Fighting Off the Court
Fight for PACE – McMaster Physical Activity Centre of Excellence
As a proud sponsor of the McMaster Physical Activity Centre of Excellence (PACE), Hooper Law recognizes the importance of accessible opportunities for those living with spinal cord injuries.
This state-of-the-art exercise, research and training centre boasts a team of scientists, students and staff dedicated to studying and improving the well-being of older adults and those with chronic disease or disability. With a focus on excellence and leadership in research, education, and community engagement, PACE makes a significant impact both on clients’ well-being, and in the community.
PACE offers the facility at nominal rates to help professional Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists provide specialized remedial, and on-going services to their patients.
“At GH Law, we fight to ensure our clients receive maximum recovery in the legal process, so our clients can focus on their personal recovery and rebuilding their lives. We are heartened by what we see the team at PACE do to enhance their clients’ efforts to recover and rebuild. We are so thankful that the programs at McMaster PACE exist.”
– Mary Grosso B.A., LL.B
Housed in the WB Family Foundation Centre for Spinal Cord Research and Rehabilitation, PACE’s MacWheelers Exercise Program is geared specifically to adults with spinal cord injury. This adapted exercise and wellness program provides inclusive and accessible opportunities for engagement in regular community fitness programming. Participants receive one-on-one assistance from student volunteers to carry out their exercise programs on innovative, adaptive equipment.
The Robert Fitzhenry Specialized Rehabilitation and Exercise Lab for spinal cord injury is the only centre in Canada with three body-weight support treadmills, a Lokomat® for automated gait retraining, and a ZeroGTM system to provide body weight support during the practice of walking and balancing. This unique exercise centre also features aerobic, weight-training and strength-training equipment that is fully accessible to wheelchair users, free weights, arm ergometers, an arm glider, plus arm-leg recumbent steppers (NuStep) and ergometers.
PACE community programs provide McMaster student volunteers with opportunities for enhancement of course-based, classroom learning through experiential learning, engagement with community members, volunteer placements, and hands-on experiences. Students can apply their knowledge of exercise physiology, psychology, testing and prescription while gaining hands-on research experience in exercise neuroscience, physiology and psychology through extensive PACE research activities. In the PACE labs and exercise training area, undergraduate and graduate students develop their clinical research skills by undertaking thesis and independent research projects.
As part of the PACE dedication to research, its Canadian Disability Participation Project – led by Dr. Kathleen Martin Ginis – unites nearly 50 academics, community organizations, government agencies and a private sector organization in the common goal of enhancing community participation among Canadians with a physical disability. This program of research and knowledge translation addresses the three domains from surveys of Canadians with disabilities that consistently emerge as the most desired forms of participation and the most restricted: Employment, Community Mobility, and Physical Activity. Their evidence-based practices aim to enhance both the number of people with disabilities who participate in these domains, as well as the quality of participation.
Led by Dr. Andrei Krassioukov of ICORD, the CHOICES Program unites leading researchers from across Canada to examine cardiovascular health benefits to individuals with chronic spinal cord injury through optimized exercise and specific education, and research to test the efficacy of different exercise modalities for improving cardiovascular health.
Without donations, the quality of their programming will decline, as will the number of clients to whom they can offer their services. For this reason, and many more, Hooper Law is sponsoring PACE’s essential Go Fund Me campaign.
We invite you to visit their campaign page if you see the value in their programming and would like to make a donation: http://alumni.mcmaster.ca/s/1439/ifundmac/project.aspx?sid=1439&gid=1&pgid=9540&cid=17175&ecid=17175&crid=0&calpgid=3308&calcid=5368
Join Hooper Law in supporting the excellent efforts of PACE by donating today.
Without donations, the quality of their programming will decline, as will the number of clients to whom they can offer their services. For this reason, and many more, Hooper Law is sponsoring PACE’s essential Go Fund Me campaign.
OUR COMMITMENT: Every year, we invest back into our community and in charities for people at risk.
We Fight For What’s Right
Fighting for victims, the less fortunate and those in need is at the heart of all we do. Every year, we invest back into our community and charities for people at risk.
