Children's Therapy Center receives grant for spinal treatment

The Children’s Therapy Center at IU Health-Bloomington Hospital has a new way of rehabilitating patients with spinal cord injuries.

The center was recently awarded a $6,800 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aids in curing spinal injuries.

The award was one of 76 grants that added up to almost $450,000 for more than 100 organizations nationwide.

The Quality of Life grants are awarded twice every year to nonprofit organizations and projects dedicated to improving the lives of people who live with paralysis or other spinal cord injuries.

The grant for the Children’s Therapy Center has helped fund a 30-foot Solo-Step System.

The system can be portable or mounted to the ceiling on a track, which is attached to a lanyard and allows the therapist to try to improve the patient’s gait long-term.

The full amount of the grant was spent on the Solo-Step System, said Pam Felts, manager at the Children’s Therapy Center.

Patients have already begun using the new equipment, she said.

“I saw a kiddo run for the first time after a traumatic brain injury from a car accident,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. It was like he was free.”

There are no additional fees for patients at the center to use the system, Felts said.

Jameson Russell, a chiropractor at the Bloomington Chiropractic Center, said a concern for practitioners during rehabilitation is the safety and stability of
patients.

“Most patients have poor balance and coordination to begin with, which means the doctor must give a majority of their attention to making sure the patient doesn’t have any preventable accidents,” Russell said in an email.

The Solo-Step System allows the doctor more freedom to focus on the exercises and treatment, Russell said.

The Children’s Therapy Center takes patients from birth to age 21 who need speech and occupational therapy.