Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) provides support services, accommodation and advocacy to people with disabilities. We work with the Australian disabled community across all aspects of life – from hospital, to home, to workplace, delivering education, support and care.
You can imagine how devastating the effects of a catastrophic injury can be to the injured person, plus their family, colleagues and friends and our aim is for a society without barriers for people with spinal cord injury or disability.
Earlier this year we were the recipients of a James N. Kirby Foundation grant of $22,000, which enabled us to purchase specialised equipment for our Walk On program – an intensive exercise recovery program giving hope to those with a spinal cord injury.
Walk On is a groundbreaking spinal cord injury recovery program, which assists people to maximise their functional recovery after serious injury. The use of special exercise techniques including repetitive patterned movement which stimulates the nervous system reconnecting the messages within the damaged area of the spinal cord. This markedly improves health, wellbeing, independence and quality of life! Even relatively small improvements in the function of a paralysed person make enormous differences.
Our Walk On Sydney gym opened in 2010 and just one of the vital pieces of equipment supported by the James N. Kirby Foundation is the Vibro Gym Professional Powerplate. This equipment is proven to increase strength, flexibility and blood circulation when training, but most importantly it improves bone density. To date, every client has used the Powerplate in their recovery training.
Our thanks go to the generosity of The James N. Kirby Foundation for enhancing our clients’ ability to Walk On!
Jenny Marchionni
Trusts and Foundations Manager