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Va. fitness center offers brain injury survivors physical, emotional healing
About five years ago, Jason Collins had a stroke
He spent over a month in the hospital, had home therapy and then went through outpatient therapy for about six months
Once he finished all that, he learned about the Ability Fitness Center at The Arc of Loudoun, a gym facility that supports people who have experienced brain injuries
He spends several hours at the Leesburg facility, usually about two or three times a week, depending on his needs. It has fueled his physical and emotional recovery
“It’s as much mental, social and physical, which you just don’t really find any place else,” Collins told WTOP
The center launched in 2017, and it started in a small building with just a handful of members. Now in a bigger space, the facility is staffed with physical therapists and technicians. It has the medical-grade equipment needed to help members, who pay about $600 monthly to have access
The site has about 60 clients, primarily people with brain injuries, ranging from stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, ALS or balance disorders
Helen Parker, the clinical director, said her interest stemmed from the over 15 years she spent as an outpatient therapist in a neurology clinic. Often, she said, she had to discharge a patient because they had used all their insurance benefits, even if she felt they weren’t ready to be discharged
“You’re sending them home and you’re basically saying, ‘Hey, good luck. Here’s your home exercise program, I hope you continue to make progress,’” Parker said. “And so it just kind of broke my heart having to discharge people that, often not knowing that they met their full potential.”
The Ability Fitness Center’s services can supplement outpatient therapy, Parker said, or help members whose insurance stopped paying for it
“We work with everybody one-on-one, and then when they’re done with their one-on-one time, we set them up on equipment or doing the right exercises,” Parker said
Venkat Prasad, whose son Abhay is a member, said he was searching for a place that would emphasize the one-on-one time while helping reach the goals he and his wife set
About three years ago, Abhay was in a car accident. He was the passenger in a car that hit a tree, and suffered head injuries, spending six weeks in the intensive care unit
“A lot of people here just know him, how he responds, and under what conditions he responds, what music he likes and loves,” Prasad said. “They help us play those things, and we can see some of the reactions immediately.”
For Freddie Hetzel, who broke his neck in 2011, the space offers a sense of community
“I might not be healed to the point where I can walk, but I feel a lot less broken than when I first started, and I have this place to thank for a lot of that,” Hetzel said
Many of the members “understand the struggle that you are going through. And it doesn’t matter whether you pee in your pants one day or you just fall and you can’t get up. These are the things that we live with on the regular. And a lot of people don’t understand what those struggles are,” Hetzel said
Collins said he feels similarly. Whether he’s planning to travel for a Notre Dame football game or navigate a large and busy airport, he knows he has a support system
“It’s not just your therapist, but it’s people that are going through the same things you’re going through, so it can become, ‘Hey, when I traveled I learned this, or we tried that,’” Collins said
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