Western Wisconsin Wheels, a way forward
Bicycling for many may seem a simple and for granted activity, but for some facing physical limitations or disabilities, an out of reach recreation.
Western Wisconsin Wheels (WWW) based in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, aims to change this. Started in the spring of 2015, the organization, a chapter of Ambucs a national service organization that has been around for many years, focuses on providing adaptive tricycles for children.
Ambucs facilitates a number of service projects including ramp building, fellowships for therapy students, in addition to the AmTryke program.
“Our chapter, Western Wisconsin Wheels, focuses on the adaptive tricycles for children. We have been a part of (providing) 78 tricycles since we started in 2015,” said Cassidy Sanchez the President of Wisconsin Wheels local chapter.
Sanchez, a PT, PCS, physical therapist at Gundersen St. Joseph’s Hospital and Clinics, was recently awarded therapist of the year by mobility and independence organization AMBUCS at their national conference in Pittsburgh.
Sanchez’s interest is a personal. “I am a Pediatric Physical Therapist and that’s how I got involved with the organization. Those of us who decided to start the chapter had the AmTrykes specialist come out and show us models at the time, as part of the UW-LaCrosse Pediatric Physical Therapy class. I was helping out with that. Those of us who wanted to help get this going, jumped on board in 2014/2015 to get it started locally so that the kids that we see, some family members, parents of children with special needs, and some teachers could all come together as cheerers to get this going. We just thought it would be very beneficial to kids in our area and we’ve seen wonderful results since we started doing this.”
The WWW has the whole process down pat. It starts with a fitting to determine what trike fits a child best, funding is sought for the tryke, it is ordered, assembled, and then shipped to the child. The organization then holds a learning session to teach the child and their family how to use it.
Sounds relatively simple, but from beginning to riding, it takes a whole lot of teamwork. Sanchez stressed, “We need all sorts of volunteers, especially therapist volunteers, because it is a requirement for the fittings.” That is where a licensed Occupational, Physical, or Speech therapist gets involved to make sure everything works out the best it can for the child.
Sanchez shared that there are several different models that are customizable to each child, whether they need to have just peddling with the feet, peddling with hands and feet, or peddling with just hands.
For the larger sizes she noted, there are recumbent tricycles that are either hand peddle or foot peddle that were originally geared more towards veterans when they were developed. “We tend to see teenagers with autism like those trykes. Teenagers with a spinal cord injury or Spina Bifida tend to use the hand trikes that are the bigger trykes. We can really fit quite a wide array for each individual client,” she said.
While these adaptive trykes are not cheap, locating funding is a non-stop process Sanchez acknowledged. “We do some fundraising, but we like to partner with Children’s Miracle Network and other community organizations, and county waiver programs. Any way that someone would want to get involved with the mission of mobility and independence, we can use the help of any volunteer who has a like-mind mission.”
“We are always looking for new members. Those of us who have been doing this now for four or five years would like to see the membership grow so that us on the board aren’t doing the fittings, the building, and deliveries. We want to build our membership and our volunteer pool so that we can get more trykes out there and to spread the word and the load, so to speak. We have some communities that we have a lot of trykes in, communities that I serve and LaCrosse as a whole, but our service area is quite large. Some of those outlying counties we don’t have that many trykes in, I think because there is already a tryke there or maybe there is not a volunteer or a therapist there.”
Right now, the funding sources for kids is the WWW’s primary focus, but there are chapters that serve veterans as well. “Other than fitting them for trykes and getting them on the National wish list, we haven’t been able to reach out because we don’t have enough membership,” she said.
“Initially the motivation was to serve the patients that I treat in the area, and getting an alternative way to improve their range of motion, their strength, and their cardiovascular endurance. A way that kids who maybe struggle to move on their own are actually enjoying that movement and that range of motion that they would get better than me stretching them out in therapy, with a smile on their faces,” she said.
Sanchez pointed out that they’ve even had adults get fitted, and the WWW finds funds for them as well, so that they have the opportunity to get back to something they did enjoy previously. For the kids she said it allows them to be able to do things that other children, and other families may take for granted.
Anyone can come to their events to figure out which tryke fits them best, but it should be noted that they only fund-raise for children with special needs.
“Our upcoming events are listed on our Facebook page. Right now, we don’t have our spring rodeo (listed), which is where the kids come to get fitted. We don’t have it scheduled yet, but we will probably have one in April.” Sanchez encourages anyone interested in helping, to contact the WWW via their website https://www.adaptivetrykewi.org/, about becoming a member or getting on our volunteer list. You may also email Sanchez direct at Caspoohbear76@gmail.com.
As for the future of the WWW Sanchez said, “One of the exciting things is that I’m in the process of becoming a trainer for the continuing education course that Ambucs is putting out for therapists. I’m hoping to bring that course to the area for local therapists to get a really low-cost continuing education course and find out more about the trykes.”
The future looks bright for the WWW, and they certainly will continue to expand their services, keeping things fresh so that kids can keep riding.
Photos contributed by Western Wisconsin Wheels.
