Mobility Friends Together

Today, there is a medicine available to treat or attempt to treat almost all disorders. One of the most common type of over the counter medication is cold medicine, which usually takes up a large section of most drug stores shelves. While these might be effective for adults, a new study released shows they can actually be harmful to young children.

Doctors are falling back on the tried and true treatment of plenty of fluids and rest. This includes the practice of giving children antihistamines to help them sleep. It is estimated that more than 7000 children are taken to the emergency room every year as a result of side effects of cough medicine. Some of the side effects include drowsiness, hives, and lightheadedness.

A large number of these cases are as a result of overdoses, so several of the leading manufactures are creating a better way to dispense their medicine, to reduce the chance of giving a child too much. They have also changed their recommendations to advise against giving these medicines to children under 6.

The children cough medicine industry usually brings in well over $300 million a year, so while many of the larger companies are changing their ways, it is likely that many will continue to market their products until there is an official ban from the FDA.

Most pediatricians will tell you that children with colds often get better in only a couple of days. They advise against giving the children medication unless they are running a high temperature. When it is necessary to give children over the counter medication, make certain to never give them adult medication and to always follow the recommended dosages. It is also important to keep all medications away from children, so they can not take them without your approval.

With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1997, many places in the United States became much more accessible. While the system is not perfect, it generally helps to ensure that businesses and public areas consider the mobility challenged in their design. Many areas in the United States are very accessible, so it is easy to forget that other areas of the world are not fortunate. Recently one student, Tish Scolnik, from MIT has set out to help people who are in areas where being accessible isn’t an everyday reality.

Scolnik is majoring in mechanical engineering and after taking a class that dealt with wheelchair design, learned about in some areas of Africa, obtaining and building a wheelchair was actually very difficult. She set out to use her skills to help others and headed to Tanzania in 2007.

The terrain in Tanzania can be very rough, so if you are in a wheelchair, it can make for hard going. Scolnik helped to design a folding wheelchair that used 3 wheels instead of the traditional 4. This allows for more stability and also allows it to be easily transported. She has also helped to design a chair that hopefully will allow its user to generate some additional income. The chair, called the Small Business Wheelchair, has removable drawers, an umbrella, and a collapsible tray, which is aimed at providing a platform for selling “Top-Up” cards. These cards are basically calling cards that those in Tanzania use with their cellphones.

Inspired by the people she met, Scolnik has continued to help those in Tanzania obtain wheelchairs and provide those who are mobility challenged with support. So far, she has raised over $9,000 towards this goal and, while back in college now, she is still very active in providing aid for mobility challenged people in developing countries.

Find out more about Tish Scolnik and her work by visiting the MIT Website.

When Chuck Killingsworth called Gary Miller of Mount Carmel Regional Medical Center, he was just looking for some used wheelchairs that he could use in one of his classes, so he never expected the generosity that Mr. Miller would extend to him.

Killingsworth, the professor of therapeutic recreation at Pittsburg State University, had been trying to find wheelchairs for one of his classes, so he picked up the phone and started calling some of the local hospitals. His last call was to Gary Miller, who decided to donate six brand new lightweight wheelchairs to Killingsworth. Miller was able to get a slight discount on the chairs, which are valued at around $700 a piece.

One of the major goals that Killingsworth wants to teach his students is how to properly transfer a person into and out of a wheelchair. They also have been brainstorming other ways to use the chairs. One of their plans is to have a wheelchair awareness day, where students spend the entire day in a wheelchair. He hopes that this will help the student have a better appreciation for what it is like for the people they will be working with.

The wheelchairs will also be used in the event of an injury and by the schools nursing department.

This is not the first time that Mount Carmel Regional Medical Center has helped out those at the school. Not too long ago they also donated a few defibrillators to the school.

The Paralympic Games ended yesterday, the 18th of September, and a very powerful closing ceremony marked the ending of an event that was very important. The ceremony symbolized both the accomplishments of the athletes, but also hopes for the future. Athletes from China brought home the most medals. Great Britain was second place in the medal counts, with the United States close at their heels.

China won over 200 medals this year. Their athletes received 89 Gold Medals, 70 Silver Medals, and 52 Bronze Medals. Great Britain brought home 102 Medals this year, among them 42 Gold Medals.

The United States was a very close third and received 99 Medals. The U.S. Team brought 42 Gold Medals, 35 Silver Medals, and 28 Bronze Medals back with them. The United States Wheelchair Basketball, Wheelchair Rugby Team, and Goalball team made an impressive stand and won the Gold. The U.S. Team was also very successful in the swimming events, athletic events, and cycling.

Athletes from around 70 different countries participated in this years games and they all deserve our respect. The medals are nice and represent a very big accomplishment, but the Paralympics are about much more than just winning the Gold. All of the athletes who participated in the games showed a strong sense of character and perseverance.

The Paralympics are in full swing and athletes from around the world have joined together to compete with one-another. There are still five days left in the tournament and many different countries have been collecting Gold Medals. Among them the top three are China, Great Britain, and the United States.

So far China has a big lead in the medal counts. They have a total of 109 medals including 37 gold ones. Great Britain is close behind in the gold count, with 33 gold medals and 69 total. The United States has 69 total medals including 23 gold medals and 16 silver ones.

China has been quite successful in most of the events, but they have earned most of their medals in the Athletics discipline, which includes discus throw, javelin throw, long jump, and other field and track events. They have also been quite successful in the table tennis events, where the men have taken 2 gold medals and the women 4.

From the United States, Cycling has been a very successful event, with Barbara Buchan, Karissa Whitsell, and Mackenzie, Woodring all taking gold medals in women cycling events.

The United States has also been very successful in the swimming events with Jessica Long taking 6 medals, including 4 gold ones. Jessica Long is 16 years old and was originally born in Russia, but was adopted by a family in Maryland when she was around 1 year old. Her lower legs were amputated when she was eighteen months old, but she rarely let this slow her down.

Always athletic, she began swimming and entered into her first competition in 2002. She competed in the 2004 Paralympics, when she was only twelve, and won 3 gold medals.

We salute all the members of the United States Team and all the other great athletes that are giving it their all and showing the world how strong they are.

There are many great sports that are part of the 2008 Paralympics. Among them is a sport that dates back over 50 years called Goalball. Goalball is a sport that originated in Europe and is played by athletes with limited or no vision.

Hanz Lorenzen, an Austrian, and Sepp Reindle, a German, developed the game in 1946 as way to help the rehabilitation of war veterans. An exhibition match was played at the 1976 Paralympics and it became a official Paralympic sport at the next games, which were held in Arnhem.

Two teams of three players each compete and try to throw a ball through their opponents goal. The court is eighteen meters long and nine meters wide. Goals span the entire 9 meters and are located at either end of the court. The teams lay down in the goal box and attempt to block the throws of the other team. The ball contains a bell or other noise maker and has eight holes in it.

Eyeshades are worn by all players and they wear eye patches under the shades. If the ball is thrown out of bounds or bounces off of a defending player, the goalposts, or crosses back over the other side, possession of the ball is lost. A 10 second shot clock is used and a player can not throw the ball more than two times without receiving a penalty. Players are also not allowed to touch their eyeshades, make excessive noise, coach from the sidelines, or defend the ball while out of the team area.

For more information, including detailed rules, visit http://www.goalballnetwork.com/

The Paralympics are set to begin next week and many athletes from all over the World are heading to Beijing for the games. Among them is a tennis star named Gordon Reid, who is 16 years old.

Reid has been playing tennis since he was 6 years old. He continued to be very active in sports, including football, until just prior to his 13th birthday he was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, which is a neurological condition that affects the spinal cord.

After his diagnosis and subsequent paralysis, Reid did not give up. The tennis club he belongs to started a fundraiser to buy him a wheelchair that was configured for wheelchair tennis. The club, Helensburgh Tennis Club, was able to raise these funds in only a short time and used them to buy a wheelchair for another athlete as well.

Only six months after being diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, Reid won his first wheelchair tennis tournament and since he has rose through the ranks. Last year Reid one the National Men’s Singles champion and at 15 became the youngest athlete to claim this honor. That same year Reid also won the International Wheelchair Tennis Junior Masters.

Currently Reid is ranked at 36th in the world’s single ranking and is set to be the youngest member to ever represent Great Britain in the Paralympics.

There are many great athletes that are mobility challenged and are probably in better shape than the author of this blog. Wheelchair basketball has probably received the most attention, but there are a great number of other sports that people in wheelchairs and those that are mobility challenged participate in. Water sports are very popular and it is not only those who are not able to walk that enjoy them. Blind Waterskiing is very popular and there are many strong and brave athletes around the world that participate in it.

One man, Gerald Price, is well known in the blind waterskiing circle and in 2004 set a world speed record for blind waterskiing. This achievement alone is very impressive, but Price was 70 years old when he set this record and is still very active today. Last month, in protest to a recent ban on motor boats at England’s largest lake, Price skied around the lake at speeds of up to 28 miles per hour.

Price stated that he did not do it to break the law, but to raise awareness to what he feels are draconian laws. He said that he felt robbed of his enjoyment by the ban that does not allow boats to travel more than 10 miles per hour while on the lake.

At 74 years old, Gerald Price is still very active in the blind skiing community and is a very strong and brave athlete. He is joined by many others who have overcome their disability and use sports as a way of freeing their mind and their body.

Getting around is something that some people take for granted, but if you are mobility challenged, then many everyday tasks can be much more difficult. To help ensure that everyone, no matter what their physical condition, is able to get around, the American’s with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990. The ADA is designed to ensure that public businesses make their buildings easily accessible to everyone, but it doesn’t always do enough.

Under the ADA, new construction of public businesses is required to meet certain standards. Older buildings that were built before 1990, are required to take actions to remove barriers where the barriers can be easily accomplished without too much difficulty, but many find this last clause to be insufficient.

Since there sometimes is a great cost associated with upgrading and retrofitting an establishment to be accessible, the Internal Revenue Service has a program aimed at helping to defer these costs. Small businesses can apply for and potentially receive tax breaks to help offset about fifty percent of the cost of renovations. For example a business that expands its doors can receive up to a $5,000 tax break.

This action of the IRS does help out and many businesses do take advantage of the tax credits, but there are still plenty of places that a person who is mobility challenged can find it difficult to go.

One man, Kenny Cieplik, has created his own blog to rate how accessible places are. Included in his reviews are ways that the places can help to improve their ratings.

The National Veterans Wheelchair Games concluded last week. More than 500 athletes participated in the event this year, which was held in Omaha Nebraska. This marks the end of the 28^th event.

These great athletes joined together to compete and while there was a strong sense of competition, there was also a strong sense of brotherhood amongst the many athletes. Among the many different events that were held this year were wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair softball, quad rugby, power soccer, and many other fun events.

Many of the people competing had never competed at a wheelchair sporting event before and the games go a long way towards helping their physical health as well as their mental health.

One veteran, who was wounded while fighting in Afghanistan, found that he was able to enjoy many of the same things he enjoyed before he was wounded. The veteran, Tyler Wilson, was amazed at how close everyone who competes is. Those who have been to the games before are quick to help the new comers and create an excellent environment.

Tyler, who competed in bowling, air guns, archery, trapshooting, and nine-ball events, left the competition with one gold medal, a silver metal, and two bronze medals. He is very excited about next years games and sees this as a very positive type of rehabilitation.

There were no losers at this years Games and all of the athletes that competed should be commended for their bravery both on the field and off.