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QUALITY OF LIFE

The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation, through the generosity of its donors, directly benefits millions of disabled people through the Foundation’s Quality of Life grants. This is an important program of SSPF as it helps to change and inspire lives.

2008 QUALITY OF LIFE GRANTS

The Mobility Project (Bremerton WA)
The Mobility Project has shipped 60 wheelchairs to Afghanistan via the US Government’s Denton Program, which provides free shipping for humanitarian goods. In addition to distributing these wheelchairs they participate in food distribution and school supplies distribution in conjunction with Sozo International in an effort to reach out to the community. They requested funding for 14 pediatric wheelchairs and the parts and tires for the sports program in Kabul. The pediatric wheelchairs will benefit children with various disabilities who have never known the freedom of mobility. The parts and tires will be used to fix wheelchairs they took to Afghanistan over three years ago for a wheelchair sports camp and to the adaptive athletics program run at Ghazi Stadium in Kabul.

Society for Disabled Women (Pakistan)
SSPF will help to fund SDW mobile guidance and counseling programs for desperate, neglected and underprivileged disabled women in far off rural areas of Faisalabad district. The project provides proper care and treatment to neglected and poor women affected by various paralysis-causing conditions, including polio, that live in remote rural areas. Grant funds will support programmatic expenses for schooling, counseling, and medical care.

The Ashley & Friends Barrier-Free Playground
The Kathy & Tom Miller Family Foundation (Edina, MN)
The Ashley & Friends Barrier-Free Playground is being constructed at Miller Park in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The inspiration is 5-year-old Ashley, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair for mobility needs. Eden Prairie has an extensive park system and will now have a barrier-free playground with accessible pathways and surface structures that allow non-mobile children and adults the opportunity to reach all areas of the play structure. This access will enable children with physical challenges to have the opportunity to play alongside their peers.

Blythedale Children’s Hospital (Valhalla, NY)
Blythedale Children’s Hospital is the only independent, freestanding hospital in the New York Metropolitan area that is dedicated exclusively to the care and treatment of children with complex medical needs. While they are located in upscale Westchester County (NY), more than two-thirds of their patients live in low-income neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City. The funding will enable them to purchase a standing frame and power lift for nonambulatory pediatric patients.

Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital (Chicago, IL)
Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital is a 128-bed rehabilitation hospital that provides a comprehensive array of rehabilitation services, advocacy, community-based disability prevention programs, and support groups to a predominately low-income African American and Hispanic population on Chicago’s west side. The grant will fund their “Gaining Independence through Art and Recreation” program, which supports community outings for people with disabilities.

Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) Sports Program (Indianapolis, IN)
The RHI Sports Program is dedicated to the belief that recreation is essential for all people. Their activities are designed with the intent of helping their athletes gain greater self-knowledge, decrease feelings of isolation, and increase levels of physical fitness; ultimately leading to the transference of these experiences into the areas of employment, interpersonal relationships, and community involvement. SSPF’s grant will help RHI Sports purchase the special basketball wheelchairs for these kids to use and then recycle them each year for the next team. Each chair costs roughly $2200.

ThinkFirst, Indianapolis Chapter (Indianapolis, IN)
Each year, an estimated 500,000 persons in the US sustain a brain or spinal cord injury. The most frequent causes of these injuries are motor vehicle crashes, violence, falls, sports, and recreation. Most of these injuries are preventable. ThinkFirst programs educate young people about their personal vulnerability and the importance of making safe choices. SSPF’s grant will be used to help provide funding for ThinkFirst VIPs to attend a three day conference to be trained, learn new techniques, meet other speakers, learn about funding, and other important strategies.

Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center (Lincoln, NE)
SSPF’s grant will help fund the costs of implanting the Synapse-NeuRx DPS™ RA/4 Diaphragm Pacing Stimulation System in up to 10 spinal cord injured patients. The device works like a pacemaker for the diaphragm. Electrodes, attached to the diaphragm, send an impulse forcing the diaphragm to contract—thus forcing the person to breathe. The implants strengthen the diaphragm muscle. Unfortunately Medicare currently does not reimburse for this device. It is already FDA-approved, so it is not considered experimental for patients that have spinal cord injuries.

Indy Racing League Ministry (Indianapolis, IN)
The Indy Racing League Ministry is dedicated to providing support and counseling to the Indy Racing League both on and off the track. The IRL Ministry cares for drivers and teams in the Indy Car Series and Firestone Indy Lights Series, the safety teams, IRL officials, hospitality providers, and support personnel. The total number of people served reaches into the hundreds. They provide non-denominational and catholic services at each of the IRL track venues. They also carry out the Rescue Food Ministry at each track. The IRL Ministry also attends each of the Foundation’s Day at the Races events.

Susquehanna Service Dog Program
Keystone Human Services DBA Keystone Children & Family Services (Harrisburg, PA)
SSPF’s grant will support the Susquehanna Service Dog program. They support individuals with paralysis to be independent in the community.

Lions Camp Tatiyee, Inc. (Lakeside, AZ)
The camp is the only special needs residential camp that is accredited by the American Camping Association in Arizona. They are also a health care facility with a full time nurse on site 24/7 and the hospital is only a mile away. They serve campers with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, and other diseases as well as varying spinal cord injuries. Most of these campers are wheelchair-bound. The entire camp is wheelchair accessible with new asphalt paving and ramps and they have just completed renovations to the rest rooms in the dorms and dining hall to bring them up to ADA specifications. They have a 1:1 ratio of wheelchair-bound campers to counselors.

Wheelchair Recycler (Marlboro, MA)
The Wheelchair Recycler recycles pre-owned electric wheelchairs and scooters, making them available to those without insurance or waiting for insurance. It also makes repairs to used chairs for people without insurance. The Chief Executive David Heim, an engineer by trade who suffered a spinal cord injury in 1995, founded the wheelchair recycling program after learning that the US system allowed thousands of people to go without mobility. Not only does he provide wheelchairs to those who cannot afford one, but the organization also helps to reduce the amount of aluminum, steel, rubber, battery parts, and other waste in our nation’s landfills.

Madonna Foundation
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital (Lincoln, NE)
SSPF’s grant will assist in the acquisition of the Lokomat for Madonna. The Lokomat is a robotic assisted gait trainer that is designed to treat persons with disabilities across the full age continuum. Madonna believes the Lokomat will improve the quality of life, enhance independence, and offer a sense of hope and promise for patients and their families whose most fervent hope is to walk again. The Lokomat has a pediatric module, enabling one machine to serve both adult and pediatric patients.

Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing (Winchester, VA)
The mission of the Disabled Veterans Committee on Housing is to make all veterans as independent as possible by remodeling their present living space, or finding a government grant for them to have a home built meeting their specific needs. Specially adapted housing grants can, and will, drastically reduce the cost of building a home. The Committee has partnered with a local builder, approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs, to fulfill this mission.

Sports Education and Program Center for People with Disabilities
Adaptive Sports Foundation (ASF) (Windham, NY)
Adaptive Sports has a “Support Our Troops” program that brings injured soldiers to ASF and the Windham area for rehabilitative summer and winter recreational activities and instruction. A special event for female wounded soldiers was added in Spring 2008. Their goal for each program is to provide transportation, lodging, meals, and equipment to soldiers and their families at no expense for each event.

Push to Walk (Riverdale, NJ)
Push to Walk provides specialized exercise workouts to people with spinal cord injuries. They work one on one with clients helping them regain strength, function, and independence.

North Jersey Navigators (Bayonne, NJ)
The mission of North Jersey Navigators is to develop, implement, and coordinate special programs to help children with disabilities increase their mobility skills competencies, social skills, self-esteem, and activity levels, as well as to inspire children with disabilities to achieve increased participation in all physical activities.

Spinal Cord Injury/Disease Forum, TRAIL Talk and TRAIL Trek
University Hospital Foundation
University of Utah Health Care (Salt Lake City, UT)
The SCI Forum is a unique eight week educational opportunity held once a year for individuals with SCI, family members, caregivers, and friends. The purpose is to provide newly injured spinal cord patients the resources for continued healthy, active living after paralysis and thereby prevent secondary medical complications and re-hospitalization.

Spinal Cord Injury Consortium (Washington DC)
The SCI Consortium is dedicated to improving the lives of persons living with spinal cord injury (SCI). The primary project of the Consortium has been to produce and distribute the SCI Resource Guide. SSPF’s grant will be used for the publication and distribution of the 2010 SCI Resource Guide.

PREVIOUS QUALITY OF LIFE GRANT RECIPIENTS

2007 Quality of Life Grants
Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation Scholarship Fund, Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, New Jersey
The Wounded Warrior Projects, Jacksonville, Florida
Mountain Outreach Program, Cumberland College, Williamsburg, Kentucky
The Travis Roy Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts
Children’s TherAplay Foundation, Carmel, Indiana
Paws With A Cause, Wayland, Michigan
Wheels for the World, Joni and Friends, Agoura Hills, California
Adaptive Sports Center, Crested Butte, Colorado

2006 Quality of Life Grants
Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (Indianapolis, IN)
Freedom Field (Columbus IN)
R.A.G.E. (Las Vegas, NV)
Homes for Our Troops (Taunton, MA)
The Kids Equipment Network (Oak Park, IL)
2007 WSCA US National Disabled Water Ski Tournament (Indianapolis, IN)
Project Walk (Carlsbad ,CA)
The New York Academy of Sciences Research Symposium (New York, NY)

2005 Quality of Life Grants
Centers for Independent Living (Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana)
Homes for Our Troops (Taunton, MA)
University of Washington’s Route 28 Summit Workshop
Ghana, Africa
Alan T. Brown Foundation (New York, NY)

© 2008 Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation
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