NEW RESOURCE CENTER BUILDS ON SRU’S REPUTATION FOR SERVICE TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES IN SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

HORSEBACK RIDING, SWIMMING, RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES OFFERED THROUGH NEWLY OPENED CENTER ON DISABILITY AND HEALTH

 SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa – The Center on Disability and Health, a new resource center for people with disabilities that promotes healthy lifestyles, opened Sept. 1 at Slippery Rock University.  The center provides exercise programs for community residents and their families with disabilities, including horseback riding, aquatics, physical fitness, adapted physical education and recreational activities.

Faculty and students from SRU’s Adapted Physical Activity Program head the center, funded by a $161,000 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Operating from four offices in Strain Behavioral Science Building and the Pearl K. Stoner Educational Complex, the center also provides parent and teacher training, printed materials and professional contacts to help families.

“People with disabilities are even more vulnerable to weight problems,” center director Dr. Robert Arnhold, professor of exercise and rehabilitative sciences, said. “If we can get people who have disabilities healthier and active now, we’ll reduce a lot of secondary health conditions, and we’ll save on healthcare costs in the long run.”

Exercise and rehabilitative sciences instructor Nancy Banner will continue to teach equestrian facilitated riding and serve as project coordinator of the center.  New faculty Wendy Fagan, instructor in the adapted program, will teach undergraduate courses within the minor teaching students how to adapt workouts and activities for individuals with disabilities.

This program has been designed to provide individuals with disabilities and their families with information, support, and activity programs within the community in which they live, Arnhold said.  For information or to make an appointment with center staff, call 724-738-2847.