[1]ARCADIA VALLEY, Mo. (BP) – There is medicine you can’t put in a bottle. It doesn’t require a safety cap or a doctor’s note. It’s widely available, but those who need it most could use some help getting it.
Through hunting, Missouri Baptist Home and Healthcare Ministries (BHHM) has brought this medicine to approximately 50 senior adult men and women over the last five years. It’s a healthy mix of sun and fresh air that ultimately nourishes the body and soul.
Ron Mackey, BHHM vice president for community engagement, compares it to the paralyzed man who was lowered through a roof by his friends to meet Jesus.
“With Jesus, there’s always a way,” Mackey said. “You just have to have the courage and tenacity to try.”
BHHM President Rodney Harrison brought up the idea several years ago. His father, an off-and-on hunter throughout life, was in his mid-90s. Harrison was a hunter as well, and took his dad on a trip to the woods, where he harvested a deer. The entire experience affected Harrison.
“It helped him connect in a unique way with his own father,” said Mackey. “So he thought, ‘What if we did this with the Baptist Homes?’”
Mackey shared the idea recently through a column [2] in the Missouri Baptist Pathway. Yes, he had concerns over the safety of participating residents, not to mention liability and whether their insurance would even cover such an activity. Those have all been rectified.
Mackey admitted to Baptist Press that he had reservations when the idea was initially brought up.
[3]“My first reaction? I just stared at Dr. Harrison and said, ‘OKq, we’re going to take 90-year-olds into the woods and give them some crossbows or guns? How are we going to get them there? How are we going to pull this off?”
Not without help from folks like the ones at First Baptist Church in Viburnum. For three years, they’ve built deer blinds that are placed on top of hay trailers. Ramps to the trailers make them wheelchair-accessible. The trailers then haul the blinds to the spot.
A prospective location was already in-hand. The BHHM original campus in Ironton used to be a farm and stretches over 175 acres. It became overrun with deer, though, and needed management.
They reached out to the National Deer Association, which had a program introducing young hunters to the outdoors. Harrison suggested the same principle, but on the other end of the age spectrum.
The first outing was an archery hunt, used with crossbows, actually. It included lessons on proper hunting, such as avoiding maiming an animal. After several rounds of target practice, it was off to the blinds.
Locations have spread from Arcadia Valley. Five deer hunts took place at several places – including permission to use private land – for the season that ended in mid-January. Meat from harvested deer is given to needy families.
Volunteers and BHHM staff assist in handling the weapons when hands are shaky or grip strength isn’t what it used to be. The help lets guests take in a new experience, or be reintroduced to one. Sometimes it’s both.
Fred Davis was a retired pastor who came to the home with his wife. Her death affected him terribly.
“He became pretty despondent, alone and lonely,” said Mackey. “He had been an avid outdoorsman back in the day, so he agreed to go on a deer hunt.”
A bout with pneumonia the week before nearly kept Davis at home, but he persevered and went on the hunt. He didn’t get a deer, but came back with something else.
“He was so excited,” Mackey said. “He said that he thought he had come to the Baptist home to die, but now knew he had come there to live. From that point forward, he became more involved in the outdoors and went fishing in a pond on our campus every evening.
“Later, he traveled back to Arkansas for a fishing trip with a friend and his son. While there, he became very ill and passed away. But he was doing what he wanted to do.”
Participants receive a hunting mentor, and have been as old as 95. Some are on oxygen. They talk about the beauty of seeing a sunrise. Many become overwhelmed.
“You see the joy on everyone’s faces, the senior adults and volunteers,” said Mackey. “It’s a beautiful thing, it really is.”
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