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Founder of UroMed Bert Burns. Photo courtesy UroMed.
Get Out, Enjoy Life
Summer is here and we're celebrating.
View ForumHey Spokes, rejoice!
Summer is here, and so is an amazing new program to help you explore accessible vacation spots, sports and events.
We are teaming up with the nonprofit organization Life After Spinal Cord Injury [LASCI] to provide you with an online directory of ways to get out and enjoy life this summer, whether it’s a family vacation, outdoors sports event, or a weekend road trip. Even better, we’ve organized the details into state listings so you can pick your favorite spot on the map and drill down to accessible programs and places in that vicinity. Highlights will include national parks, sailing expeditions, sports programs by state, family outings, travel clubs, and publications to help plan your summer adventures.
About The Program:
Beginning July 15, each day you’ll find an accessible outdoor opportunity listed on the S’NS and LASCI Facebook pages. And, the best part is, when you comment on the postings, you’ll automatically be entered to win a prize associated with that event, program, or location. It could be a free pass to a park, tickets to a sports event, travel guides or accessories, or any number of exciting gifts!
To participate, simply visit the S’NS and LASCI Facebook pages.
SPORTS 'N SPOKES Facebook Life After Spinal Cord Injury Facebook
If you’re not already following us, click on the links to “LIKE” the S’NS & LASCI Facebook pages, and you’ll be ready to roll! Remember, to be eligible to win the daily prizes you MUST COMMENT on the posts of places and programs we mention. Winners will be selected for each post each day after comments are reviewed.
Paralympian Bert Burns. Photo courtesy UroMed.
Photo Contest:
But wait, there’s more! The Get Out, Enjoy Life Family Snaps photo contest. We want to see the places you visit and the sports and recreational activities you enjoy. At the end of the contest - Aug 15 - three grand prize winners will be selected from S’NS readers who share pictures of themselves getting out and enjoying life this summer. Pictures can be posted to either S’NS or LASCI Facebook page.
Three winners total will receive a Get Out, Enjoy Life Prize Pack that includes S’NS polo shirt, S’NS T-shirt, and a pocket naturalist guide to the outdoors. First place winner will win a flashy new wheelchair courtesy Colours Wheelchairs and a chance to have thier winning photo featured on the cover of the September issue. In addition, their photos may be included in various S’NS and LASCI presentations, both online and offline.
Contest Rules / Rights and complete prize listing can be found here.
About our Friends at LASCI:
LASCI founder Bert Burns is a C7 quadriplegic who first read S’NS in his early days of recovery after a life-changing car accident. “Every month as I was in rehab, I would go through the pages of SPORTS ‘N SPOKES, amazed by the athletes they featured and hoping I could be one too,” Burns says.
In 10 brief years following the accident, Burns made his own amazing advances as a recreational therapist for the Shepherd Center and in a lengthy career as a wheelchair racer. From 1991 to 1992, Burns was featured in 15 consecutive issues of SPORTS ‘N SPOKES as his results from international wheelchair racing competitions hit the newswires. Burns competed as a wheelchair athlete on a global scale for 15 years, winning many gold medals in international events over the years, including one in a 4x400 relay at the 1992 Paralympics.
Burns formally began Life After Spinal Cord Injury as an outreach program in 2010 after more than 20 years of working with peer groups and the SCI community. It’s a motivational program that takes place in rehabilitation hospitals and other locations, to assist disabled youth and adults who have recently learned they will be permanently using a wheelchair.
As part of the program, Burns travels five to six times a month and answers questions during the programs regarding dating, marriage, sports, jobs, and more. “They’re basic topics, but they’re the kinds of things you don’t even think about until your life is changed forever,” he says.
In 2010, the Life After Spinal Cord Injury program helped more than 600 medical professionals, patients, former patients, and family members with information, advice, and encouragement. Learn more about LASCI.
Life After Spinal Cord Injury is sponsored by UroMed, one of the largest urology medical supply companies in the country. Burns is also the founder, having started the company more than 15 years ago with the hope of making a difference in the level of urological care provided to people with neurogenic bladder, spinal-cord injury, spina bifida or multiple sclerosis.
“It was hard finding a company that offered the products I needed on a daily basis,” says Burns. “That was my main reason for starting the company; there was a need, and I set out to fill it. Today, we are the third-largest urology company in the nation, but what we do extends much further than offering patients products.”
That’s because almost 20% of UroMed’s customer care representatives or one of their family members have some form of disability, enabling them to share an understanding and expertise when working with customers. One of those like-minded employees is David Williams. Williams began using a wheelchair when he was 15 after being diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. Like Burns, Williams also read S’NS constantly as he adjusted to his new life. “I was an active kid, involved in every sport you could imagine when I was a teenager. S’NS gave me hope along with a long list of ways I could continue my athletic career.” Today, Williams is ranked number one in the U.S. for both Singles and Doubles Wheelchair Tennis: A-Division.
So what are you waiting for? We’ve combined forces to help you find ways to get out and enjoy life with friends and family this summer. The places, plans and programs are all there waiting on Facebook; the only person missing is you.
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