NorCal SCI in Eldorado County to meet the Placerville Mobility Support Group

As part of our continued outreach to the SCI community, NorCal SCI co-founder, Nick Struthers, made the trip to Placerville (45 miles east of Sacramento) to present at the Placerville Mobility Support Group  (PMSG).  

Nick first found out about the organization back in early 2016 when he was treated to a dinner by Lynn Murray who established the organization over 10 years ago. 

"As I walked into the Round Table Pizza where the meeting was being held, I was immediately welcomed by Lynn who subsequently ordered me a Pizza,"  writes Nick. "I noticed a number of familiar faces from the United Spinal Peer Training back in March of last year. I had to be reminded of their names, most of whom are active board members of the group and included Amy, Ken and Don. Despite the rain, the room continued to fill up and I was pleased to see Daniel and his mother Nancy roll in.  I last saw Daniel at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center about six months ago and I was aware that it can be a big effort particularly for the newly injured to get out and engage in the community. Great to see you both!"

Ken, Nick, Amy,  Lena, Don, Bill, Daniel, Nancy, Michael, Valerie, Jim, Josiah and Lynn

After the presentation, Lynn informed the gathering of some available books on individuals' stories and I got a chance to speak to and hang out with the participants. Bill was able to share with me an article in the Economist about recent advances in technology directly connecting the brain to external machines. I found out Jim had previously lived in Sunnyvale and as a retired legal professional, he was very interested in another group participant, Josiah's goal to complete his bar exam.

Amy, Dan and Bill before the yoga Session

I also want to thank Michael and Valerie for signing up to our newsletter.  What was great to witness was Don and Josiah connecting on their shared passion of fishing and I'm sure this encounter is going to spawn some exciting accessible fishing trips in the future. The gear that Don has is worth a story in itself not to mention the huge trout Josiah landed. If that was not enough goings on, Amy then led Don and Bill on some wheelchair yoga.

I would like to thank Lynn and the rest of the group for such a warm welcome and as always, NorCal SCI is excited about collaborating with PMSG to best serve the needs of our community.