterred. “I knew if it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen.”

As the organization’s new executive director, she quickly learned she needed a board of directors as part of qualifying for nonprofit status. With the help of her new-found friends at the Chamber, she invited a number of former members of the Armed Forces to an informational meeting. She brought in three vets, clients of Helios Warriors, who shared their experiences with the group. After hearing their heartfelt stories, a board of directors was quickly created.

The IRS granted nonprofit status to Helios Warriors just three months after the paperwork was filed. Now Gayle needed a space to offer veterans the services she knew they needed. On the same day the notification from the IRS was received, Robin Pace offered her space at 438 Montford Avenue in Asheville. On April 23, 2010, the organization was back in business. When Dr. Lillian Thomas, a local chiropractor, took over the practice on Montford, she gladly continued providing the space for Helios Warriors’ volunteers to work and began offering her services as well.

“I really wanted to work with vets,” says Dr. Lillian. “I knew I could help them. I know it probably sounds selfish, but it just makes me feel good to do this.”

Two days a week (at this time, Fridays and Sundays) a number of volunteer practitioners on an alternating basis provide their services through Helios Warriors (neither they nor anyone associated with the organization receives any compensation). The list currently includes four acupuncturists, four chiropractors, a talk therapist, a nutritionist/herbalist, seven bodywork therapists, and two craniosacral therapists. Together, they help vets with their healing from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, chronic pain, military-related sexual trauma, mild traumatic brain injury, exposure to toxic poisoning, and pre- and post-surgery conditions.

Kevin Rumley, 26, was injured in a blast in Iraq, his body shattered by shrapnel. “I’ve had 30 surgeries,” he said, “but my biggest problem is dealing with the constant pain. With the help of the Kevin Rumley acupuncturist at Helios Warriors, I’m able to do that. The people here are wonderful.”

Stacie M. Litsenberger, another vet and a client of Helios Warrior, says of the treatment she’s received there, “This is a safe, supportive environment that helps you heal.”

“My whole life changed when began doing this work,” says Gayle. “My father served in World War II and my brother in the Vietnam War. My experiences with the vets at Helios Warriors have helped me to under- stand what my dad and brother went through.”