Bound to Cheer : Turn for the Worse Steers Herb Oles Toward Volunteering His Good Humor to Staff and Patients at Veterans Hospital

It was Aug. 12, 1975, when Herb Oles had what he calls “the accident.”

He was teaching his 4-year-old daughter, Jody, to dive in an above-ground swimming pool while on vacation in New York state. The water was 40 inches deep, just enough for a child to dive in safely. Oles was standing on a ladder at the water’s edge when the ladder slipped and he fell in, head first.

“I went right to the bottom and hit the top of my head, and as far as I know, that’s all she wrote,” he said. “I was paralyzed that instant.”

Oles’ back was broken between the sixth and seventh vertebrae. He was paralyzed from the chest down, and, although he can still move his arms, he lost the ability to move his fingers.

He spent six months in three hospitals in New York state and Los Angeles. When he returned to his home, then in Van Nuys, he was driven in a van with a wheelchair lift. An attendant had to take care of his most basic needs.

Without the use of his hands, Oles’ dream of taking over the family hardware store in Sherman Oaks was shattered. But he found another career serving others.

A former Air Force jet mechanic, the 49-year-old Oles goes for treatments three times a week at the Veterans Administration Hospital spinal-cord injury clinic in Sepulveda. After he is helped, he joins the helpers.

Oles, who now lives in Sepulveda, is one of four wheelchair-bound volunteers who perform chores such as delivering prescriptions to the pharmacy, getting lunch for the staff and visiting patients.

Oles has accumulated 7,000 hours of volunteer work at the hospital. Although there are others who have volunteered more hours, Oles is one of the most cheerful.

“I’m a very happy person, and I look forward to waking up every morning,” he said. The accident showed him, he said, that life can take a turn for the worse at any moment, but “just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean life stops.”

With mechanical aids that allow him to grip controls, he learned to drive a specially equipped van. He shops for the family’s groceries and drives his daughter, now 16, to drill-team practice.

“Sure, I’ve had a catastrophic accident, but there’s no reason to really let yourself down. It’s more of a reason to make yourself stronger,” he said.

“I’m just invigorated with energy to give to other people, and there’s nothing greater than to get a smile from someone else.”