Shake A Leg is a camp for people with paralysis. There is one in Newport, RI and Miami, FL. I attend the one in Newport. This is my third summer attending, I will stay down there for a month from June 17 to July 17 at Salvia Regina University on their campus. When we are down there we stay for a month. We stay in the dorm rooms usually by ourselves. Usually the first day is set for getting to know everybody.
Breakfast is always in the common area, and there is no set schedule for breakfast because everybody is doing different things. Lunch is always at noon in the cafeteria on campus. Dinner is at five everyday at the dorm, and it is brought to us.
We do various activities sailing, aquatics, cooking, PT, OT, recreational, life skills, outings, a regatta, counseling, Rolfing, reiki and yoga and many other things.
Sailing is done in Newport Harbor once a week on little JBoats. Newport Harbor is gorgeous and is always loaded with beautiful boats. In our boats you can fit 5 people in each boat comfortably.
Each week we do aquatics. It is done at a local Boys and Girls club. We go in small groups so we can have at least two therapists to one client ratio. When we are there I do various exercises in the water like weight bearing, arm exercises and other things. We do this once a week.
Every Friday consists of a cooking group. We cook a meal together and that works on our dexterity. It’s a good time; we get to eat it after make the food. When cooking we get to use various adaptive cooking devices. Each week we have different themes such as pizza day and many others. We talk about nutrition facts of the different foods.
Every week we work on PT two to three days a week. We do various sitting balance exercises to help strengthen my core, as well as mat work. We do work at their gym to help strengthen our muscles in our upper body.
In OT we do a lot of work when it comes to dressing, bathing, etc. and we work on different techniques. They helped me learn how to tie my shoes. They have all the toys. Adapted tools like button hooks, shoe horns, sock aids, etc.
The recreational activities consist of various wheelchair sports like wheelchair basketball, hand cycling and other chair sports. They like to expose us to a variety of different sports out there.
Various life skills are taught to all clients. They teach us how to adapt to life in a chair. They teach us ways to live independently. They do that by bringing in others that give their own personal experiences in living independently. You learn the most from others and their experiences. Their advice is better than what you learn at rehab.
The outings are always a good time. We go to a Red Sox game. It’s always a good time. We went last year. They are no green monster seats but they’re still good seats. We go to a local ropes course. That’s always a good time, and we do a couple activities there. It’s nice getting up in the air out of your chair. The outings are really fun.
Each summer we do a regatta. It’s a two day regatta on 30+ ft boats. These are world renowned race boats. It’s fun being on race boats even though I’ve never understood how it works. I personally think we are all winners. At the end of the regatta there is a large fundraising dinner where we all come together dressed up.
We also do various therapies that aren’t traditional such as massage, rolfing, reiki, and yoga. These therapies are as important as the others because they bring each person a sense of peacefulness. There is a 3: 1 therapist to client ratio. This provides us with adequate amount of attention.
Its great being in downtown Newport because it makes going out really easy and fun every time we go out. It seems like there is something going on every night. We usually go out in a large group. We go to a place that is very accessible because it has a deck outside.
Shake A Leg is the best place for people with paralysis. There really needs to more places like it out there.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Project Walk- Derek's Update
Where do I start? Project Walk is the best thing I have ever done. Project Walk is a really intense physical therapy program, like nothing I have ever done. It’s great. I feel if I am going to get anything back it is by going there.
There are currently three locations California, Seattle, and Boston. I really want to go as long as possible, but they don’t take insurance so I am not sure how long I can go. I will go until I can’t go anymore. Hopefully, I can go longer than shorter.
I learned about the Boston site through their web site. The guy who started the Boston site is named Dan. He is a pretty amazing guy. He can walk now with a walker. Before he did Project Walk in California, he had very limited movement in his hands and was confined to a chair, but with hard work and determination to get out of that chair he made it. Dan got hurt diving off a boat into shallow water and broke his neck. He did all the traditional therapies with minimum success similar to me. He knew if he was going to get better he would have to do intense therapy. That’s when he decided to go to Project Walk in California, and he went there for 5 years. But now he is out of a chair, living on his own, and driving. Even though he can walk now he still works to maintain what he has gotten back and to get stronger. He still has minimum hand strength but enough to live on his own. He is a really good motivator because you can see there is light at the end of the tunnel. Dan is at the Boston site everyday. He is a liaison for prospective clients.
We made contact with PW before China to make sure I could go there when I got back. Bieke Biotech said to get intense therapy when I got back from China, and this definitely is intense. So when we got back we didn’t waste any time getting in touch with them.
The hardest part is finding funds for it. They do not take insurance because they don’t want to be regulated on what they can do. They know some people take longer than others and insurance companies want to see instant progress. At PW they know that some may progress faster than others.
I had to have a bone density test done before I started because they do a lot of weight bearing exercises. I did that at home around here. That wasn’t too invasive on me.
The next step in the equation was how would I get down there and where would I stay? It is very convenient that Dustin and MacKenzie live near PW, 45 minutes away so we would stay with them. To say thank you for letting us stay with them, we bring them down dinner. With Shannon’s help, she drives me down, takes care of me, and takes me to PW. It works out great.
I am at PW for about 3-4 hours, 3 days a week. When I am there it is non-stop from the beginning to the end. They don’t give your muscles too much time to relax. They like to keep them fired up.
I do many different exercises there. They do a lot with your core because you need your core to walk.
They have an FES bike which is a bike that helps move your legs with electro- stimulation. Your legs feel fatigued after it. I also use their power plate. It is a machine that sends an intense vibration through your whole body. They get me standing on it to get full potential out of it. The Russian astronauts invented it so they would not loose bone density while in space. It’s a pretty awesome machine. I do a lot on their total gym. The total gym is a board on an incline so I can lie on it and do leg presses. We also do various core exercises because you need that to walk. I do the hand bike, but I do it standing so it is much more intense. We do various mat work exercises, the standing frame, and many other things.
There are thirty-seven people in the program currently, people who go there and also people doing the home program. Everybody is in different stages.
I see some of the same people each time and some new ones. There was a client there who was going to China to the same hospital I went to so he had a bunch of questions for me.
I’ve meet some pretty neat people. There is a girl there from Pennsylvania. She was in a car accident, and her goal was to walk down the aisle for her wedding. She was able to walk with leg braces under her wedding dress. She said there was not a dry eye in the church. She has a Newfoundland as a guide dog. There was a guy at Shake A Leg, who has a dog, but it’s no Newfoundland.
I am going back to Shake A Leg this summer. I can’t wait. I am so excited. It should be a good time. I will keep you informed on how things are going.
Bye –D-
There are currently three locations California, Seattle, and Boston. I really want to go as long as possible, but they don’t take insurance so I am not sure how long I can go. I will go until I can’t go anymore. Hopefully, I can go longer than shorter.
I learned about the Boston site through their web site. The guy who started the Boston site is named Dan. He is a pretty amazing guy. He can walk now with a walker. Before he did Project Walk in California, he had very limited movement in his hands and was confined to a chair, but with hard work and determination to get out of that chair he made it. Dan got hurt diving off a boat into shallow water and broke his neck. He did all the traditional therapies with minimum success similar to me. He knew if he was going to get better he would have to do intense therapy. That’s when he decided to go to Project Walk in California, and he went there for 5 years. But now he is out of a chair, living on his own, and driving. Even though he can walk now he still works to maintain what he has gotten back and to get stronger. He still has minimum hand strength but enough to live on his own. He is a really good motivator because you can see there is light at the end of the tunnel. Dan is at the Boston site everyday. He is a liaison for prospective clients.
We made contact with PW before China to make sure I could go there when I got back. Bieke Biotech said to get intense therapy when I got back from China, and this definitely is intense. So when we got back we didn’t waste any time getting in touch with them.
The hardest part is finding funds for it. They do not take insurance because they don’t want to be regulated on what they can do. They know some people take longer than others and insurance companies want to see instant progress. At PW they know that some may progress faster than others.
I had to have a bone density test done before I started because they do a lot of weight bearing exercises. I did that at home around here. That wasn’t too invasive on me.
The next step in the equation was how would I get down there and where would I stay? It is very convenient that Dustin and MacKenzie live near PW, 45 minutes away so we would stay with them. To say thank you for letting us stay with them, we bring them down dinner. With Shannon’s help, she drives me down, takes care of me, and takes me to PW. It works out great.
I am at PW for about 3-4 hours, 3 days a week. When I am there it is non-stop from the beginning to the end. They don’t give your muscles too much time to relax. They like to keep them fired up.
I do many different exercises there. They do a lot with your core because you need your core to walk.
They have an FES bike which is a bike that helps move your legs with electro- stimulation. Your legs feel fatigued after it. I also use their power plate. It is a machine that sends an intense vibration through your whole body. They get me standing on it to get full potential out of it. The Russian astronauts invented it so they would not loose bone density while in space. It’s a pretty awesome machine. I do a lot on their total gym. The total gym is a board on an incline so I can lie on it and do leg presses. We also do various core exercises because you need that to walk. I do the hand bike, but I do it standing so it is much more intense. We do various mat work exercises, the standing frame, and many other things.
There are thirty-seven people in the program currently, people who go there and also people doing the home program. Everybody is in different stages.
I see some of the same people each time and some new ones. There was a client there who was going to China to the same hospital I went to so he had a bunch of questions for me.
I’ve meet some pretty neat people. There is a girl there from Pennsylvania. She was in a car accident, and her goal was to walk down the aisle for her wedding. She was able to walk with leg braces under her wedding dress. She said there was not a dry eye in the church. She has a Newfoundland as a guide dog. There was a guy at Shake A Leg, who has a dog, but it’s no Newfoundland.
I am going back to Shake A Leg this summer. I can’t wait. I am so excited. It should be a good time. I will keep you informed on how things are going.
Bye –D-
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