"AT REUTILIZATION FOR RECREATION" WEBINAR

~ SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 ~



CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Welcome. We're really glad that

you're with us for this important topic today of AT reuse

for recreation. There are lots of you out there that

really get the importance of recreation, and we're excited

to highlight this today.

I'm going to turn this on over to Liz because I

don't want to eat into y'all's time.

But I especially want to thank Chris -- good to see

you on with us -- from Montana. And Sara. So glad you're

with us. And same with you, Lindsey. So thank you. And

Martha, happy that you're going to lend your expertise to

this subject too.

So y'all enjoy.

LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you, Carolyn. It's wonderful

to hear your voice on the webinar today.

Thanks so much for joining us today everyone.

We're really excited about this webinar. We're hoping that

this will be a refreshing topic as we kind of delve a

little bit into something different than our usual topics

and we talk about AT reuse and recreation.

And again, we're really glad that Lindsey from

Paraquad and also with the Pass It On Center was able to

coordinate this. She's our leader when it comes to AT

reuse and recreation.

So great job, Lindsey. And again, happy to have

Sara, Chris, and Martha on here as well as our co-speakers.

Before we jump into the webinar content today, I

just wanted to do a few housekeeping tips just so y'all are

comfortable with the webinar system and are able to use it.

Over to the right-hand side of your screen, there

is a public-chat area. So that is a great way to interact

with the speakers and with everyone in the webinar system

today, especially if you do not have a microphone set.

So some of you have been able to see some of the

sound-check topics, some folks saying hello to each other.

And I'll actually type in "hello" so y'all can see where

I'm typing in.

But if you would like to ask a question or type in

a comment in the public-chat area, all that you need to do

is type in your text into the white box under the

public-chat area, and hit "Enter," and your text will pop

up. And that's a great way, again, to leave any comments

or ask any questions.

Underneath there, there's a list of all the

participants in the webinar today. And as you can see,

that number is growing as we're talking. And we're going

to get some more people on as our time continues on today

as well too.

(Audio skipped . . .) moderators on and then our

participant list underneath. So it's a good way to keep in

touch and keep track of your peers and everyone who's

attending the webinar today as well too.

I want to say hello to Kimberly Griffin. She's our

transcriptionist. And she's on our webinar today, as she

is all of our webinars.

We actually have this webinar already posted on the

Pass It On Center website. So if y'all would like to print

off a copy or have a copy ahead of time, you can visit the

Pass It On Center website under the "Webinars" page. And

under "Webinar Archives," we've got the PowerPoint

presentation up there.

Kimberly also works on our transcription, our audio

and our written transcription. And if you give us about

three to four weeks, we usually get those posted up on the

Pass It On Center webinar. So it's a great resource to go

back and use as reference and to refresh your memory, to

share the information, also tell some of your peers that

weren't able to join us today about being on the webinar.

Hopefully y'all can see the title slide. It says

"AT Reutilization For Recreation: Equipment Loan Is Making

a Difference." And it has the name of our speakers.

There's a beautiful picture up there that Chris

from Montana actually gave to us to use. And it's of

someone fishing in their wheelchair in a beautiful

environment. And so hopefully y'all can see that picture.

If you do have difficulty seeing any of the

PowerPoint at any given time, feel free to refresh your

screen. And I, as I'm flipping through the PowerPoint

slides throughout our time today, will also refresh.

And the way you can do that is, over on the

left-hand side in the top-left corner, there are two green

arrows that are circling each other. And if you click on

that, that will refresh your screen.

If any of you need any information about

accessibility options or adjusting any details as far as

accessibility on the webinar platform, the way you can do

that is by going up to your menu across the top left-hand

side. If you go under "Options" and you click "Options,"

you can click on "Accessibility," and it gives you a number

of different options that you can configure to suit your

needs best while we're on the webinar system.

So I think that does cover our intro as far as the

webinar platform. And again, we appreciate y'all being on

here and hope that you are able to interact with us

throughout the webinar today.

We want to let you know that we offer credits.

We're really proud of this and really excited to be able to

do this for each one of you that are on the webinars that

you're able to join us all the time -- that we do offer

credits for our webinars. We offer CEUs, and we offer

CRCs.

So if you're interested in CEUs, what you'll do is

visit the AAC Institute website. And that website is on

your screen right there. But it's aacinstitute.org. And

you click under their CEU page, and you're able to get the

information that you need for the credits for CEUs right

there on the AAC Institute. And if y'all have any

questions at all, you can certainly e-mail me.

If you're interested in getting CRCs, what you'll

do is e-mail me -- and again, I'm Liz with the Pass It On

Center; my e-mail address is liz@passitoncenter.org -- with

all of your information.

And if you give me just a couple of days, I will

send you your verification form for your CRCs. So it's

just that simple. But I need to have your information and

the organization that you're with.

One other thing that we do ask that's actually very

helpful for us on the webinar is if each one of you could

just take just one minute and type in your name and the

organization that you're affiliated with in the public-chat

area.

What that does is help us to build our

participation and attendee list. And again, that's all the

information that we at the Pass It On Center have to submit

in order for us to continue offering credits to each one of

you. So again, we really would appreciate your help if you

could just type in your name and the organization that

you're affiliated with in the public-chat area. And we

really appreciate that.

We do have an evaluation. So if y'all could just

wait until the end of the webinar, we'll post this link

again. It's on SurveyMonkey. And we do really appreciate

your information. And we go back, and we read all of the

webinars. We really value your information.

The Pass It On Center team gets together often, and

we look at all the feedback that you provide to us, all the

suggestions that you have as far as different webinar

topics that you're interested in.

In fact, AT reutilization and recreation was one of

those topics that was on an evaluation form a while back.

And so we took that into consideration, and here we are now

giving you all of that wonderful information.

So definitely just take a few minutes at the end of

the webinar and provide us that information. So again,

this helps us to offer more credits to each one of you.

So we have a few learning objectives that I just

want to share for today's webinar. Some of the basic

learning objectives that y'all will be able to walk away

from the webinar with is being able to understand the

components of device loan, which does fall under the reuse

activities that Pass It On Center has worked on.

So understanding the components of device loan and

what that means to the Pass It On Center.

Can everyone still hear me? Just want to do a

quick sound check. Can y'all tell us what you see on the

screen? Okay.

Hey, everyone. This is Liz with the Pass It On

Center. I do greatly apologize. It looks like we've run

into some technical difficulties. So if y'all can just

bear with us. I'm going to have to sign out and come back

in. So if you could just give me just one minute. And

again, we greatly apologize. Hopefully you can hear us.

Sara and Lindsey, maybe y'all can actually go ahead

and start talking a little bit about today's webinar,

Lindsey, and introduce some of the speakers while we're

working on the PowerPoint.

Thank you everyone.

LINDSEY BEAN-KAMPWERTH: Hi, everyone. It's

Lindsey. Do I sound like a little Alvin chipmunk or

anything, or is my voice okay? All right. Well, cool. I

guess we'll go on.

And Liz did say that you could possibly try to sign

out and sign back in. So I don't know if y'all want to do

that real quick. But I think, if they do it and log back

in, we should be okay. And then, like Liz was talking

about, the green arrows to refresh our screen. And I'm

sure that they'll keep us updated in the public-chat area

also.

So the four speakers that we have today -- I'll

introduce myself when I talk, but we have Sara Sack from

Kansas, who is a consultant ...(lost audio)

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz with the

Pass It On Center. Can you hear me okay?

And Lindsey, we were having a hard time hearing

you. I'll release the mic and see if we can hear you

again. Go, Lindsey.

LINDSEY BEAN-KAMPWERTH: I can definitely talk

louder. Did that help at all? I feel like I'm trying to

yell into the mic. Okay. Great.

So Liz went over the learning objectives already.

So if you guys could click to the next slide.

So this is kind of where I was, talking about

Chris, who does the MonTECH program, who's really doing

some wonderful things there and I think will teach us a lot

of things that we can do to improve our program.

And then Martha works for Tools For Life. And

she's the AT specialist/service coordinator and also does a

lot of things with recreation that we will hear about.

And so before I go on, it seems like everyone can

hear me. And I just wanted to make sure with Liz and

Carolyn, if there's anything else you guys want to say

before I kind of jump in?

Okay. I'm just going to keep going. Oh, here.

I'll release the mic. Go for it.

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz with the

Pass It On Center. Hopefully you can hear me okay.

Lindsey, I apologize. Your sound was coming in and

out. Definitely when you talked louder it was great to

hear your voice, and that was coming through clear. So we

can try it again.

At this point this is your part, Lindsey. And I

know that you're going to be talking about a context for

reuse and recreation and sharing some information about

device loan, what is recreation, and what's going on at

Paraquad in St. Louis.

So Lindsey, I'm going to pass it to you. And

hopefully this will work again. And again, just speak

loud. And it was coming through when you were talking

louder. Let's try it again.

And thanks for your patience, everyone. We

appreciate you hanging in there with us.

LINDSEY BEAN-KAMPWERTH: All right. Thank you,

Liz.

And any time if you guys -- if I start not talking

as loud, please just send me a little reminder in the

public-chat area.

So I'm an occupational therapist by trade. And so

for occupational therapy, a large part is working with a

client who's in the hospital and getting them to do those

activities of daily living.

So getting them to be able to toilet independently

and have independent mobility, all kind of the things that

you do when you wake up and get ready to go about your day.

And so that is a large part of what I do. But one

thing that has a very special place in my heart is

recreation. I always think about, well, what happens after

you get home, and then you're sitting at home. What else

is there to do?

So recreation has always been very, very, very

important to me. And it's some of the very fun stuff to do

too. Not that toileting can't be fun, but I think playing

sports is a little more fun.

So recreation by definition is just the refreshment

by means of some pastime, exercise or something like that.

And so hopefully everyone has some sort of recreation and

leisure in their life.

So there's been studies out about the benefits of

leisure and recreation. These are just a couple bulleted

benefits of it. But a decreased physical and emotional

stress, improved activities of daily living.

So the recreation and leisure actually transfers

over and does help you with those things that you're doing

every morning of getting ready and brushing your teeth and

all of that.

It also has improved health. So mobility, energy.

It can decrease some of those secondary conditions that put

people maybe back in the hospital or makes them sick for a

while.

And then another huge benefit is the socializing

aspect of it. It's a place where people who possibly are

newly injured can see what other people like them are doing

and learn about some tips and tricks of how people do not

only the recreation but also things that they're doing in

their everyday lives.

So there is some barriers to recreation. So it's

very costly, and it's usually very unique to someone. So

the hand cycle to your left can be up to $8,000. And the

bottom right-hand picture is of some wheelchair rugby

chairs. Those can be up to $6,000. So it's not like going

to Wal-Mart and buying a bicycle for a hundred dollars.

The other thing about these devices is that they're

highly unique to the client. So those wheelchair rugby

chairs in the bottom corner -- okay.

So you guys can't see the pictures. So in the

bottom-right corner there's a picture of some wheelchair

rugby chairs. They look very similar to a manual

wheelchair, but they've got a lot more metal to them, and

they're built a lot stronger, and they have fenders in the

front, and they're made to be crashed into each other.

And so those chairs, when they're made for the

client, are made to the client's measurements to a tee. So

I mean that's everything from their hip width to the angle

of their wheels, how high they sit. I mean almost every

aspect of that chair is made to them.

And then the hand cycles usually aren't as

customized. They can be. The very high-tech racing hand

cycles can be. But most of them can be adjusted a little

bit. There's some room for adjustment in leg length and

seat back angle.

So what kind of makes that a barrier in the reuse

kind of department is that it was obviously made at one

point for someone very specific. And so trying to find a

person that matches that somehow with a little room for

some adjustments on it.

I'm sorry. I think you can go to the next slide.

Okay. So the next slide has just a bunch of

different pictures of recreation. The top-left corner is

like a beach chair to take out to the beach. The

bottom-left picture has some people doing some like water

aerobics. The middle picture is like adaptive rock

climbing. There's a picture of someone canoeing in the

top-right corner. In the bottom-right corner is an

adaptive tricycle.

So this slide is really just to show everyone that

there's probably nothing out there that can't be adapted

somehow to be done. So any sport that you want to play at

some point has probably been adapted and is a possibility

for everyone.

So if there's something you want to do or your

client wants to do, you can probably find a way to do it

out there.

So you can go to the next slide.

So the next slide is going to talk about different

types of reutilization. So there's a couple different

definitions.

So device exchange is just strictly kind of

matching a donor with a user without anyone intervening in

between. So sometimes that's like the sites on the

Internet.

"Device loan" I have highlighted in red because

we're going to hear a lot about that today. But it is a

type of reutilization. So it's the provision of a device

on a temporary basis to try for appropriateness of use, to

get the user's support system accustomed to the device or

fill a gap while they're waiting for a new device.

So just keep in mind that they -- they're going to

handle or deal with a lot of things that are very close to

reutilization, such as space issues, staff, fitting,

repairing equipment, doing any paperwork and inventory. So

keep that in mind how it translates over.

You guys can click to the next slide.

The next slide defines reassignment. So that's

transferring the ownership of a donated device to another

user.

Refurbishing is actually repairing or restoring the

donated device to a working order.

Remanufacturing is something that's not

recommended, but that's actually changing the device that's

not consistent with the manufacturer's specifications.

Then finally recycling is the end-of-life disposal

of unusable devices in a legal and environmentally friendly

manner. So that's kind of the end-of-life part.

So that's just to keep in mind the definitions of

different reutilization practices as we go through these.

So you can go ahead to the next slide.

So this slide is talking about the AT reuse program

at Paraquad. Paraquad is where I work. It's in St. Louis,

Missouri. It's an independent living center. It's been

around for 40 years and has over 40 programs. So we're

beyond the 4/4 services.

And in 2005 the Missouri Medicaid cuts in assistive

technology were crazy. They cut so much of it that my

boss, Carla, has decided to start this program then in 2006

got a demonstration grant through RSA to fund the program

for three years.

So to highlight some things. For assistive

technology, we sanitize it when it comes in. We have a

HUBSCRUB. We evaluate the device to see what needs to be

repaired and the condition of it. We have repair techs

that can repair it. Then we have a large storage space to

store equipment.

On the other side with the person, since I'm an

occupational therapist, I actually will match the person

and the equipment. I will evaluate them and actually fit

the AT with them. And then if they need some training on

it, they can get some training.

They also -- we have a skills course here. So

people can try out the equipment on different slopes of

ramps or different curb cuts on cross slopes, different

things to make sure that they're comfortable with it.

And so we do have a full-functioning repair program

that we kind of built in for sustainability. But that's a

benefit to making adaptations to the devices and also

repairing things that we get in.

So recreation equipment we have gotten in, it's not

the largest part of our program, but we have gotten some

devices in such as arm ergometers, hand cycles, adaptive

cycles, things along that line. Like I said, it's not a

huge chunk, but it has happened.

So we at Paraquad do sell our items for a low cost.

We clean and sanitize all this. And then I think the

biggest challenge is kind of finding the match for the

equipment that we do have.

So this picture -- I like to share this story. She

was a student at one of the local universities and had a

very, very similar adaptive bike from Freedom Concepts.

And while she was -- she had to use it to get across her

school's campus while going from class to class, or she

said she'll never make it there on time. So you know how

those college campuses can be.

Well, at the end of her last semester, she was hit

by a car, and the driver was texting. And so long story

short, basically they damaged her bike, and they're not

paying for it.

So it just so happened that we got this bike as a

donation, and it worked out as a perfect match for her. So

she got to go back to school and not have to be worried

about how she was getting around.

Some of the other donations that we've had, just to

highlight, is the pediatric hand cycle. Then we also have

this rowcycle that I had never seen before. It's in the

bottom-right corner. And so it's kind of like a hand

cycle, but instead of a round motion, you're doing more of

a rowing motion to make yourself mobile.

And the rowcycle -- I've looked online -- is now

discontinued. They don't make it anymore. But it's one

unique piece of equipment that I wanted to highlight that

we've gotten through our program. So I'm looking for a

match for it.

You guys can go to the next slide.

And the next slide is just my contact information

if you have any questions about the reutilization program.

And then Paraquad's website is www.paraquad.org. So if you

have any questions, feel free to call or contact me.

You can throw some questions out if you have any

right now off the top of your head. But we'll keep moving.

Another program here in St. Louis that we work

closely with is the St. Louis Recreation Council. So they

do information referral. They put out a newsletter. They

have a resource center. They have accessible golf carts.

They rent bikes. And then they have some specialized

wheelchair loaners.

And so they're kind of just -- they don't run as

many programs. But they're a huge resource of getting the

word out and knowing where to tell people to go for what

sites.

If you go to the next slide, as I mentioned, they

do do bike rentals. So the next slide in the top corner is

a picture of an adaptive tricycle seat. And the

bottom-right corner is a four-wheeled bike with a seat and

actually has a sun canopy on it.

Those were just two of the unique bikes that I

thought I'd highlight on this. But they also have tandem

bikes. They have hand cycles. They have youth bikes.

They have a tricycle.

And so you can go to the KATY Trails, which I've

never been there yet, but they're beautiful trails in

Defiance, Missouri. And they actually have bikes there

that, if someone is going to rent a bicycle, they can call

ahead and check to see if any of these bikes are available,

and then their friend can use any of these adaptive bikes,

and they can go with them out on the trails.

So yeah, they just ask usually that you call ahead

so they make sure they have the bikes available.

You can go -- thank you.

The next thing is that they loan this Hippocampe

wheelchair. So in June 2009, through a grant, they got

this wheelchair and a ramp to use in the snow or in the

sand or anything. In the picture it's got very large

wheels similar to those bike chairs. And the front just

has one wheel instead of like two casters that come out,

and it has a large wheel right in the middle in the front.

So it can be used outdoors, at the beach for the

sand, going in the water, in the woods. And it is

collapsible. So they have that for loan. And you can go

to vipamat.com to get more information about that bike.

There is a question. It says "The KATY Trail is a

state park. Is it the state DNR renting the bikes?"

I think what you're asking is, is the state renting

the bikes, if I'm right. And so any person can call, as

long as they know about it, and rent the bikes. And I

think strictly the rec council just collaborated with the

KATY Trail on that.

The next slide shows the Landeez bike, which is

another bike very similar to have those big, round wheels

so that you can go through sand, snow, gravel, slopes.

It's great for larger adults. It does disassemble.

And it weighs about 37 pounds. Or for soft soil you can go

through or rural. So it's just another bike that, if

someone doesn't have the money to purchase, they can use

this if they know they're going to the beach or they're

going somewhere where their typical everyday chair is not

going to go through.

So the next slide is the contact information for

the St. Louis Rec Council. And if you have any questions

about that, just let me know.

And I'm going to head it on, leave it to Martha to

go on to her part. And like I said, if you have any

questions, feel free to put them in the public-chat area.

Thank you.

MARTHA RUST: Thanks, Lindsey. That was a great

intro and great services that you all have in St. Louis.

I was really excited to Lindsey for asking me to be

a part of this. Again, I'm Martha Rust. I'm with the

assistive technology program Tools For Life in the State of

Georgia as well as the Pass It On Center.

But also in my spare time or my free time or

personal time, whatever you want to call it, I have been

volunteering with the quad rugby team and refereeing

actually for quad rugby for the past going on six years

now. So I really do enjoy the recreation part when it

comes to people with disabilities.

So I wanted to highlight two of the unique programs

that we are fortunate to have here in Georgia.

And so if you'll go to the next slide.

We have two centers here that I have worked really

well with that do more long-term kind of recreational

loans.

And the first one is the Shepherd Center that we'll

talk about that -- and that's just a picture of the

Shepherd Rehab Center right there. And then also Blaze

Sports.

So we'll go on to the next slide.

The Shepherd Center, in case you all have not

heard, is one of the top ten rehabilitation hospitals in

the nation. They tend to focus more on spinal cord

rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis,

as well as they're doing some really cool advancements when

it comes to pain therapy now.

Just to give you a little bit more facts about the

Shepherd Center, in 2010, they had 913 admissions just

through the inpatient programs here in Atlanta; 535

admissions to the day patient program; and then also 6,316

people were seen on an outpatient basis.

So they're constantly moving over there and doing

some major cool advances in research of both spinal cord

injuries and MS as well as traumatic brain injuries.

I wanted to highlight their therapeutic recreation.

And as I talk about Shepherd, I want you all to keep in

mind, too, about the rehab hospitals in your area. They

may do some of the same things as I talk about. I know,

just working with the quad rugby teams throughout the

years, the therapy recreations in some of the larger

hospitals like Craig in Denver and Magee in Philly as well

as Brooks Rehab in Jacksonville, just to mention a few,

also have a really great therapeutic recreation section

that actually does some loaning of equipment for their

athletes.

But the therapy recreation at Shepherd focuses on

returning to an active lifestyle for individuals with

spinal cord injury, MS, or brain injury.

And so they really focus on sports and quite a few

different sports. I just named a couple here on the side

like quad rugby, basketball, even fencing, fishing and

racing.

And they're really into try before you buy. As

Lindsey was saying before, a rugby chair can cost over

$3,000. And some of the racing chairs could cost a

thousand, if not more.

So the therapeutic recreation department at

Shepherd really wants individuals to try before they buy

because it is a really expensive sport once you get into

it.

So they tend to have two closets full of different

types of sports equipment and a rental program so

individuals -- and I'll go over that in a minute -- can

actually rent a piece of equipment for the weekend so they

can take it out, go on the trail, and see if it really

works for them or just something they would like to work

with.

And they also do long-term loans of equipment. So

the athlete has that piece of equipment during the whole

season of basketball, quad rugby, or whatever. So they're

able to use that piece of equipment that whole time while

they're playing.

And you don't have to be a current patient, which

is really cool. So it really does do it statewide, if not

over state lines kind of thing. So anyone can come in and

be on the team as well as rent the equipment.

Just a little bit more about their rental equipment

program is that they do have a little bit of a payment for

the rental if you just want to try it. It's usually $10 a

day, or you can do it $25 for the weekend.

And this is kind of great, too, for family members

who are coming in and out of town, and they want to do

something outside when the weather is really nice. They

can actually rent a piece of equipment for the weekend if

they want to. Or again, using the weekend to see if they

really want to get in a racing chair or fencing chair or

tennis chair.

They have a written rental agreement. So athletes

that rent the equipment are responsible for that piece of

equipment.

And they also are big at Shepherd for demonstrating

the use of that equipment. They just don't want to give it

out to anyone. So if you've never seen a racing chair,

it's kind of interesting the way the racer gets in and out

of that chair. And lots of times they're actually sitting

on their knees.

So for lots of individuals, the first time they get

in a racing chair, it's a little complicated. So they

definitely want to demonstrate how to use that piece of

equipment.

They do have a variety of equipment, which is

really cool. And this just lists the variety of equipment

they have in their loan closets or their closet full of

equipment.

They have tennis chairs. And the Quickie is just a

brand name. There's lots of different types of brands out

there. But you'll see that some these say Quickie All

Court basketball chairs and Eagle rugby chairs. Again,

that's just a brand.

But really focus that they have rugby chairs,

top-end racing chairs. They also have hand cycles. And

also they have kayaks, two different types of kayaks, so

you can try that; and a two-man kayak, which is really

cool; and a couple of canoes. So that's what you can rent

from the Shepherd Center.

The next slide talks about their long-term loans.

This is really a great program for these players to want to

get back involved and be active again.

This equipment is pretty expensive. So they do

offer, I guess, a long-term loan. As long as you play the

sport, whatever it is -- fencing, basketball, quad rugby,

tennis, whatever -- that you can have that piece of

equipment throughout that season, even racing chairs.

The athletes are responsible for that equipment.

So they are in charge for the tubes, for the tires. A lot

of the tires on these chairs you see tubes like bicycle

tires, whatever. So they are responsible for buying tubes

for that, for their tires.

Any minor repairs that might happen while they're

using it, they are required to take good care of it, and

any minor repairs that doesn't cost too much, maybe from a

crash on a racing chair or whatever, they are responsible

for that.

Shepherd does have a fund for major repairs. So if

something major needs to happen, like with a rugby chair, a

defensive rugby chair, the front part falls off, there's

funds for those major repairs, especially for welding and

all that.

Other things athletes are responsible for are the

additional items for this sport. And sometimes that's some

of the things that individuals may not think about when

they do sports or doing the loans or rental, is all the

other stuff that comes with that.

There's different types of gloves for different

types of equipment. Like racing gloves versus gloves that

they use for basketball versus gloves that they use for

fencing or for quad rugby.

So the athletes are definitely responsible for that

as well as the tape. Some individuals like to tape their

hands for whatever sport they're doing and whatever else.

Cushions as well. Some of the chairs in the loan

closet already have just a basic cushion. These cushions,

if you do not have one, you're able to loan as well.

And Shepherd does make sure, when they come back

in -- they have a huge, big sanitization room, so they do

wash all those cushions.

But they do like the athletes to bring their own

cushions. Again, that way they'll be comfortable in

whatever piece of equipment they're using.

So they're able to use them until the end of the

season, which is really cool. Such as racing. Racing is

in the spring and the fall. So they usually can have it up

to the whole year. Again, quad rugby is another long

season. It lasts from starting now in September until

April. The athletes can use it pretty much the whole time.

And then they're just asked to bring them in at the

end of the season. And then Shepherd cleans and sanitizes

after each rental or loan. It has this big room and lots

of alcohol wipes and all that kind of stuff when it comes

to sanitizing each thing.

So it's really cool that some of these players can

actually afford to play sports or actually go out and do

some activities that they otherwise couldn't because of the

cost of the equipment.

This slide is the contact for Matt Edens, who is

the sports team coordinator at Shepherd Center. And if you

all have any questions, you can always get in touch with

myself.

Or if you have any questions specific to Shepherd,

you can definitely get in touch with Matt. He's a great

guy, and he would love to answer any of your questions.

Again, I just want to reiterate the fact that to

check out the rehab hospitals in your area because most

likely they might be doing the same thing.

I also wanted to say too -- I think Lindsey

mentioned it too -- when it comes to refurbishing or

reusing equipment in the recreation, I find, especially

being in this field for six years or so with the quad

rugby, that a lot of times the players tend to donate their

own chairs back to whatever sport they're playing.

Such as the rugby team in Raleigh. They're not

necessarily sponsored by a rehab center or a rehab

hospital. So each player is actually required to purchase

their own chairs. So a lot of the older players, the guys

that have been playing the longest, will actually donate

their older rugby chairs back to that team, and that gives

the younger or newer members a chance to play as well if

they're not able to afford it.

As well as a lot of times, even though they're

customized for each other, the cost is pretty high, there's

lots of times players will buy chairs off other players for

a much cheaper cost, and then they'll just pay to get it

customized to themselves by adding a cushion or doing

something to the back, et cetera. So that's another thing

that's quite common.

I was in Jacksonville this summer refereeing a

tournament, just a summer tournament. And one guy actually

brought a brand-new racing chair with him and got in it

once or twice, and that was about it.

He said he was done with the racing. And his wife

was like, "Well, you need to get it out of the living

room." So he brought it to Jacksonville and gave it to the

first guy who wanted to take it out of his car. So that

was kind of neat. So he kind of just gave his brand-new

racing chair away.

The other guy that took it said, "Well, I'll try it

out, but if I can't use it, then I definitely have a friend

who wants to try it. So I've seen it go that way, too.

The next program I wanted to talk about in Georgia

is Blaze Sports of America. And their mission is driven by

the desire to provide all children and adults with physical

disabilities the chance to play sports and live healthy

active lives.

So again, it is a great program that we have here

in Georgia. They actually got -- the money for the

equipment of the chairs actually came from the Department

of Labor in Georgia when it first started. And I believe

it first started around 1996 right before the Olympics came

here to Atlanta.

They actually sponsor 26 different sports programs.

It's geared mostly toward children and teenagers, but they

do have some equipment for adults as well.

The loan program, again, is pretty simple and easy.

There's no fees to borrow the equipment, which is really

cool. So you just have to be a member of Blaze.

And it's pretty simple to become a member of Blaze.

Basically you fill out a form saying you want to become a

member, and there's no fee to join. Then you complete a

written loan agreement form which just says again that you

are responsible for that piece of equipment.

And just like Shepherd, you have to actually come

in for a chair fitting and skills assessment. Again, they

don't want someone who's never been in a chair or that type

of sports chair or using that type of equipment who's never

used it before just to go out there and try it. So they'll

actually fit you into the chair and then have you do a

couple of field assessments to make sure that you know what

you're doing with that. And then you sign a written waiver

as well.

This program is really cool here in Georgia, that

they can actually loan chairs to groups that have teams.

There's I believe maybe a basketball team in Rockdale

County that they're supplying chairs for.

There's a brand-new quad rugby team in Albany and

Augusta, and they've supplied some chairs for that to help

them get off and running.

And recently at Fort Stewart they are doing

basketball chairs for the military team while the military

is waiting for those chairs to come through. The military

is purchasing chairs for some of their players, but right

now Blaze is actually loaning those basketball chairs out

to that military team. So that's pretty awesome.

Again, just like with Shepherd, athletes are

responsible for the other equipment that's needed. So that

could be like tennis racquets if you're using a tennis

chair or a racquetball or whatever.

Again, they do like for individuals to bring their

own cushions, but they do have a few cushions available if

they do not have one. But they really do prefer

individuals use their own cushions.

Again, same thing. They charge for tubes if their

tires need tubes. Gloves, tapes, et cetera. Whatever it

is for that sport that they need.

And Blaze monitors and maintains that equipment

while it's in use. Again, the individual has that piece of

equipment as long as they need it. If they're doing a team

sport or even a solo sport, they want to keep that the

whole time.

They do try to monitor it every six months to a

year. And again, they do have funds for major repairs. So

they do try to check in on that individual every six months

to a year to make sure that piece of equipment is holding

up and everything.

They do have a variety of equipment that they loan

out from racing chairs, all-track chairs, tennis chairs,

All Court chairs, rugby chairs, and basketball chairs, just

to name a few.

And what is really cool, when they do have a bunch

of chairs and they're not in use and they're just in their

storage closet, is they actually go around the high schools

and elementary schools here in Georgia, and they call it

Blaze day at school where they get able-bodied teenagers or

elementary-school age kids to get in these chairs and play

and play with their peers.

So if they have thrown together a game of soccer or

basketball or whatever. So everyone gets to play even with

chairs. So it's kind of a neat thing that they get to do.

They do occasionally loan out around the southeast,

and it's usually for a one-day event. So if someone in

South Carolina wanted to do a get-together with tennis or

whatever, they can do that.

And they always have a staff present with them. So

if you wanted to borrow something in the southeast,

definitely contact Blaze, and they will definitely be

willing to help you.

And Jeff Jones is the director of sports and

community programs at Blaze and is great. And that is his

contact information. Again, you can contact him directly

or with me, and I will more than be happy to get in touch

with him for you or whatever.

So those are just two of the unique programs that

we are lucky to have here in Georgia.

And again, thank you, Lindsey, for putting this

together.

And if you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks.

And now I'm going to pass this right over to you,

Chris.

CHRIS CLASBY: Okay. Hopefully you can hear me all

clearly. And please let me know if you can't. And if you

have any questions, you can type in the chat, and I'd be

happy to answer them.

So we're going to focus today on what we call the

Montana Access to the Outdoor Recreation or MATOR program.

And this is just the title slide here. We've got a

website, an e-mail address, and then my personal contact

information.

We go on to the next slide, talk a little bit about

the MATOR background and where it comes from. This project

was funded by RSA beginning in October of 2008 and ends

here at the end of this month. So we knew that it was a

three-year program.

And a couple of the requirements are that the

program would be self-sustaining beyond that grant cycle.

So a lot of what we've done throughout the last three years

was to develop a program.

And so we based our idea of this program by drawing

on Montana's heritage of outdoor recreational activities,

and we specifically identified the activities of wildlife

viewing, fishing, and hunting.

And then our goal was to increase participation in

those activities by individuals with disabilities or others

who have functional limitations possibly through aging.

And another requirement of the grant was that it

would promote participation and integrated settings,

meaning where and with whom people choose and in a setting

or at a time of their choosing.

And we'll go on to the next slide.

But as we are, the idea of an integrated setting is

consistent with Montana's heritage of wildlife associated

recreation. People generally recreate with family members,

with friends. And it's a kind of multigenerational

tradition.

Could we go to the next slide, please.

We talked a few minutes ago about some of the

benefits of participating in recreational activities. And

so, as we were preparing our proposal, I was personally

quite surprised about how much literature there is out

there that supports, I guess, the idea that there are so

many peripheral benefits of recreation that we all enjoy,

but particularly individuals with disabilities.

And I just have a list of some of them on this

slide. One is enhanced mobility. Another is increased

socialization, just an opportunity for people to

participate in an activity with other people.

Another is increased independence. It is

recognized that people who recreate oftentimes enjoy

greater independence, and kind of as a result, start making

decisions about their own future, their own activities.

And so they reach a higher level of independence.

They also have improved self-esteem and

self-advocacy. People start to feel better about

themselves, about their ability to accomplish things once

they have participated in and succeeded in the recreation

context.

And then along with socialization comes community

involvement. People who recreate often become an active

part of the community that's around them, their multiple

communities, their immediate community as well as civic

community, family community, friendship community, whatever

it is.

And so when the program started, we recognized that

we needed to identify several partners to help us. The

first of course is MonTECH, the Montana assistive

technology program which provides infrastructure support;

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, which is the state agency

that manages wildlife and access to those activities;

Montana VR and the independent living centers were great

resources of outreach and contact to potential consumers;

the U.S. forest service as a manager of large percentage of

Montana's public ground; individual volunteers and sporting

groups that were necessary to help us offer activities; and

then some private businesses and corporations that have

made in-kind donations; and then we worked with equipment

developers and vendors to get good deals and be able to

acquire quite a bit of equipment.

Next slide, please.

And so the services that we identified and that

we've offered through this program are, first of all,

education and awareness. We just wanted people to be aware

and to learn about what is possible; how they could or

somebody with a disability they knew could participate in

these activities.

The next was demonstration events where we would

identify location and schedule large-group activities where

we'd bring a bunch of equipment and information and show

people how to use it and give them an opportunity to try

it.

The next one is an equipment loan program. We used

funds to purchase a wide variety of adaptive recreational

equipment and have made it available through a two-week

loan program.

And we identified two weeks as the time length

because, around a lot of these activities there are

seasons, and we did not want one borrower to keep equipment

throughout an entire season which would prevent someone

else from being able to use it.

Then last thing is a volunteer network. And the

two photos on this slide -- the top right side is just a

group of individuals participating in a demonstration

activity. And the bottom slide is a group of volunteers.

So now more specifically, our education and

awareness slide that we just went past, we just developed

some educational materials and then an educational website.

This slide here just shows some photos -- three

different photos of demonstration events. And again, it

just offered us opportunities to show people equipment,

give them an opportunity to try it. And those have

occurred throughout the funding cycle.

The next slide is our equipment loan program. And

what we did was we identified -- we brought in a group of

individuals, potential users; we identified equipment that

was off the shelf or modified or specially designed

devices; and then we identified accessories and

applications for the equipment in order to identify what

equipment we wanted.

And the next few slides are examples of equipment.

And I can see we're running low on time. We could probably

move through those fairly quickly if we could.

First we just had some optics. We had some

binoculars that had particular features and spotting scopes

and then scope camera displays for rifles. They offer

focus-free and image-stabilizing features to accommodate

some different disabilities. And then the scopes and the

camera display again accommodate disability mostly through

the tripods and other mounting mechanisms.

The next slide, please.

Here are some examples of some of those mounts,

stands, and tripods. Many of us are familiar with like the

Magic Arm. There's a wide variety of clamps. And then the

bottom-right is an offset tripod that has a horizontal head

on it that allows users of mobility devices to get up to it

without hitting the legs.

Can we go to the next slide, please.

And these stands, tripods, and mounts will mount or

attach to most services. We did buy some navigation

equipment such as obstacle detectors to help you with --

that are blind or have low vision to navigate outdoors; GPS

units that have two-way radios as well as audio output; and

then a digital talking compass for someone who is blind to

be able to hear.

Next slide, please.

And in the photos, the top is the -- the three

devices that I described were photos.

On this slide we have some adaptive fishing

equipment. There's three photos. The top shows one

fishing device that mounts to the seat of a wheelchair

between the user's knees. Bottom-left is just a standard

fishing rod with an electric reel drive; and the

bottom-right was a custom-made fishing setup that has

adaptive casting.

And so there's many different types of adaptive

fishing equipment, and we tried to get a good variety of

them.

The next slide, please.

And adaptive shooting sports. To meet an

individual where their level of function is, there are lots

of shooting aids or adaptions available. We have some

mounts that attach to wheelchairs that have electric

trigger pulls; manual mounts which are just basically rests

that someone with a little bit of arm and hand function

would be able to use; and we do have some archery

adaptations that can either draw and hold in a drawn

position or release a bow string to allow someone to shoot

archery.

Next slide, please.

And we do have those three photos, one of a gun

mount, one of a gun mount on a wheelchair, and the third

photo is of an adaptive archery device.

And then we've purchased some wildlife viewing or

hunting blinds. They could be multipurpose. And these are

just generally ground blinds that are camouflage.

Typically you can get them that are most similar to the

environment that a user will be using them. There are some

on the market that are more accessible than others with no

thresholds.

There's also a wearable blind that's almost like a

poncho without a back on it. And so somebody using a

mobility device could use that to just slip right over

their body and mobility device to cover them and camouflage

them.

And the photos here are of two different pop-up

blinds that sit on the ground. And then the third photo is

of a wearable blind. We focused on easy assembly and

easily transported items.

The next slide, please.

With all types of outdoor activities, there's

almost an inherent need for independent and assisted

mobility devices. Oftentimes standard wheelchairs won't

work outdoors or other scooters or other mobility devices.

And then sometimes people who don't use mobility

devices just need some type of assistance once they're

outdoors in rough, uneven, and broken terrain.

So the top photo here shows an individual who's a

Montanan and an avid outdoorsman that developed this

outdoor wheelchair that's got two tires in the back and one

tire in the front that's larger than standard casters.

It bounces over terrain pretty easily, and it's

extended in the front to enable the user to put more

equipment down in kind of the basket area down by the

user's feet.

The bottom device is an accessory. It's almost

like a ricksha. It's called a Trail Buddy, and it just

attaches to a wheelchair and offers extended handles with

which somebody could assist somebody in a wheelchair to

navigate outdoors.

Next slide, please.

And we did also get some more standard type of

cross-training wheelchairs such as the Invacare Crossfire,

which just has bulky tires and gets around fairly well.

Some simple things we added that can make a big

difference for people are like trekking poles. We've got

three photos on this slide of three different types of

trekking poles.

So for anyone with limited stability, balance or

increased fatigue, these tools can be very useful. And we

offered a variety of walking mechanisms, grips, handles,

and lengths to be able to accommodate a wider variety of

people or users.

Next slide, please.

And we did also add one trekking pole that works

both as a shooting stick as well as a trekking pole for

navigation.

Camping also goes right along with the activities

that we identified. And so we did add a couple of tents.

One of them was specifically designed for accessibility.

It's called the Eureka Freedom Tent. It's got a sliding

door on the front and no threshold on the bottom. The top

photo is of a Eureka Freedom Tent.

The bottom photo is of the next type of tent we

added, which is just a standard wall tent with an aluminum

frame. It's probably the most accessible because it's the

largest. There are no thresholds and nothing hanging down.

So it's probably the most accessible. However, it probably

takes the greatest effort to set up.

And the next slide, please.

And I'll mention that we did add some camping

accessories as well including a raised cot, a

remote-control lantern, and then a small accessible hook

station to be able to help people get outdoors camping.

The next slide, please.

I'm just waiting for the slides to go forward.

Mine refreshed, and we're still on the accessible camping

slide.

Oh, okay. Sorry, Lindsey. Okay. I will keep

going.

I think our next slide would have gone into the

last service of the program, which is our volunteer

network. One final need that we thought people might have

is that they might need -- they might need someone to show

them either how to learn about or to demonstrate to them or

to provide assistance to be able to participate in any of

these outdoor activities.

And so we've been working toward creating a

volunteer network where, based upon request, we could

either match people one on one -- oh, I'm sorry.

I had jumped ahead. I will finish the volunteer

network when we get there.

So just a couple more things about equipment.

There's some photography and videography equipment as shown

in the four photos.

The top-left is a simple digital camera that can be

switch activated. So someone can use their best functional

method to access. The top-right is a simple flip cam; it's

a Kodak switch-adapted video camera.

The bottom-left photo shows a motorized pan tilt

head with a remote so that someone with limited dexterity

or arm function can more easily aim a camera left, right,

up, or down. And that can be mounted on a tripod.

The bottom-right camera is more advanced. It's

Canon Rebel digital SLR camera that has automatic focus,

and the shutter can be controlled remotely.

The next slide, please.

So we just tried to provide a variety of equipment

that people could use with the different functional levels.

We did add some adapted watercraft.

The two photos here show totally wheelchair

accessible raft frames that were custom built for us.

There's a crossbar in the front and the back that can be

easily removed by pulling two pins on each and removing the

bar and then put a ramp there, and then you could use a

mobility device or even a power chair. Someone could roll

right onto the frame, which has a solid floor and a high

weight capacity.

The next slide, please.

We also added a couple of smaller and more portable

watercrafts, and those accommodate a variety of people.

So back to the volunteer network. As I said, we

recruited a variety of people and have established a

network to provide individual and group assistance as

needed. Again, this is based only on request. If we get a

call from someone that says that they would like to

participate in one of these activities, we try and match

them up.

There are three photos. In all three photos, there

are groups of people who were either participating as

volunteers or consumers receiving assistance from them to

participate in those activities.

Next slide, please.

And pretty much throughout the last three years we

have realized a few things, and I just want to mention them

quickly.

One is that, when we were identifying equipment, it

was good for us to consider the requests that people made,

what they would like to be able to see in order to maximize

the use of the equipment.

The next was, as we talked about earlier, we were

able to collaborate with a good number of groups to

initiate and promote independent participation.

And then it was important to involve participants

in planning of all activities to have consumers and

potential consumers tell us what they wanted to see and

what types of activities they wanted to participate in.

And then lastly -- and I think this is true for all

areas of recreation -- that when one is successful in

recreation, it builds confidence for that person and

increases the chance of future participation.

So thank you very much.

The last slide is, just again, our contact

information.

SARA SACK: Well, this is Sara Sack from Kansas.

And I'll just keep going as they load the PowerPoint.

My role in today's presentation nicely follows

Chris's as we talk about a recreation summit that we held

just a year ago almost to the date here in Kansas where we

had Chris Clasby and the director of the MonTECH program,

Kathy Laurin, as our consultants for holding this

recreation summit.

And if we move on to the first slide, I just want

to kind of give you the quick overview of why we held a

summit, kind of the events leading up to it, and then how

we reached out to -- I say the MonTECH group, but as Chris

probably would correct me, I probably should say the MATOR

group too.

And then just really briefly how we planned for the

summit and actually hosting the summit. And then I thought

you might be interested in just a few outcomes from the

summit.

So the next slide I just talk about recognizing the

increased need for recreation equipment inventory. In

Kansas we had people asking for the loan of equipment for

decision-making purposes.

We did have some equipment -- sports equipment --

donated to our reuse, our refurbish and reassignment

program, and those were always reassigned to sports

enthusiasts.

But we realized in a number of areas that we needed

more recreation equipment for loan purposes. We had

advisory council members that were very active sport

enthusiasts, and they kept reminding us that we needed to

attend to this.

We had consumer requests for recreation equipment.

And then we looked at our own data as a statewide

technology program looking at the comprehensiveness of our

inventory. And we knew, too, that we needed to expand our

recreation equipment and just wondered how to do it.

We knew that in Kansas we were a hunting, fishing,

and camping state. And as the next slide shows, our focus

for the equipment that was currently in our loan program --

we'd had a long history with the infant/toddler program.

We had a long history with employment equipment, devices

for those purposes, and also for vision. But we didn't

have a champion for recreation.

But as I said, we had advisory council members. We

had consumers. So we kind of took the plunge ourself and

decided, okay, we needed to make the commitment to sports

and recreation equipment in our state and give it a try and

then see if we could find the champions, develop the

champions along with this effort.

So as the next slide shows, we made that old

statement and said we are committed, and we are committing

our time and our money.

So we contacted MonTECH and asked them to help us.

And as you just heard from Chris, they are excellent

resources for helping you identify good quality equipment

that will meet the needs of the sports enthusiasts and hold

up outdoors.

So as the next slide shows, over the last three

years we committed a little over $14,000 specifically for

recreation, leisure, and sports equipment. And we

increased our inventory from a small 66 items to 287.

Now, that may not sound like a lot, but it was

pretty good for our purposes, and we continued to build on

that.

What did we -- we don't seem to have slides, or at

least I don't. Let's try refreshing, and we'll see. Here

we go.

So what did we purchase with MonTECH and MATOR's

advice and our own consumers looking at it? We purchased

adapted tents like Chris showed you. We have bows and bow

mounts. We have gun mounts, fishing gear, garden

equipment, cameras, binoculars and so forth.

Staff wanted me to make sure that I kind of echoed

Martha's comment about demonstrating equipment. Our staff

actually goes out with the consumers and assists with the

training before they use the equipment.

We do not provide the guns, although we provide the

gun mounts. Obviously we don't provide the ammunition

either. The fishing gear we do provide -- we have a few

bows, but mostly it's the mounts for the bows, and the

consumer provides the arrows. So very careful there about

training.

We also have some segues that we do loan and,

again, when demonstrated use and actually passing a skills

test course before you're able to borrow that equipment.

So we look at the liability and safety issues there.

The next slide we talk about how do we plan and

host this summit. As you've heard, we worked with the

MonTECH and MATOR group. We used our standard location

where the Assistive Technology for Kansans Advisory Council

met. And the summit was from I believe 10:00 to 2:00,

maybe 10:00 until 3:00, approximately, that point.

In this PowerPoint you will actually see all of the

slides that we had in the front end before Chris and Kathy

started presenting. They are in there for your use. I

won't go through those obviously because of time. But if

you wanted to plan a summit, that might give you kind of

additional structure.

Our advisory council helped develop the guest list

and issued the invitations. And we had equipment -- some

equipment that we'd already secured for recreation around

the room. And so that was very interesting for folks to

actually put their hands on it and actually try out some of

the equipment.

I think the next slide maybe is the one that you

might find more interesting than others. And that's just

who came to this meeting. How many individuals did we

have?

We had a room full of people. We had all 27

members of the Assistive Technology For Kansans Advisory

Council. We had the Development Disabilities Council

members. We had a number of post-secondary educators

there. We had counselors from vocational rehabilitation.

We had representation from parks and recreation.

We had members from the athletic sports group from

the university, the Kansas University AbleHawks. We had

AHEAD, the secondary education group. We had Bocci

representatives, which is a sports group.

We had board members that had invited folks from

their home municipalities. So we had invited local

individuals that were in charge of sports and recreation.

So the next slides that we would have shown in this

session just, as I said, took you through the whole council

and the whole summit meeting. I won't go through that.

But I wanted to just kind of jump -- and we won't

ask to find this slide -- but jump to the end of the

presentation where we talk about the outcomes.

And obviously Kathy and Chris did a fabulous job of

moving Kansas along. We do have an increased commitment to

recreation. We were successful in getting a federal

demonstration project on accessible inclusive community

gardening and then all of the additional adapted gardening

tools involved with that. So that has been phenomenally

successful in our state.

Just this past year through this effort we had 450

gardeners, many with disabilities and health conditions,

that have used very specialized adapted tools and practices

and some very common but accessible adapted tools and

practices to grow their own food.

And just last week we held an AT expo and

conference that had over 700 participants. And many of

them were coming to see the adapted recreation equipment

and adapted recreation sessions.

So with that, I'll turn this on back to Liz and let

her wrap up our session for today.

LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you, Sara. That was a

wonderful job. Carolyn and Martha and I are sitting here

together, and we were just so excited listening to you,

hearing about all the wonderful work that you're doing and

the folks at Montana coming over and working with you. You

guys have such a great program.

And Carolyn and I were also talking about how

hopefully Georgia will be looking into some more recreation

as well, too, here at the state program.

So great job everyone. And thank you again to

Chris and Martha and to Lindsey for presenting today's

webinar.

We apologize if there was any delay in pushing the

slides. But again, we have the PowerPoint up on the Pass

It On Center website.

If you go to the "Webinar" page, you can scroll

down to the bottom, and the PowerPoint is already up there.

Give us a few weeks, and we'll have the audio and written

transcription up.

And again, if y'all would just take a few minutes

to fill out our brief evaluation, it won't take long at

all. We promise you. And I'm going to go ahead and put

the link up there as well too.

But just take a few minutes to fill out the

evaluation just to give us some feedback on today's

webinar, the contents of the webinar. And tell us

definitely if there are any other topics that you are

interested in for the Pass It On Center to provide more

webinars as well.

So again, we know that your time is valuable. We

appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to

join us today for this wonderful webinar.

If you have any questions, feel free to get in

touch with the Pass It On Center or any one of your

presenters from today's webinar.

And until next time, y'all have a wonderful day,

and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you again. Bye-bye.