Quality of Life Grantee Spotlight: Summit Independent Living
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Reeve Foundation’s National Paralysis Resource Center created a special grants category (COVID-19: Addressing Social Isolation) for non-profit organizations to address social isolation by providing programs and projects to support the physical and mental health of people living with paralysis.
Social isolation because of the COVID-19 pandemic affected many people. The regulations limited people’s ability to interact with others. However, organizations sought ways to keep their clients engaged in activities and learning experiences.
However, Summit Independent Living of Missoula, Montana didn’t let the regulations get in their way. The organization works directly with individuals with disabilities, enhancing their skills, increasing their independence, and educating them on navigating programmatic and other service systems.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the staff at Summit Independent Living found new ways to keep their participants involved in their community. The Independent Living Center created '’Promoting Fun and Friendship in the Time of COVID-19’’. The program was designed to improve delivery of virtual activities, which fosters inclusion, involvement and community engagement for individuals with paralysis, loved ones, and caregivers. To date, the program serves 141 people across seven counties, with branches in three more counties in Montana.
Because of COVID-19 social regulations, Summit Independent Living developed programs that actively involve participants while helping them cope with social isolation and loneliness. The Program Coordinator, Travis Hoffman stated, “Our goal for promoting socialization and community inclusion among people with disabilities requires taking a whole community approach to normalize disability, promote diversity, and ensure that all individuals have opportunities for social engagement and recreational leisure activities.” He also credited the funding from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation for lessons learned. Because of these lessons, Summit can offer programs that attract individuals with disabilities across the disability spectrum, including those who don’t identify as having a disability.
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Individuals who participated in the activities offered by Promoting Fun and Friendship in the Time of COVID-19 said the programs decreased their feeling of isolation and increased their level of companionship. Another benefit of the various offerings is the freedom for individual participants to make each activity unique. The participants could offer creative ideas (art, meals, or games).
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s grant of $37,587 provided opportunities to build and grow the Promoting Fun and Friendship in the Time of COVID-19 program. The program purchased Amazon Fire tablets and Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing individuals without internet access or the equipment needed to participate in Promoting Phone and Friendship in the Time of COVID-19. Summit was also able to expand or implement six virtual and in-person activities (when COVID-19 regulations loosened). These included an audiobook club, role-playing game day, all-abilities adaptive yoga, Cost Effective Healthy Eating Workshop, art club, and BASE Film Extravaganza.
The BASE program is a success among its participants and their loved ones. One parent called Summit to tell them the BASE program was “far and above anything they expected, considered, or hoped for.” Because their child could do BASE independently, their participation has helped their child grow. One participant in the BASE program has gone on to find employment in the film industry.
Summit Independent Living continues to see the positive effects its program Promoting Fun and Friendship in the Time of COVID-19 has on people living with paralysis. Once COVID-19 social regulations were relaxed, they expanded the program to in-person programs. Including in-person activities allows their participants to engage socially one-on-one with the friends they met in the program. And they continue to make friends through virtual and in-person sessions to this day.
To learn more about the Reeve Foundation’s Quality of Life Grants Program, please see www.ChristopherReeve.org/QOL.
Christina Sisti, DPS, MPH, MS, is a bioethicist and health care policy advocate. She works to create awareness and improve healthcare policy for those with long-term health issues.