GMRS Walkie Talkies Bring Communication to PossAbility Unlimited
At Midland, we believe that communication is more than just convenience—it’s connection, safety, and inclusion. That’s why we were proud to provide our GXT3000 GMRS Walkie Talkie 2 Pack - GXT3000VP4 to PossAbility Unlimited, an inspiring organization dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with spinal cord injuries.
During a recent retreat, PossAbility Unlimited's founder shared how these radios became more than just tools—they became a bridge.
About PossAbility Unlimited
PossAbility Unlimited is a non-profit organization that provides community, adaption, respite, and education (CARE) for individuals affected by spinal cord injury.
The organization was founded by Lauren Harmison in 2014, hosting its first retreat in 2015. In 2019, PossAbility decided to focus specifically on those impacted by spinal cord injuries.
“We are the only spinal chord injury focused retreat in the Midwest. Individuals will come to see us that often have never been around anyone else with a spinal chord injury. Some may have seen them, but it’s only been at rehab or the hospital," Harmison said.
Based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, PossAbility Unlimited provides medical support in addition to outdoor activities.
Founding PossAbility Unlimited
Hamison has been a nurse for a very long time.
The same year she started nursing school, she heard about a man in her city with a spinal cord injury. She kept hearing about him, others in the community urging her to pray for him .
After his injury he was flighted to rehab in Atlanta.
With faith being a large part of who she is, she felt God was prompting her to reach out to him.
"I didn't know him at all. I called him and he connected me with his aunts who were trying to get things ready for him to move here. When he came back from rehab, he was so depressed that he staying in bed all the time."
It was through that process she realized the resources for adults with spinal cord injuries is lacking.
"I had been volunteering with other adaptive camps, but when people turn 18, the adaptive camps were pretty much for adults who had cognitive delays. I felt there needed to be something else. There were so many people with such high cognitive function who didn't really even needs camps, they needed community. People with spinal cord injuries, they would have had a typical life and then everything changed."
After being impacted by COVID and switching up the retreat, PossAbility Unlimited took a break in 2022.
"That year that we didn’t have camp, I thought maybe we would focus on respite and helping individuals, but people kept calling and telling us their depression kept getting worse because they didn’t have something to look forward to. Practitioners like physical therapists that we had worked with told us they had people to send to us. They didn’t really know who else to refer them to.”
Providing Necessary Medical Care
Harmison is a nurse practitioner. She said specialized medical care for those affected by spinal cord injuries isn't always accessible.
“We also provide medical support that people say is hard to find. In general, medical care is lacking in a lot of places so people are falling through the cracks. This way they can come ask questions and get support that they otherwise might not have.”
She enjoys answering questions and providing caregivers with new tools to use at home.
“A lot of healthcare provides might not know a lot about people with spinal chord injuries or the care they need so when they come to our retreat, they feel like they have a healthcare provider that understands and can answer their questions.”
Harmison said even a lot of spinal cord specialists deal with one issue at a time, not overall care. That's why education is so important to retreat attendees. However, that education goes beyond medical care.
“We do medical classes on things like helping people with catheters, general spinal chord knowledge, we did a resume class. We give them a lot of tools so that they don’t just come and have a good time, we want to help equip them at home so they actually have medical support, they have other things that can help them with jobs, things like that.”
Community Support
For Hamison, the retreat brings attendees more than fun and helpful tips. It gives them the opportunity to feel support and interact with others dealing with similar injuries.
"The biggest thing we get out of it is community. What a lot of people don't have is a community. That's one thing that we're really able to bring. It's a lot different when people just show up for a meal or an activity and they actually live together. You can really see peoples' highs and their lows. They're really able to support one another because they're seeing someone else facing the same challenges."
The retreats have historically been in Indiana, but Harmison said they plan to expand to Florida as Miami has a big spinal cord injury support group.
"We really provide camaraderie. The things we get thanked for the most was just providing them the opportunity to all spend time together."
The Impact of PossAbility Unlimited
Hamison said PossAbility Unlimited is a passion project, making the experience even more meaningful.
“It’s a lot of work, but it is a very rewarding experience. I run all aspects of the program. I write all the grants, do all the fundraising, recruit everyone for the program, and then I train everyone."
Building a sense of community and instilling hope in the attendees continues to leave a lasting impact on her.
“Being able to see people realize their potential is amazing.”
Those in the organization continue to work with attendees, even after the retreats.
“PossAbility isn’t just a retreat or a program. It’s much more than that. All the people that have been here, we’re in contact with them and now we’re able to help provide them support. We help them with medical support, we help them when they have job questions, we help them. Even though the retreat is a couple weekends a year, we’re helping all year round.”
It's what keeps her going.
“I think when people see that they have people that care about them, even if they still have more or less mobility, they see that they can move on and have support is amazing. Those are the stories that I live for when I’m doing things like writing grants, sending out lots of letters for donations, and fundraising.”
Soaking Up the Impact
Hamison said one attendee had incredbily severe nerve pain due to his injury, forcing him to spend a lot of time in bed. Her and the physical therapist spent a lot of time with him, talking things through.
"One of the things I told him was that unfortunately, pain is going to be part of his life and we can continue to look for ways to help that, but it’s probably going to be something he has to live with. He’s going to have to find things that he enjoys to distract him that will make his life better."
They discussed what he did for work before his injury and how he could still apply his skills now.
Since he returned home from the retreat, Hamison said he has jumped into finding new resources- talking to the rehab near him, working on finding new job opportunities, finding new medications and treatments.
"More than likely, his pain isn’t going to go away, even though his life is going to be tough, he realized he didn’t have to be alone all the time, it made his life different.”
She's been in touch with him daily. Because he lives in Florida, he's helping her scout out locations for their retreat expansion in Miami.
Midland's GMRS Walkie Talkies Make a Difference
Communication has always been a vital piece of the PossAbility Unlimited retreat operations.
"We use them for safety. One of our goals was to make sure that if our fire alarm were to go off, we're able to clear it quickly. We assign people to cover every floor. That way we can radio each other and make sure everything is clear."
Her husband, an electrical engineer is picky about the equipment they use. He recommended Midland. Midland sent the organization its GXT3000 GMRS Walkie Talkie 2 Pack - GXT3000VP4.
"He is a big fan of Midland and suggested we reach out. Those were the only radios he wanted us to use."
Midland was thrilled to be able to donate several GMRS walkie talkies for use at the camp, knowing it would make a difference.
“If we need equipment, I always try to see if places have donation program because we run on a really low budget. For us, a donation of equipment we need, it’s us being able to pay another bill or not. Our program is very high impact, but it’s also really expensive to run.”
The Hamisons tested the GMRS walkie talkies before the retreat began, getting them to stretch 2 miles.
“The location that we’re at is slightly rural. Some areas of the property have good cell service while others don’t. We really needed to be able to know we could get ahold of one another, regardless of whether or not we had cell service or not.”
Beyond safety, they used the GMRS walkie talkies for overall planning and coordination.
“They worked great. We didn’t have any problems with them. They were really easy to use. We used them a lot. We even used them a lot more than we thought we would."
Each person assigned to their radio made sure to apply for and receive their GMRS license.
