People Inc. is pleased to announce that it has received a $14,000 Quality of Life grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. The award was one of 74 grants totaling more than $500,000, awarded by the Reeve Foundation to nonprofit organizations nationwide that provide more opportunities, access and daily quality of life for individuals living with paralysis, their families and caregivers. Created by the late Dana Reeve, the program has awarded 2,205 grants totaling nearly $17 million since 1999. 

People Inc.’s Elmwood Health Center will use the grant for the purchase of the Pressure Mapping System for the Elmwood Health Center’s Wheelchair Clinic. Given the clinic’s strong focus of preventing secondary complications of disability among patients, the purchase of this system will help improve care offered for those with pressure-related skin breakdown. The grant will be used to leverage funds from other sources to complete the purchase.

People Inc. and the Elmwood Health Center is honored to receive this generous grant from the Reeve Foundation, and is elated to put it to a use that will aid countless individuals.

“It is the Reeve Foundation’s esteemed pleasure to award Quality of Life grants that will help the paralysis community enhance their freedom and independence,” said Niketa Sheth, senior vice president of Quality of Life of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. “We are thrilled to be able to align with organizations that believe in our mission and the ability for those living with paralysis to achieve fulfillment.”

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grants program was conceived by the late Dana Reeve to address the myriad needs of children and adults with paralysis and other mobility impairments and their families. Grants support critical life-enhancing and life-changing initiatives that improve physical and emotional health and increase independence. Funded projects offer a diversity of services and approaches: improving access; providing education and job training; sponsoring organized sporting activities and much more. Quality of Life grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #U59DD000838). 

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. The Foundation meets all 20 of the Better Business Bureau’s standards for charity accountability and holds the BBB’s Charity Seal. The Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) is a program of the Reeve Foundation, and is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Award No. U59DD000838. For more information, visit www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-539-7309.

Founded in 1994, the Elmwood Health Center, an affiliate of People Inc., provides primary and specialty care services to a diverse patient base and is recognized locally for its care of those with special needs. People Inc. is a not-for-profit health and human services agency providing programs and services to more than 12,000 people with special needs, their families, and seniors throughout Western New York. Since 1971, People Inc. has assisted individuals to achieve greater degrees of independence and productivity.

Contact:

Nicole Forgione, People Inc., Public Affairs Manager, 716-817-7490, nforgione@people-inc.org

Janelle LoBello, Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, 800-225-0292, media@ChistopherReeve.org