Prisma Health’s Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation (RCP) Hospital is working with community partners to create an initiative at Unity Park that will be focused on expanding community access to adaptive wellness and sports opportunities.
The location (159 Welborn Street) is anticipated to open in fall 2024 and will begin with adaptive yoga classes and adaptive bicycle rentals at reduced or no cost depending on need.
Adaptive sports are sports that are modified to allow people with physical or intellectual disabilities or chronic health conditions to take part. Almost every sport, and many other athletic recreational activities, has an adaptive counterpart. “Our goal is to provide more access – whether through equipment, expertise or the activities themselves. If you have trouble staying active and healthy because you need adaptations, come see us – we can help you figure it out,” said Elizabeth DuBose, associate administrator at RCP.
The 9,000-square-foot space – just off the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail and already under construction – will include educational space, physical therapy services, post-rehabilitation areas, bike storage and wellness programs through Prisma Health’s Center for Integrative Oncology and Survivorship and its Center for Cancer Prevention and Wellness. An RCP team member will be based at the new facility to help community members upfit adaptive sports equipment to their unique needs and provide training as needed.
Mayor Knox White offered appreciation for Prisma Health’s partnership in the West Greenville and Southernside neighborhoods, and at Unity Park. “The Prisma Health Welcome Center offers family restrooms, meeting and educational facilities and a private mother’s room for feeding infants,” Mayor White said. “The Roger C. Peace initiative on Welborn Street will further improve community access to adaptive wellness and sports opportunities.”
The new space will also serve as an access point to the RCP Upstate Community Abilities (UCAN) program, which hosts adaptive-sports clinics throughout the Upstate. Clinics range from wheelchair basketball to golfing, kayaking, pickleball and skiing, providing at least 2,000 adaptive accessible experiences to disabled community members and their family members each year.
Part of its funding comes from a $750,000 grant through NOTUS Sports and Greenville Health Authority (GHA), as well as additional funding from businesses and donors. The grant was awarded to NOTUS Sports by GHA with RCP as the sub-awardee. NOTUS Sports, a non-profit corporation which helped bring a paracycling world cup and paracycling championship to Greenville, strives to create accessible and inclusive fitness and wellness programs for everyone without economic, physical or social barriers. Currently, no Upstate community business rents adaptive sports equipment, which limits the opportunity for people to affordably try a wide range of adaptive sports.
Prisma Health Roger C. Peace Rehabilitation Hospital recently celebrated its 50th year of providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient programs for people with spinal cord injury, brain injury, stroke, amputation, multiple trauma, cancer and other neurological conditions. Since first opening its doors in 1972, RCP has transformed rehabilitative care for South Carolinians. With its 15 Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) programs, inpatient rehab services, specialized outpatient programs and community outreach, RCP provides a holistic comprehensive center of care.
Written by the City of Greenville.