FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 27, 2009

Getting Their Wheels Back
St. John’s driving program evaluates, assists drivers with

special needs

St. John’s Foundation announces $45,000 grant awarded to support program

St. John’s Occupational Therapy program recently received a $45,000 grant for a driving rehabilitation program from Greene County Senior Citizen's Service Fund. The St. John’s program provides on-the-road driving assessments using a simulator and is the only source in the region for on-the-road assessments. The next closest areas providing evaluations are St. Louis and Kansas City.

The individuals requiring training are typically unable to drive a car without adaptive equipment as needed to improve driver safety. The fee for assessment and/or training is $100 per hour, which many seniors are unable to afford and often stop driving as a result.

“The grant request was for $30,000, however upon hearing more about the outreach services to those who have lost mobility, the board approved an addendum to provide an additional $15,000 (up to $1,000 per individual) for those who need more than one hour of training,” said Matt Skala, St. John’s Assistant Director Rehab/Outpatient Therapy Services.

St. John’s Outpatient Rehabilitation department acquired a dual-brake controlled 2008 Chevrolet Impala last fall and began evaluating and assisting drivers with special physical needs like 60-year old Susan Rhudy, who needed an hand-controlled gas and brake pedal after a complication of spina bifida caused numbness and wekness in her right foot.
 

“I tried driving with my left foot, but my right foot kept creeping up and pushing the gas pedal without my meaning for it to,” Rhudy says. “When St. John’s started their rehab driving program, I knew it would be a good way to see if it was possible for me to drive again safely.

Rhudy says the program made it possible for her to drive from her home in Ash Grove to her daughter’s home in Nixa to see her grandchildren three times a week. Before January, the former lab tech for St. John’s hadn’t driven since August of 2007. Since then, she had been on permanent disability and virtually homebound unless her husband or daughter were available to drive her.

 

The program also assesses and assists those who have suffered a stroke or brain injury or have age-related memory and thinking issues or mild cognitive impairment.

“If someone has a concern about a family member’s driving abilities, we can help them evaluate that as an independent party,” says Hollis Bell, M.D., medical director of St. John’s Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

 
The program also determines if drivers require adaptive devices on their vehicles or if their driving should be restricted. The Impala can be equipped with special mirrors and different types of hand controls as needed.

The driving program begins with an evaluation of the patient’s medical history and current medications, driving goals, vehicle and licensure information, vision, motor skills and cognitive skills assessment, according to Occupational Therapist Mindy Smithwick, OTR/L, ATP.

“After the in-clinic portion is done and we know that the patient meets the minimum state requirements for vision and has a valid driver’s license or permit, we do the driving evaluation.”

Rhudy says she wasn’t nervous about the driving evaluation because Smithwick started at Meador Park parking lot, then tested Rhudy’s abilities in a neighborhood, then in all levels of traffic and on the interstate. Throughout the evaluation, Smithwick gauged Rhudy’s skills such as lane changes and merging, lane position control, defensive driving, appropriate stopping distances, parking, reversing, speed control, appropriate use of signals, responses to traffic signals and signs and problem solving.

“Mindy was wonderful,” she says. “I drove in all different types of situations and found the hand controls that worked best for me.”

After the full evaluation is complete, Smithwick reviews the results and recommendations with the patient and any family present.

Rhudy passed with flying colors, but some patients are recommended to drive with certain restrictions, such as only during the day, or not to resume driving at all. In some cases, follow-up driver training with a skilled therapist to remediate skills is recommended.

For more information about St. John’s Driving Rehabilitation Program, please call 417-820-2149 or e-mail Melinda.smithwick@mercy.net.