Post by: PCG Public Partnerships

Since 2005, The Chanda Plan Foundation has promoted wellness and healing to persons with physical disabilities through integrative therapies including acupuncture, massage, adaptive exercise and adaptive yoga. Founder Chanda Hinton Leichtle realized the benefits of integrative therapies when faced with her own mortality at age 21.

Through her determination to help other persons with physical disabilities, Leichtle has worked with Colorado policy makers to create the SCI Waiver, which will evaluate the cost efficiency and the value of integrative therapies for persons with physical disabilities over an eight-year span (2012-2020). Based on the data, Colorado could choose to cover integrative therapies, providing better health outcomes at low costs. The legislation could serve as a model and be used nationally. For Leichtle, this is far bigger than her. She says, “I can’t wait to see the impact we will make on our community and the opportunity this model will offer to others because we made sure to make it possible to replicate.”

Persons with physical disabilities can increase range of motion through massage therapy, increase blood flow and minimize the risk of blood clots. Acupuncture can aid in the recovery of a person with a physical disability by stimulating the nervous system according to practitioner Stephen Corsale.

The Chanda Plan Foundation is planning to move to a facility eight times larger than their current location. It is hoped that the new facility will garner more than 200 unique persons with disabilities in the first six months. Persons with physical disabilities will have more services to choose from, as the foundation seeks new practitioners to offer more services.

The foundation has collected $3.5 million of their $4 million goal to complete the building. Most of the money has come from grants and donations from the Colorado Health Foundation, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and the Boettcher Foundation. Learn more about this non-profit below: http://www.chandaplanfoundation.org/

Donate to the building fund here: https://commitchange.com/co/lakewood/chanda-plan-foundation/campaigns/a-capital-campaign