The Social Security and Disability Resource Center is an informational website that provides answers to questions about how to apply for disability, how to appeal a claim in the event of a denial, how to navigate the federal system, and how to avoid certain mistakes that are commonly made by applicants. SSDRC.com
Speech to Speech is a free service to people with speech disabilities. It provides a third-party communication assistance for people with difficulty in being understood over the telephone. It is available for personal, business and medical communications by phone. www.speechtospeech.org
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation
Spinal Cord Injury Functional Integrated Therapy (SCI-FIT) offers a comprehensive, post-traditional, exercise based therapy program for individuals who are living with spinal cord injuries and other neurological conditions to help them achieve their maximum functional outcome. Based in Pleasanton, find out more on their website: www.sci-fit.org
The Kessler Foundation supports research in rehabilitation to improve the lives of persons with disabling, paralyzing disorders such as MS, spinal cord injury, stroke and traumatic brain injury. www.kesslerfoundation.org
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Maintaining bowel and bladder health are among the most crucial and challenging issues faced by people with quadriplegia. There are many techniques used to achieve and maintain both bowel and bladder function. There are also many inherent difficulties. The following sites may be of help in addressing some of the issues and choices involved.
Wheelchair Life: Badder & Bowel
New Mobility.Bladder Matters: Ditching Drug Side Effects
New Mobility.Bladder Matters: UTI Update
Sci-Info-Pages Spinal Cord Injury Bowel Management
Apparelyzed Bowel & Bladder forums
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Cleaning and Caring for Tracheostomy Equipment
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Persons with high level quadriplegia are about 150 times more likely to die from pneumonia than the general population. In addition to seeing a doctor and getting appropriate vaccinations and treatments, the following simple steps can help prevent pneumonia:
By having someone assist you in coughing, your cough will be more forceful and productive and you will be able to both prevent and treat some respiratory complications by bringing up secretions normally present in the lung.
Following is the procedure for an assisted cough:
Assisted coughing can be used while in bed or sitting up. Be sure the brakes of your wheelchair are locked before assisting cough. If lung congestion is present, assisted coughing is more effective when combined with postural drainage.
Article taken from:
RESPIRATORY MANAGEMENT IN SPINAL CORD INJURY: BREATHING AND THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM IN SCI: TREATMENTS FOR RESPIRATORY TRACT COMPLICATIONS: ASSISTED COUGH
Louis Calder Memorial Library
Barry Corbet: Embedded,
New Mobility, January 2007 By Tim Gilmer
When I first learned that Barry Corbet was recovering in a nursing home following shoulder surgery in 2003, the opportunist in me hoped he would write about his experience. Later, when he had moved back to his Lookout Mountain Road home in Golden, Colo., he told me he had some good material that he was massaging. "Any chance I could run it in the magazine?" Read the Article