www.HomeCEUConnection.com Newsletter by Brandon and Anne March 2008
Hello fellow clinicians! We took a few months off from the newsletter so we could better serve our customers during the busy season, but we are back! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

Our feature article this month is about the SoloRider. We met the company president this fall at Rehab Summit in Vegas. I instantly thought of several patients that would truly benefit-not just physically, but also mentally-from this vehicle. As clinicians, we are constantly looking for new ideas, treatments or devices to help our patients function better in their environment. I think you will find the information valuable for yourself and patients, but you can also pass it on to friends and family that may benefit as well.

The SoloRider – “Thanks for giving me my life back,” exalted a California woman living with MS who thought she’d never play golf again. From a golfer in Ohio, “…thank you for helping get me off the couch and onto the course.” A golfer in Dallas who hadn’t played for nearly seven years because of the inability to walk: “After going out on the golf course yesterday, I slept all night last night for the first time in years.”

With the assistance of the SoloRider single rider golf car, these avid golfers are linked with their love of golf once again.

The SoloRider is an innovative vehicle adapted to accommodate those among us with mobility challenges. Equipped with hand controls and a swivel seat for easy entry and exit, golfers can hit a golf ball from an upright position if they so choose. The seat can also position them in standing position.

The benefits of this golf car have taken it off the course as well. Paraglegics and amputees are using it for hiking, bird watching, and everyday errands.

Rehabilitation hospitals across the nation are using golf as therapy to encourage static and dynamic balance as well as active lifestyles, and as a means of instilling confidence, quality of life and improve health. What’s better than fresh air and sunshine… and some golf at the same time!

According to the last U.S. census, nearly 21% of Americans 16 and older are defined as living with a disability under the ADA. About 12 million use a wheelchair, scooter, cane, crutch or walker to get around. Nearly 12% of Americans play golf according to the National Golf Foundation, and if we apply that percentage to America’s mobility impaired, that’s a whole lot of potential golfers at the nation’s 16,000 golf courses.

The golf industry states that a lack of “demand” is the reason that single rider adapted golf care are not available at each course, even though the Department of Justice has ruled in settlement agreements that public access golf courses must provide these golf cars.

It’s up to golfers with disabilities to change the lay of the links. The technology is available to enable them to play. Call your local golf course and let them know they need an adaptive single rider golf car. Create the demand!