Members Gain More Than Strength
At The Wheelchair Fitness Center

by Darline Turner Lee, Physician Assistant, ACSM Exercise Specialist

Article Last Reviewed: Sept. 9, 2006

For Mike Haynes, the wake-up call to follow his passion was nearly fatal. He was a twenty-year old accounting student at the University of Texas at Austin and had stopped at a convenience store for a quick purchase. Moments later a man armed with a gun robbed the store and Haynes was hit in the back by a random bullet. Doctors stabilized his physical injuries and he began the long, arduous process of recovery. Haynes remained in St. David’s Medical Center for eleven months and two weeks before he was discharged as a paraplegic.

Haynes tells his story with a sly smile on his face. For someone who was robbed of the use of his legs, he is extremely content. “When I got out of the hospital, I realized I had been given a second chance and I was going to take it.” Haynes changed his major from accounting to kinesiology-the study of human muscular movements. “I’ve always loved sports and I had to learn how to enjoy them in a whole different way. I figured if I had to earn a living, I would enjoy myself. Life is too unpredictable.” Now some twenty-four years later, Haynes says he has never regretted his decision.

Haynes did his rehabilitation at St. David’s inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers and continued on as a staff member after receiving his bachelors degree. He noted that once an individual completed the acute rehabilitation process, there were no resources to continue to improve physical skills. Here he found his niche. Haynes worked with staff members to develop and open the Wheelchair Fitness Center 1990. Initially housed in the basement of St. David’s Rehabilitation Center, in September 2003 the center moved to at a satellite facility in the Hancock Shopping Center next to Sears and facing the frontage road of south IH 35.

The name of the Wheelchair Fitness Center is somewhat misleading in that it is open to all individuals with physical limitations, not just those in wheelchairs. The programs offered by the center maintain the essence of the activities while modifying them to meet the physical challenges of the participants. For example, a basketball game played with wheelchair participants will have some of the boundaries and rules adapted. However, the majority of the rules of the game remain the same so that participants experience the sport.

The center is the only barrier-free fitness center in Central Texas that provides fitness programs and equipment designed exclusively for physically challenged clients. All of the equipment is wheelchair friendly-clients don’t have to transfer out of their wheelchairs to use it. The center provides sports programs for physically challenged youths aged four to twenty-one, as well as special events such as scuba diving, river rafting, wheelchair tennis, softball and football.

Staff-member Larry Turner is certified in therapeutic recreation and supervises many of the team athletics and youth programs. He says, “Our programs are so important to the emotional well being of our clients. The programs foster independence and participants learn that not only can they participate in a wide variety of activities, they participate by themselves without assistance. It’s a real confidence boost.”

Haynes says, “I’m really pleased that we are able to provide continuity of care for our clients. Once a person completes rehab, they are advised to continue with their exercise and therapy programs, but where? Most gyms and fitness facilities are ill designed and ill equipped to accommodate our clients. And if a personal trainer is not experienced with disabilities, they may actually cause our clients more harm than good. Most of our clients are trying to gain and maintain functional strength to be able to carry out their activities of daily life. It’s not about bulking or weight loss. It’s about being able to live independently, being able to feed oneself and bathe oneself. “

Erik St. Amant moved to Austin in November 2005 and has found invaluable resources at the Wheelchair Fitness Center. “I damaged my spinal cord in a motorcycle accident sixteen years ago when I was sixteen years old. I have C1C2 quadriplegia (spinal cord damage at the level of cervical vertebrae one and two) but I do have movement and use of my arms because the spinal cord wasn’t severed. “

“I used to work out at Bally’s in Orange County. They didn’t have wheelchair equipment, but the facility there was very wheelchair accessible. The center here is just great. I don’t have to transfer I just roll up to a machine and do my sets.”

St. Amant moved to Austin with his girlfriend and she found out about the program. “Not only is the center affordable, I have made so many friends and gotten so much information here.”

Staff-member Teresa Palacios says, “That’s one of the biggest advantages of the Wheelchair Fitness Center. Many longstanding friendships develop here. And there’s accountability. When someone doesn’t come for a while, their friends call them up and encourage them to come back.”

St. Amant says, “I’ve found out about filing for insurance, I’ve gotten a whole bunch of resources and most importantly right now, I’m learning how to stay cool in my chair. It’s not this hot in Orange County.”

Jim Wilson started coming to the center in November 2005 as well. “I had a stroke June 4, 2005 and was treated at St. David’s as an inpatient for a month then as an outpatient for two months. Once I completed rehab and was discharged from the program, I didn’t do anything. I had a home program, but I didn’t do it and I was losing all the progress I had made. When I found out about the center, I started coming and now I come regularly and do my exercises. I still go to St. David’s Rehab and use the pool because it helps me with my balance and coordination. But here I don’t have to pay and that helps because I don’t have much income. I was an electrician and since the stroke, I can’t work. Thankfully I am a Vietnam veteran, so I can get my medical care at the VA Outpatient Clinic in East Austin. But they don’t have any rehab facilities there.”

Haynes says, “One of our goals here at the center is to alleviate burdens. Our clients are already physically burdened, and they are often emotionally pretty defeated. Many have lost their means of support and are now on a very fixed income. Having a place where they can go and be amongst peers, gain emotional support and not incur further financial burden is a real benefit for them.”

Haynes knows about the financial burden. Although he had insurance when he was shot, by the time he was discharged he had racked up a two million dollar tab. Despite the eighty percent paid out by his insurance, Haynes still owed St. David’s Medical Center and his physicians about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. “I was a college student with no job and a new paraplegic. I spoke with the business office and told them that I would pay them what I could. Sometimes it was only one hundred dollars a month. I did that for fourteen years until the bill was paid. But not everyone can do that. By keeping the Wheelchair Fitness Center free to its clients, it’s one less thing they have to worry about”

The Wheelchair Fitness Center has become more than a gym. It’s a place for people with special needs to come and have those needs met in a most unique way. Most members start out with the goal of building physical strength and skills. Yet it’s the friendships, resources, encouragement and increased self-confidence to live out their passions that keeps members coming back.

Darline Turner-Lee is passionate about fitness and ecstatic about the equipment and programs offered at the St. David’s Wheelchair Fitness Program. “Everyone needs regular physical activity and the modified equipment and excellent programs offered at the Wheelchair fitness center allow people with physical limitations to feed their passions for fun and fitness.”

Photographs
The staff at the Wheelchair Fitness Center”
Mike Haynes, Larry Turner, Teresa Palacios
512-451-3637, 698-1472 (Mike’s Cell)

Erik St. Amant, Joe Wilson
(Sorry I forgot to get their phone numbers, but the best place to contact them would be at the center-512-451-3637)

Rehabilitation Resources mentioned in this article

St. David’s Rehabilitation Center- a full service facility that serves the rehabilitation needs of the acutely injured. Patients begin programs as inpatients and progress thru to outpatient therapy. It is located at 1005 East 32nd Street in Austin. For more information, call 512-867-5100 or visit http://www.stdavidsrehab.com.

Wheelchair Fitness Center- This is an adapted fitness center that allows individuals in wheelchairs or with other physical limitations to continue their rehabilitation regimens following completion of formal inpatient and outpatient programs. Members may also participate in activities such as team sports, camping trips and scuba diving. Youth programs are also available. There is no charge for use of the facility, which is supported by budgeted funds from St. David’s Medical Center. The center is located adjacent to Sears in the Hancock Shopping Center at 1000 E. Forty-First St., in Austin. For more information call 512-451-3637 or visit http://www.stdavidsrehab.com, then click on Specialty Services and click on Wheelchair Fitness Program.