Ross Mason Fosters Health Care Innovation (HuffPost Greatest Person Of The Day)

Ross Mason was biking on the Silver Comet Trail, an old railroad line from Atlanta to Birmingham, when he was stung by a bee.

As he reached to put on the brakes, he nicked the handle with his elbow. "I went off sideways hugging the ground, with my feet still firmly clipped in, careening into the brush," Mason wrote on his bio page. "I crashed into a small tree, right at its base, and broke my neck."

Mason was left paralyzed from the collarbone down. He can move his arms, but not his fingers. He went through months of painful, sometimes degrading therapy for his injury, but Mason told The Huffington Post that his injury was hardly a bad thing.

"We're all gonna lose our health, that's a part of life," Mason said. "Any challenges I've had have been a wonderful blessing. I'm honored God would trust me with a situation like this."

Mason also said his accident should be put in a larger context, noting that many others have suffered far more than he has.

"I've grown up in one of the richest societies on earth with a tremendous amount of opportunities," Mason said. "What in the world do I have to complain about?"

It is this mentality that has led Mason to tackle his latest challenge: making Georgia the leading state in innovative health care.

To this end, Mason founded the nonprofit Healthcare Institute for Neuro-Recovery and Innovation (HINRI), which provides free venture capital services to early stage nonprofits. The organizations that HINRI partners with must be committed to being a national or international leader in health care innovation.

One of those organizations is Georgia-based Warrior 2 Citizen, which helps returning veterans re-adjust to civilian life.

"Our programs help returning soldiers and their families deal with the many symptoms of war related post-traumatic stress and transition from combat to comfort at home," the organization's site explains.

HINRI and Warrior 2 Citizen are helping to open the first ever retreat center for service people returning from active duty, according to an HINRI press release. The center will welcome its first 100 families this fall.

The facility will provide a safe environment for service people to reengage with their families, while they get educational classes in career development, marriage counseling and emotional support, a press release said.

Mason is especially interested in helping organizations that aid members of the armed services.

"We owe them a debt as a society that we'll never repay," Mason said. "It's unconscionable to not provide them with the best possible care. We need to come together with love and compassion to serve these men and women."

Those interested in helping HINRI can click here to go to the organization's website. Warrior 2 Citizen can be found here.

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Comments

[Mikee1]

08:01 AM on 09/01/2011

I have had the pleasure of working alongside Ross in the Warrior 2 Citizen program. He is the real deal - an amazing and inspiring guy who acts on principle and passion. The program is led by many similarly committed people. Please consider supporting this effort to save soldiers from the ravages of wars they did not ask to fight.

[bumper870]

10:10 PM on 08/21/2011

This is Great.
See no matter what, if Give a chance people can do a lot of Good.
Citizenry just needs a lift up.
The Republicans and Tea Party Candidate want to keep the Americans down.
Help Citizens of this great country up. Don't send our Money and Jobs elsewhere.
This man is doing a great thing. He not trying he is doing!

[Michael Ludin]

06:28 AM on 08/21/2011

Sounds like a cool guy. Thanks!

[CAELadyJane50]

03:12 AM on 08/21/2011

This sounds like a great program ,but doesn't the Disabled American Veterans Administration provide all these types of services for our disabled military veterans? www.DAV.org

[GovernorOdius]

11:34 PM on 08/22/2011

Not everyone lives close to a DAV center. Montana is the 4th largest state and if you don't live near Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell, or Missoula, you have to travel a LONG way. It's 180 miles from where I live to Helena where the VA Hospital is. So is there access? Maybe, if you have gas money and time? Is it easy/free? Not always and not available in emergencies. Personally, I have to travel 130 miles each way to the doctor.

[CAELadyJane50]

01:41 PM on 08/25/2011

The state of Montana has a very low population per square mile, 4 people per square mile, compared to other states in the U.S. I would think a military veteran would want to live and work in the same vicinity as other military veterans where they could be close to a VA hosptial or clinic. Why must you live so far away from the VA Hospital?

[Mikee1]

08:09 AM on 09/01/2011

DAV is a wonderful organization but W2C does offer more services to a much broader population. We are not focused on physical disabilities the way many other great organizations do. Sadly, many soldiers, marines and sailors don't even tell people about their issues - physical or emotional - until they become the catalyst for extreme high risk behavior, divorce, abuse, drug addiction, economic despair and suicide.

W2C has done a pretty detailed survey of services already offered and available and will not duplicate them. The W2C triage center is designed to improve access to these other critical services that in many cases are underutilized.

[Patriot86]

03:43 PM on 08/20/2011

This seems to be a good program but it is not health care.

[darkmark]

02:51 AM on 08/20/2011

i was in the army for 3 years. the enlisted men and women are the army. those above are the bureaucracy. the people who brag about how grand our military is and have never served are the first to deny the needs of those that have fallen in what ever lie our heroes have been shoved into, what a waste. when a man wakes up to the lie of wars it brings tears to his eyes and a pain in his heart for the wars past and because he knows those braggarts in power are to busy thinking about their next wonderful war to worry about those that have fallen and those that will fall in combat on both sides in the wars. with cuts in education and harsher economic times the military will become more and more a haven for those without money. so we're to stay in afghanistan for another 12 years. for what? surely this empire has reached its end. if not we need a return of the draft. that will bring all our citizens into contact with the horrors of war. and that's why we have a all volunteer military. so the educated young men and women don't rise up in anger over dying for another lie.

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

03:20 AM on 08/20/2011

Other than the draft you are right. The draft will never happen again.

[TaoistG]

06:46 PM on 08/19/2011

Sounds great. Retreats should be a mandatory requirement for returning veterans.

[GovernorOdius]

11:35 PM on 08/22/2011

As long as you can pay for the travel, food, facility, babysitting, and other expenses, then you might could go?

[TaoistG]

11:45 PM on 08/22/2011

lol, it should be part of the benefits package of a decomissioned , honorably discharged veteran. Not out of their own pocket, duh... -- should be standard army procedure if these veterans want it, as an option.

[Mikee1]

08:13 AM on 09/01/2011

The program is being set up so that the often underutilized GI benefit all active duty vets get pay for them and in many cases their families to attend the retreat. Some philanthropy will be necessary to cover key aspects the GI bill will not cover.