Thunderbirds Charities Awards $50,000 Grant to Barrow Neuro-Rehabilitation Center

Funds will support a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for transporting patients

Barrow Neurological Foundation is honored to announce that it has been awarded a $50,000 grant from Thunderbirds Charities to support the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for the Neuro-Rehabilitation Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. The neuro-rehabilitation team at Barrow understands that the hardest part of a patient’s journey often comes after they leave the hospital. As such, the team strives to ensure patients have practice navigating a variety of real-world situations that they will encounter after returning home. This is crucial not only for patients’ physical rehabilitation, but also for building their confidence and independence.

Oftentimes, these rehabilitation sessions include accessing different community venues with a manual or power wheelchair. Having a wheelchair-accessible vehicle enables Barrow neuro-rehabilitation specialists to take patients to a grocery store, a movie theatre, a restaurant, or even to their own home to practice navigating the environment with their wheelchair.

“We don’t want our patients sitting at home waiting to recover enough to go out and enjoy all the things they like to do when they can do those things right away with some small adaptations,” said Matthias Linke, DO, Director of Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation at Barrow. “If we don’t show our patients how to get out there while they are under our care, then they won’t have the confidence to venture out on their own. We want our patients to be able to say, ‘I’ve got this,’ when they leave Barrow because they have already completed tasks with guidance from our therapists.”

The Barrow Neuro-Rehabilitation Center provides comprehensive rehabilitation services for patients recovering from brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, brain tumors, strokes, and other neurological conditions. It offers a complete spectrum of care, including acute, inpatient, and outpatient rehabilitation, work and school re-entry programs, adaptive recreation, and support groups. On average, the inpatient unit sees 800 patients per year, while the outpatient unit sees 2,600 patients per year, totaling approximately 34,000 therapy sessions. The Barrow Neuro-Rehabilitation Center also is a leader in the use of neuro-robotics. It currently has more than 75 different rehabilitation devices and is one of the only rehabilitation facilities to offer this extensive technology across the entire continuum of care.

The Barrow Neuro-Rehabilitation continuum is accredited by The Joint Commission and the
Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Barrow also was ranked as one
of the Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation by U.S. News & World Report in 2022.

“Barrow not only is dedicated to saving the lives of patients with debilitating neurological
conditions, but it also is committed to helping them get back to living a fulfilling life,” said Katie
Cobb, President of Barrow Neurological Foundation. “The generous grant from Thunderbirds
Charities to support a wheelchair-accessible vehicle for the Barrow Neuro-Rehabilitation Center
will help further enhance care for patients by enabling our physical therapists to assist them in
learning to use their new mobility device outside of the hospital.”