Catherine Brubaker, MSL and Eddee Edson, MSD will be presenting at the 2015 Aging in America Conference.

This session will explore mobility options beyond the wheelchair and walker. Proven alternatives to existing assisting devices such as recumbent trikes, that contribute to staying fit and provide an increased sense of freedom, independence and overall sense of well-being will be shared.

Objectives:
1. Define documented research showing the benefits of continued activity in the aging process.
2. Contrast the benefits of recumbent trike vs. wheelchair or walkers options for transportation and mobility.
3. List current examples of people that have discovered the recumbent trike for “continuing the adventure”. People that have ridden across the country raised awareness and continue to break the old view of disabilities.
4. Analyze opportunities within government (recreation departments), hospitals, therapy departments, senior living communities, senior centers where the introduction and exploration of riding a recumbent trike may be valuable and beneficial for people to age-in-place and continue activities that enhance their lives.
5. Describe opportunities for providing the recumbent trike as a mobility/transportation option.

Catherine Brubaker shares her personal story of surviving a criminal sexual assault in which she sustained an injury that resulted in losing excessive amounts of blood which caused an anoxic brain injury.

Her heart began to fail and her body failed to regulate blood pressure.  Every time she would stand, her blood pressure would drop and her body would no longer regulate.  She was eventually diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachychardia syndrome.

She received a pacemaker and relies on medication to regulate her heart and blood pressure daily and for the rest of her life.

After learning how to walk and talk again. She was a passenger in a not at fault head on collision and again a survivor of a traumatic brain injury.

She was hospitalized, then went to inpatient rehab and eventually to outpatient rehabilitation. Speech, physical and occupational therapy, counseling, neurologists, and numerous physicians became a way of life for over three years.

Catherine she shares her story of recovery, the challenges she faced, the challenges she still faces, and the difference she intends to make.

She shares her achievements and her vision for the future.