Welcome Home
by Scott Thomas Ruffin

With each visit The adventure still new All the technologies And staff so Professional too A friendly Smile with each visit I get Seeing now old friends who do not quit The efforts are grand To each and all Aiding to recuperate And wishing to stand tall For all of your efforts My hearts wish is true Thanks so much to all Who have helped me at the U.

Scott Ruffin began writing poetry in 1984 while he was an SCI patient at the University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC). He had difficulty expressing himself verbally in the early stages of rehab, and at the suggestion of staff, began to write. "It became a really good way to release my feelings," Ruffin says. "Writing has been a large part of my recovery." This poem, written last fall, was inspired by the caring staff on the rehabilitation inpatient unit at UWMC. Ruffin lives in Moses Lake, Washington.