NeuroHope enjoyed the last Saturday in April at Bradford Woods in Martinsville, IN. Bradford Woods is Indiana University’s Outdoor Center that provides therapeutic activities and programs for people of all backgrounds and abilities. More than 50 participants from the NeuroHope community enjoyed a fun-filled day packed with fishing, boating, canoeing, archery, and ziplining on the beautiful 2,500-acre campus of Bradford Woods. Our day ended with April showers, but thankfully we had gorgeous weather for most of the day.
NeuroHope connected with Bradford Woods from Neurorecovery Exercise Specialist, Barry Moore. The camp is what brought him to Indianapolis as a college student years ago. After experiencing the spectacular scenery and incredible adaptive outdoor activities, we understand Barry’s love for Bradford Woods.
We were able to purchase t-shirts for this event and provide lunches to everyone, thanks to the generous support of the Sparenberg family, with Sparenberg Farms and Heidi Garner and Mack Mcclellan of HALO Branded Solutions!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Untitled-design-1.jpg6021030Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2023-04-19 13:01:592023-04-19 14:59:43International Business Times: How NeuroHope is Transforming Spinal Cord Injury Care
On a summer afternoon in 2019, Chuck Knox was at home when he fell down the stairs. Chuck was unable to move his arms or legs. Initially, he thought it was the shock of the fall but soon came to realize it was more serious. His wife, Sherri, called an ambulance and he was transported to the hospital. An MRI showed that Chuck had Central Cord Syndrome, an incomplete, cervical spinal cord injury. Chuck underwent surgery receiving several rods and screws to stabilize the vertebrae in his neck, as well as getting a C3-C6 fusion. After about 5 days of post-operative care, Chuck was discharged from the acute care hospital and sent to a rehabilitation hospital.
As an inpatient, Chuck received three hours of therapy several days a week focusing on improving his range of motion and learning how to transfer from his power wheelchair to a bed. After just 22 days, Chuck was discharged, when he ran out of insurance coverage.
Chuck’s home was not accessible enough for his needs, so it was recommended to him that he go to a skilled nursing facility. After just eight days at the facility, Chuck and Sherri decided to relocate to a different facility that could better meet his needs. At his second skilled nursing facility, Chuck engaged in physical therapy to work on improving his range of motion and received electrical stimulation on his arms. Chuck developed a urinary tract infection (UTI) while inpatient at his second facility, which led to a ten-day hospital stay after he developed sepsis. Chuck and his wife made the choice to relocate to a third facility. Third time was a charm. At his third skilled nursing facility, Chuck received PT and exercise. Sadly, after just 4 weeks, Medicare was no longer able to cover his stay as he “plateaued in his recovery”.
Chuck and Sherri modified their home to make it more accessible for Chuck’s mobility and self-care needs. He moved back home in October 2019, just 4 months after his accident. At the start of the year in 2020, Chuck’s Medicare benefits were restored, and he started back with outpatient Occupation Therapy (OT) and Physical Therapy (PT), and took part in some research and self-pay programs. In the spring of 2020, COVID struck and Chuck’s rehab came to a halt once again. Thankfully, at the end of 2020, Chuck resumed outpatient therapy and was referred to NeuroHope by one of his providers.
In January of 2021, Chuck started attending NeuroHope for PT and has since transitioned into guided exercise to work on his strength, endurance, overall mobility, and recently started with OT, as well. Chuck looks forward to coming to his sessions at NeuroHope and hopes to take part in future research studies. He is very social and loves the personal interactions with the staff and other NeuroHope community members. Chuck plans on rejoining his local gym to continue improving his fitness more independently. He believes he has the skills and confidence now to use their equipment and facilities with little help.
Having been told that 3 months after his accident, he had plateaued in his recovery, Chuck and Sherri didn’t give up hope. Today, Chuck walks in and out of NeuroHope using his rollator and has made huge strides in improving his quality of life at home and in the community. He walks daily and catches up with his friends on the golf course; for now, as a ride-along coach, but hopes to be soon swinging a club himself. He is also an active member of several non-profit organizations in the Indianapolis area and enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and grandkids!
We are honored to be part of Chuck’s recovery and proud of the resiliency Chuck has shown. We are excited to see his continued progress both in and out of our clinic.
Olivia Garrison’s life changed forever on April 16th 2022. Less than two months away from her high school graduation, Olivia and her friends were involved in a devasting car crash. She was airlifted to the hospital with severe injuries: a lacerated liver and spleen, torn aorta, broken sternum, broken vertebrae (T1-T9), and a damaged spinal cord that left her paralyzed from the chest down.
The next day, Olivia underwent a 6-hour surgery to repair her broken back. Three days later, she woke up in need of a ventilator to breathe. It would be another five days before her lungs were strong enough to remove the ventilator so she could communicate with her family. She remained in the ICU for 24 days before transferring to a unit of the hospital where she could begin her road to recovery and gain strength to transfer to a rehabilitation hospital.
One month after the accident, Olivia was stable enough to transfer to Community North Rehabilitation Hospital in Indianapolis, where her daily regimen of physical and occupational therapy could begin. For 28 days, she worked with the therapy team at Community to regain her strength and learn how to best navigate her new physical situation. The highlight of her stay was on May 27th when she was able to briefly leave the hospital and attend her high school graduation with the rest of her class.
In June, after nearly a month at the rehabilitation hospital, she was discharged home. Even though she was happy to be home, she knew she needed more therapy and more assistance to continue her recovery. She had made great strides, but was still weak and could only remain upright for a few moments at a time. She was still in a great deal of pain from her injuries, and was in a constant battle with pressure sores. Since she’s been home many of the complications relating to a neurologic injury have continued, including a bone infection, a blood clot, and multiple urinary tract infections.
In June of 2022 Olivia heard about NeuroHope from a therapist, as a unique place to continue the specialized therapy she needed after hospital discharge. She soon enrolled in our therapy and exercise programs – and in the months since, her hard work and smiling face has been a constant in our gym!
It takes months, and sometimes years to maximize recovery from neurologic injury – far more than insurance and traditional healthcare allows, and Olivia’s continued progress inspires us all. She has improved tremendously during her time at NeuroHope, conquering seated balance, floor transfers and standing tolerance.
She’s not done yet! She continues to gain strength as she approaches the one-year mark of her injury, and she works tirelessly with our physical therapy, occupational therapy, and exercise teams. She is an inspiration to all whose lives have changed following a neurological injury, sharing her light with support and encouragement.
NeuroHope’s Director of Therapy Elliot Cohee, and Executive Director Chris Leeuw joined the set of IndyNow! to discuss the need for extended care programs for neurologic injuries, and NeuroHope’s growth over the last several years.
In 2023, we will serve our 500th patient along their road to recovery!
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Elliot-Cohee-IndyNow.jpg363687Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2023-01-06 20:15:372023-01-06 20:21:58In Studio for IndyNow!
By Shari Rudavsky: Indianapolis Star, December 25, 2022
The abandoned bridge over the river in southern Indiana near Edinburgh beckoned to the group of kayakers in the water below.
Chris Leeuw is the Founder and Executive Director of NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar
Chris Leeuw and his friends secured their boats, scaled the structure, and poised to dive into the cool water below. Flying through the air, Leeuw did not notice the man next to him who had jumped off the bridge nanoseconds after his own feet left the ground. When Leeuw hit the water, the stranger landed atop his head, snapping his neck and instantly changing his life irrevocably. The man, whose name Leeuw does not know to this day, dragged him to shore, saving his life. But Leeuw, who never lost consciousness, could feel nothing.
“It was literally like a light switch,” he said. “I was just totally paralyzed from the neck down.”
After Leeuw was airlifted to IU Health Methodist for emergency surgery, his doctors said he’d never walk again, but he defied those predictions after spending months in a Utah specialty rehabilitation clinic. His success in Utah inspired him to open a mirror of that program here in Indianapolis, helping others with injuries similar to his own.
Unlike conventional rehab that cease when insurance payments stop, Leeuw’s NeuroHope clinic focuses on long-term recovery, stepping in to help patients who have exhausted their physical therapy allotments. To help pay for the costly service, Leeuw fundraises tirelessly to keep his self-pay fees reasonable.
NeuroHope, the rehabilitation center he opened on the northeast side, recently received a $1 million OrthoIndy Foundation grant. The money will allow the 5-year-old center expand further, serve more patients and fill a void of longterm therapy for people with spinal cord or brain injuries or who have suffered strokes.
Leeuw and his program have been on the radar of the OrthoIndy Foundation since 2016 when Leeuw approached the Foundation for assistance. “Blown away” by Leeuw’s accomplishments, the Foundation initially committed $36,000 to the program. When OrthoIndy started thinking about making another major grant along the lines of the $3 million it gave to help build the Pike Township YMCA in 2016, NeuroHope topped the list.
Indiana has no other program like NeuroHope, which is one of just 11 community fitness and wellness centers around the world that belong to the Christopher Reeve Foundation’s Neuro-Recovery Network. Many insurance programs provide physical therapy for only a set amount of time; Leeuw’s own experience as well as those of many of the NeuroHope clients attest to the value of continuing to work on recovery, his fans at OrthoIndy say.
“Chris’s program demonstrates that there are more opportunities for rehabilitation, but you have to stay at it for a long time,” said John Ryan, OrthoIndy CEO. “What it affords our doctors to do … is to offer up that there are solutions that will extend beyond what they might otherwise receive.”
Lydia Miner (right) a PTA, works with Tranicia Hankins at NeuroHope. The center offers long-term physical therapy and a fitness space for people with neurologic injuries. Hankins had a stroke six years ago and is training to walk again. Photo: Jenna Watson/IndyStar
Drop by NeuroHope on any weekday and you’ll see a range of activity. Some patients work one-on-one with physical or occupational therapists, honing their balance or improving their walking skills in other ways. Others work on upper- body strength, building back up muscles that have atrophied.
In one room, NeuroHope’s wellness coordinator Kendal Baker stands in the midst of a circle of men on machines, some on recumbent bikes, others on machines that work out their arms instead of their legs. The class has a spin class feel as Baker exhorts the men to move faster, raise their heart rate and watches the effect on a screen in front.
Outside the class in the main Tranicia Hankins, 41, walks a careful line under the watchful eyes of a staff member. The Noblesville resident, who had a stroke six years ago, came to NeuroHope after rehabbing elsewhere.
Since Hankins started at NeuroHope, her mother has noticed that she’s more stable when she walks and has more endurance. Now, Hankins hopes that one day she may walk without a cane. Watching Leeuw around the gym has proved an inspiration, Hankins said, “just to see him doing it every day.”
Coming back from the accident
Megan Lashley (left) a neurorecovery exercise specialist, works with a client for balance training at NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson / IndyStar
But Leeuw cautions that his story of recovery is just that — his own — and that each person travels his or her own recovery path, depending on multiple factors such as the severity of their accident.
Reaching this point, however, was as long a journey for Leeuw as for his clients.
Almost instantly after his accident, which abruptly ended the kayaking excursion with friends, Leeuw knew he was paralyzed. He was airlifted to IU Health Methodist Hospital and rushed into emergency surgery.
Despite what doctors feared, about a week after his accident, Leeuw, who was in peak shape, moved a muscle in his inner thigh.
“That was a little small glimmer of hope,” he said. “But the recovery process is so long. … And the journey is a mental journey just as much as a physical one.”
At the time of the accident, Leeuw worked for ChaCha, the search enginestarted by multimillionaire Scott Jones. But recovery became a full-time job. He had to learn how to navigate his life, how to feed himself, how to bathe, how to use a power wheelchair.
Statistics suggest that those with spinal cord injuries eventually plateau in their recovery so Leeuw knew that all too soon the intensive therapy to which he had access in those early months after the accident would come to an end. After a stint at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana, Leeuw moved to a nursing home, where he continued to recover ever so slowly.
While in the nursing home, he even achieved the milestone of standing again, putting weight on his legs. Although just a few months earlier, he had thought he might never stand again, this achievement proved only small solace for him.
“It was kind of hard to celebrate some of those early wins because you still wanted more,” he said.
His former boss Jones told him about a clinic near Salt Lake City, opened by a doctor who himself had recovered from a spinal cord injury and learned to walk again. Leeuw fundraised enough to relocate to Utah with his mother.
Housed in a space far smaller than Leeuw’s own current facility, Neuroworx featured state-of-the-art equipment and operated on the philosophy that people like Leeuw need longerterm care than insurance covers to maximize recovery. For three hours a day five days a week, Leeuw said, he concentrated on regaining as many of his abilities as possible.
After about two years Leeuw could walk again and care for himself again, although his left side continues to havesome level of paralysis. The final step for him involved being able to drive on his own. After therapy each day, he and his mother would visit a student driving course near their apartment and Leeuw would take the wheel of the car, which was outfitted with a special knob.
“I would always keep trying to get my right arm strong enough to turn the wheel, and I’d fail and fail and fail,” he said. “Then when I finally was able to do that, that was time to go home.”
More of the care they need
As Leeuw drove himself back east to Indiana, he brought with him a vision: An Indianapolis clinic in Indianapolis that replicated the one in Utah.
Elliot Cohee, PT, DPT (left) is the Director of Therapy at NeuroHope and oversees clinical operations. Here he works with Brad Spencer in a gait training exercise.
From his own experience, Leeuw knew health insurance often does not cover such care. Most insurance plans only cover 22 to 28 therapy visits a year, far from sufficient for people recovering from catastrophic accidents.
At first Leeuw partnered with the University of Indianapolis, which gave him free space in a small room in Fountain Square. He opened NeuroHope in 2015 with little but a therapy mat and a dream.
Soon, however, Leeuw fundraised about $100,000 to purchase an electrical stimulation machine that improves strength and coordination by using electrical current pulses to stimulate muscle contractions. He secured additional donated equipment, such as a standing frame for those who use wheelchairs to practice standing.
Although NeuroHope had only parttime hours, patients flocked to the doors, through word of mouth. Two years ago the Indiana Spinal Cord andBrain Injury Research Fund gave the clinic a two-year grant of close to $1 million, opening the door for the clinic to expand. In 2017 NeuroHope moved to its current home adjoining the fitness center of what was then Incrediplex. The new space allowed Leeuw to realize his dream of a hybrid facility that’s part physical therapy clinic, part fitness center.
“That’s what we do that’s so unique … We see people in different, different places in their recovery,” Leeuw said. “We merge the two because we recognize these injuries take a long time to recover from.”
Brittanie Howe (right) a physical therapist, leads Olivia Garrison in a core-strengthening exercise at NeuroHope
About 30% of people with spinal cord injuries are sedentary, never leaving their wheelchairs and about 30% are hospitalized every year for issues like skin breakdown, pressure sores, or cardiovascular trouble, Leeuw said. Keeping this population healthy, then, not only improves individual health but can also saves on hospital costs.
For some, insurance covers their physical therapy; others pay out of pocket for services. To help defray costs and make it possible to offer patients in need care, Leeuw fundraises full time, which sets his facility apart from others that rely on insurers for payment.
At the time of the move, the clinic had about half a dozen employees and served about 25 people. Today the staff has nearly tripled in size for about 95 clients, Leeuw said. While most of the patients come from central Indiana, some travel from out of state. Although some may not have had exposure to some of the machines that NeuroHope offers, for most the clinic’s philosophy rather than its technology proves the draw.
“A majority of the time people have gotten the care they needed. It’s just they need more of it,” said Elliot Cohee, director of therapy. “A lot of our philosophy is just getting people out of their chair … and just trying to get them to use as much as their strength and their body that they can to help with the recovery.”
While Leeuw realizes that his own story may serve as a beacon to others that they, too, can come back from devastating injuries, he also stresses that as he see it, his success lies not in the fact he tried harder or did more therapy. Instead, he said, his injury was not as severe as those others have endured — and he did two years of intense work to relearn how to walk and use his arms.
Binh Dennis works out in a group cardio class at NeuroHope. Photo: Jenna Watson / IndyStar
Leeuw and his staff shy away from answering the question so many clients ask, When will I walk again? Each person, they know, is different; each injury poses its own challenges.
After a motorcycle accident in 2018, Binh Dennis, 52, eventually found his way to NeuroHope, looking for a place that would help him continue to regain as much of his past life as possible from his wheelchair.
Formerly a Fishers police officer, when Dennis was discharged from the hospital, he could only transfer himself from his wheelchair to a hospital bed. Now he can go from his chair to any sitting surface, shower independently, dress himself.
Three times a week, Dennis comes to NeuroHope, where he takes cardio classes, strength training classes, and works on increasing his abilities.
“I have come to accept the fact that my injury is permanent. What I look forward to is continuing maintaining my independence,” Dennis said. “The biggest thing I have gained is mental strength. Nothing is impossible.”
Contact IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky on email at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @srudavsky.
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Olivia-Indy-star_cropped.jpg7181229Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2023-01-03 12:39:152023-01-03 12:49:41Indianapolis Star: The NeuroHope Story
LAWRENCE, Ind. — A local nonprofit rehab center now seeks to reduce barriers to long-term care after receiving a $1 million grant.
The OrthoIndy Foundation awarded the grant to NeuroHope in Lawrence, a physical therapy rehab center.
NeuroHope founder Chris Leeuw is no stranger to the long road of recovery. Leeuw opened the rehab center in 2015 after spending years recovering from his very own accident. He was paralyzed after a swimming accident when he was 28 years old.
Years later, Leeuw now strives to expand access to long-term physical care and rehabilitation.
“When you deal through a catastrophic injury like that, you’re thrown into an entirely different world,” Leeuw said. “Recovery, mentally, physically emotionally, it’s a journey that affects you, your family and there’s a void in healthcare.”
He said he now aims to fill that void.
“We have awesome healthcare here,” Leeuw said. “We are very fortunate that we have great healthcare facilities and great hospitals, but long-term there is a big void in care. A lot of patients fall through the cracks.”
Healthcare costs can be expensive and overwhelming for many recovering from serious injuries, Leeuw said.
“Our mission revolves around making it affordable for people so they can actually have access to physical therapists, have access to some really state of the art interventions to help some neurological injury, spinal cord injury, stroke,” he said.
NeuroHope has been a life-changer for many local patients. No step is ever too small.
“You got to have faith,” said NeuroHope patient Juan Beamon. “You know, faith without works is dead. You just got to keep pushing on.”
Beaman, like many other NeuroHope patients, is learning to walk again after a traumatic incident. He was injured in a car wreck back in 2018, but then became paralyzed after a brain surgery soon after.
His time at NeuroHope serves a motivator.
“It kind of makes me think of a child being born that doesn’t know how to walk,” Beaman said. “It has to learn. [NeuroHope] is really home to me, like, I’ve come in and been accepted by so many people.”
The same holds true for other patients like Mark Bradley.
“May 18, I fell, blacked out at an airport, fell and broke my neck,” Bradley said.
There is not a task too challenging for the 65-year-old.
“I can do a lot more now than I could when I got here,” he said. “It’s been a nice, what, for five months now.”
Thanks to the new grant, Leeuw said his rehab center now awaits hundreds of new stories of triumph and success.
“This is an amazing opportunity for us to be able to help more people,” he said.
NueroHope has expanded its gym. It will also now be able to hire more staff, see more patients and help buy new equipment to help care for patients. Meanwhile, there is one goal in mind – reducing any barriers to care.
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Fox59.jpg346633Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2022-12-16 18:01:142022-12-16 18:09:26NeuroHope Featured on Fox 59
Grant will allow NeuroHope to expand rehabilitation and fitness center to provide long-term care for spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke survivors
NeuroHope, a nonprofit rehabilitation and wellness center for people recovering from neurologic injuries, has received a $1 million grant from the OrthoIndy Foundation to expand its continued care programs for spinal cord injury, brain injury and stroke. As part of the expansion, NeuroHope has added staff, operating space, and opened an adaptive fitness center so people living with neurologic conditions can have affordable access to long-term rehabilitation programs when they leave the hospital.
“Neurologic injuries take months or years to maximize recovery, but patients are often discharged from insurance-covered care in a matter of weeks,” said Elliot Cohee, Director of Therapy at NeuroHope. “We are building a program in Indianapolis that provides a critical next step in care so patients can maximize recovery and improve long-term quality of life.”
John Ryan, CEO of OrthoIndy, agreed.
“Indiana is so blessed to have NeuroHope championing the continuity of care of Hoosiers,” said Ryan. “It is an honor for our OrthoIndy Foundation to support NeuroHope in their efforts to fill this critical gap in care.”
Since 2015, NeuroHope has helped hundreds of families on the road to recovery. The outpatient center added occupational therapy to its services, and grew its adaptive wellness center earlier in the year after winning a grant from Impact 100 of Greater Indianapolis. The new 3-year grant from the OrthoIndy Foundation will expand services to help more people after they are discharged from the hospital and traditional therapy.
NeuroHope was created after Founder and Executive Director Chris Leeuw suffered a severe spinal cord injury from a swimming accident that initially left him paralyzed from the neck down. After traveling across the country to receive long-term therapy, he re-learned to walk and moved back to Indianapolis determined to open a center for others recovering from paralysis.
“These injuries are life-changing,” said Leeuw. “NeuroHope was created so patients have the support they need throughout their entire recovery process. By providing long-term, affordable access to therapy and fitness programs, this grant creates a continued care center unlike any in the community.”
https://www.neurohopewellness.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/OrthoIndy-Foundation-Blog-graphic.jpg303797Chris Leeuw/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/NeuroHope_Color.svgChris Leeuw2022-10-11 11:29:242022-10-11 11:29:24NeuroHope Receives $1,000,000 Expansion Grant From OrthoIndy Foundation
On November 14, NeuroHope began a two-day seminar with the Neuro-developmental Treatment Association (NDTA) titled “Facilitating Transitional Movements Effectively” led by Monica Diamond, PT, MS, C/NDT. View the course brochure here: NDTA_SeminarBrochure_22S14MDIN
We were happy to host physical and occupational therapists from around the country through lectures, labs, and patient demonstrations. The goal: understanding and learning skills in using transitional activities to remediate the functional limitations of patients with neuromuscular system impairments, across the continuum of care.
Lessons focused on balance, postural control, transfer control and facilitating sit-to-stand techniques for people with neuromuscular impairments.
A special thank-you goes to Dr. Diamond, and all of the attendees that came to NeuroHope to learn new clinical skills!