THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

Message From the President

Dear Members & Friends-

We will host our annual Christmas party this month in lieu of December's meeting . See announcement below for details.

January's meeting has been canceled. February's meeting will be held at Frazier Institute, 220 Abraham Flexnor Way, Louisville, in the 10th floor dining room at 6:30 p.m.

- David Allgood

The following are from the Internet—ed.
MEDICINE'S BEST KEPT SECRET

They represent one of medicine's best kept secrets, yet have the skills, training and knowledge to help a vast majority of Americans, according to recent national research.
What is this valuable medical specialty people essentially do not recognize? It's the one practiced by rehabilitative physicians—nerve, muscle and bone experts who treat injuries and illnesses that affect how you move. Their goal? Decrease pain and restore function without surgery.
In medical circles, these doctors are also known as physiatrists, a term that is difficult to pronounced and is often confused with other specialties, which may explain why a survey of 1,000 Americans revealed that a mere 1 percent know this word.
Once the specialty is defined for them, many realize they are candidates for treatment by a rehabilitation physician if they suffer from many kinds of illnesses, a sports or on-the-job injury, or chronic pain. The survey, commissioned by the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R), showed nearly 67 percent of American adults said they could benefit from medical care provided by the physicians.
"One explanation for this lack of awareness is due to the fact that the more than 7,500 rehabilitation physicians in this country serve such a wide spectrum of conditions and patients. This makes it difficult for us to own any one treatment area, " said Joel Press, M.D. and AAPM&R president. "At the same time, this broad

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THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

Derby City Area Chapter
of the
National Spinal Cord Injury
Association

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

The Derby City Area Chapter of the N.S.C.I.A. is a membership organization for individuals with spinal cord injuries, their families, and health professionals. Founded in 1984 as a Charter Member of the N.S.C.I.A., it was incorporated under IRS Section 501 (c) 3 as a not for profit organization. The Board of Directors consists of the Officers, Past President and the Board Members At Large.

***
OFFICERS

PRESIDENT
David Allgood - (502) 589-6620

VICE PRESIDENT
Adam Ford - (502) 425-2206

TREASURER
Tom Stokes- (502) 957-5865

LIAISON TO FRAZIER INSTITUTE
Jill Farmer

FUNDRAISING CHAIR
Betty Perry—(502) 647-0368

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY/WEB MASTER
Michael Feger- (502) 647-0368

PAST PRESIDENT
Adam Ford- (502) 425-2206

BOARD MEMBERS AT LARGE-

Mike Perry
Kelly Young

NSCIA
DERBY CITY CHAPTER
NEWSLETTER

Editor- Barbara Davis
Contributor- David Allgood

Visit Our Website at
www.DerbyCitySpinalCord.org

The Derby City Area Chapter newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Frazier Rehab Institute.

MEDICINE'S BEST KEPT SECRET, CONT'D

medical expertise underscores the significant roles we can play in treating disabling conditions throughout a person's lifetime."
These disabilities may be due to low back, neck and shoulder pain, arthritis, osteoporosis, sports injuries, or involve more complex conditions such as spinal cord injuries, stroke and cardiac rehabilitation and traumatic brain injuries.
"Rehabilitation physicians take the time needed to accurately pinpoint the source of an ailment and then design treatments that can be done by the patients themselves or with our medical team," explained Dr. Press. "What's so important is to recognize that with our focus on non surgical approaches we can avoid less extreme interventions and more costly procedures. This is accomplished by taking the `whole patient' into account, not just a specific symptom."
For example, low back pain can be triggered by a variety of causes. Often it is difficult to identify the cause in the course of a routine examination. A rehabilitation physician will address issues such as prior illness or injuries, the patient's work environment and lifestyle, and determine a course of treatment that extends to the overall functioning of the patient.
Or, when treating a stroke victim, a rehabilitation physician will evaluate the negative effects of the stroke as well as the patient's pre-attack status, factoring in the patient's physical abilities, emotional state, family support, education, and even spiritual resources. After this analysis, a comprehensive recovery program is developed, involving, as appropriate, physical and speech therapists, neurologists, psychologists, and social workers.
Rehab physicians attain such scope of expertise through four years of medical school plus an additional four years of specialized hospital-based residency training in rehabilitative medicine. Some physicians pursue additional advanced degrees in sub specialties such as musculosceltal rehabilitation and spinal cord injury.
"Our extensive education and training help patients stay as active as possible at any age," Dr. Press added.
To locate a rehabilitation specialist in your community, or to learn about the specialty, visit the AAPM&R website at http://www.aapmr.org.
Based in Chicago, AAPM&R is the national medical society representing more than 7,500 physicians who are specialists in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation.

THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

Refrigerator Calendar
*2006

DECEMBER

4th - Elderly & Disabled Advisory Council Meeting.
Mon 1:00 P.M.; TARC; 1000 W. Broadway; Board Room.

18th - Annual Christmas Dinner; Highland Court Apts; 1720 Richmond Drive
Mon 6:30 p.m.

16th - Metro disAbility Coalition Meeting; 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Sat PVA Office on Goss Avenue.

JANUARY 2007

1st - Elderly & Disabled Advisory Council Meeting This date may change due to Holiday.
Mon 1:00-2:30 p.m.; TARC; 1000 W. Broadway; Board Room.

15th - Derby City Chapter meeting CANCELED for this month. Will resume in February.
Mon

20th - Metro disAbility Coalition Meeting; 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Sat PVA Office on Goss Avenue.

For More Information Call
David Allgood, 502-589-6620

THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT?

Your editor was sent a link to a website featuring unique gifts. Racing Grannies is a plastic 10-piece racetrack with two elderly women racing each other in their power wheelchairs. It requires 4 AA batteries (not included). $19.95 See picture below:

Go to www.whatonearthcatalog.com. In the search space type in "Racing Grannies." (The link would not post on Publisher).
If you don't have room for the track or don't want to fool with assembly, there is always this..

More information on Racing Grannies with walkers can be found at Firebox.com.

The following are from New Mobility.com

NEW TAXIS HAILED BY ADVOCATES

The new "Standard Taxi" was unveiled Sept. 18 in Seattle at the annual conference of the International Association of Transportation Regulators. "If local advocacy is successful, people will realize that the Standard Taxis is the vehicle to buy," says Taxis for All Project Manager Terence J. Moakley of the United Spinal Association. "It is built to be durable and easy to maintain for taxi and Para transit service." Wheelchair users enter the cab using a recessed access ramp and, once in the cab, ride facing forward. For more info, log onto www.taxisforallNA.org or www.standardtaxi.com.

WEBSITE TO DONATE TO SCI RESEARCH

Inspired by his spinal cord injury, a man from Brighton, Colorado created a website to earn income and give back to a local hospital.
Tim Minnick started milliondollarhomepagecolorado.com, a pixel advertising site where businesses can buy space on the homepage. It features 1 million pixels which Minnick sells for $1 per pixel.
"What this does is give Colorado businesses an inexpensive way to advertise for 10 years," Minnick said.
If everything goes as planned, Minnick could earn $1 million but it won't all go to him. He pledged to donate half of his proceeds to Craig Hospital which specializes in rehabilitating patients with spinal cord injuries.
He was inspired by his own story. Throughout high school, Minnick was hard on his body.
"I rode bucking horses, I did horse stunts, dive down saddles for no apparent reason," Minnick said. "I thought I was bullet proof."
Until it all caught up with him last December when he felt a pop in his neck and his arms went numb.
"Not only was it the pain and hard to lift the arms, but severe headaches and numbness and I couldn't sit, stand, walk and what have you," Minnick said.
His spinal cord was so injured the doctor said even a small accident could leave him paralyzed.
"That was probably the worst day of my life," Minnick said. So, he started the Web site to help himself and others with the same injury.
"It's a nice sort of entrepreneurial activity but at the same time, he has a good heart to want to give to a cause that's worthwhile and might be able to help a lot of people," said Dennis O'Malley, president of Craig Hospital.
And that was always Minnick's intention. "I want to make a contribution, I want to make a difference," Minnick said.
The advertisements will stay on the site for 10 years and more than 4000,000 people have already visited the site since May.

SHEPHERD'S `SHORT BUS' A COOL RIDE
By Rosalind Bentley

Let's just put it right out there: people stare at the short bus. They stare at who gets on and off.
That's the reality when you have a severe disability and your main way of getting around is via that bus.
Cathi Dugger has seen the stares as well as the looks on the faces of her clients who depend on the bus. The stares are without malice, but almost always come across as rude. Her clients later tell her the gawking made them feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. And different.

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THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

COOL RIDE, CONT'D

"It's hard enough for them, because they are already dealing with so many issues," Dugger said.
So Dugger, a physical therapist at the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care center in Atlanta, paired with her co-worker, Suwannee resident Minna Hong, to do something about it. Now people might stare for a different reason, which might include just a tiny bit of envy.
Enter the "Rock `n Roll Express", a rig that looks like a rock band's tour bus. Flames lick around the sides of the jet black ride, inside there's a sound system with a sub-woofer so big it could make an arena vibrate. A disco ball scatters light around the interior, that is when the flat-screen TV isn't engaged with a Play Station game. Dugger tried to get spinners for the wheels, but they don't make them that big, so she had to settle for chrome. Notably, there are almost no seats. This bus has been converted to handle 12 kids in wheelchairs or on ventilators, kids who are patients of Shepherd.
Dugger works with kids who have become paraplegics, quadriplegics, or who have suffered some catastrophic injury that has limited their ability to walk or move. The accidents that have put them in her care have ranged from the typical to the unusual—wreck, football, trampoline, gunshot. A typical stay at Shepherd is six weeks. During those weeks of treatment and rehabilitation, staff takes the kids on outings to have fun, but also to remind them that though their bodies have changed, the world they left has not, and they will have to re-enter it with new tools. But those field trips also give the kids a taste of how the world will react to their new form. And few other experiences point this up more starkly than arriving at a public place in a special van, or as Hong put it, "the short bus."
Hong uses a wheelchair to get around after being injured in a car accident years ago. As an adult the stares are hard enough, but for teenagers the glances can be doubly hard, she said.
"You know you are going to get the attention anyway when you pull up in the short bus, so, knowing that, what do you do?" said Hong, a peer counselor and marketing manager. "How do you make it work in your favor?"
You get a bus with a double take. At least that's what Dugger's goal was for her clients when she set out four years ago to make it happen. She was able to get an old school bus without air conditioning donated and hoped to make it into something worthy. She spent the first two years trying to earn a slot on the MTV hit, "Pimp My Ride" As time dragged on and nothing was happening, she made her pitch to Steve Rayman, owner of Rayman car dealerships. Rayman told her to scrap the school bus. He donated an old city bus bought online from California, Dugger said. Then in March, R&R Mobility and Lifts went to work making the interior suitable.

FOR SALE!!!!***

WC Lift; $7,000 new; only used 2 months; asking $4,500.

Invacare Storm TDX 3 Power WC; full reclining; less that 1 year old; $12,000 new; asking $3,500. Quickie II manual chair; good cond.; $1,000. Call David 589-6620.

NC topper; used; 3 E&J Manual chairs; used; 1 Quicksilver Action manual cahir; Monarch hand controls. 93,000 miles. Price negotiable. Call Ruth @ 239-9754 after 5 p.m.

*Shower Chair; 2 yrs old, negotiable; Invacare 900 Action Power Chair; 4 yrs. Old; $600. Call 448-5296.

*Cookbooks for Sale: Recipes compiled by Chapter members; $10:00. Call David @ 589-6620.

*Video tapes for sale. Various topics related to spinal cord injuries. Call David Allgood or Buddy Lawson.

***If assistance is needed to pay for any of the above items, contact Kentucky Assistive Technology Loan Corporation at for information on loans at 5% interest to qualified candidates.

COOL RIDE, CONT'D

Artists donated their time to paint the interior and put a wrap on the exterior, which makes the van look like it's covered in fire. The sound system was donated, as was the television. Dugger and Hong are still looking for a few more donations to make the bus just a little more plush.
Even so, the van is ready enough that it will take a maiden voyage in the next couple of weeks.
Kelsey Harbert, 17, hopes she'll be among the chosen few. Harbert was injured in a diving accident several weeks ago and her spinal cord was nearly severed. Her recovery is going well and she's expected to regain the use of her legs. But she wants to go on a ride on the bus before she leaves the hospital in early December. She and some of the other kids were given a tour of the bus recently just before it was ready. Harbert was the most impressed with the `super sweet system.'. "Oh my God, it's awesome!" Harbert said. "You turn it up and your head starts thumping! It doesn't feel like you're in the hospital, it's like you're in this hip-hop club!" Which is exactly the reaction Dugger and Hong were hoping for. "The hope is that it makes their heart a little bit lighter and ease the pressure of being different," Hong said. "So when they pull up to the mall with the system thumping, it'll be like, "Who cares if we're in a chair, we're still cool."

THE DERBY CITY NSCIA NEWSLETTER

You are cordially invited to join us!

The Derby City Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association
consists of people with spinal cord injuries and similar physical conditions, their family members, friends, and
professionals or other interested parties.

We meet:

WHEN- Third Monday of every month from 6:30 to 9:00 PM
WHERE- Frazier Rehab Center , 4th floor Dining Room
220 Abraham Flexner Way

If you wish to be a member, donor, and/or be on the mailing list of the Derby City Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association please complete and mail the following form to the address below