Frazier Rehab Institute wants you to run, walk, roll or cycle The Larosa Loop, an annual non-competitive event at Waterfront Park, on Saturday, May 14, at 8 a.m. The event benefits the Frazier Rehab Institute and supports pediatric care for children coping with disabling illnesses and injuries.
Funds from this year’s event will help purchase a locomotor treadmill built especially for children – the first in the United States. Over the past five years, Frazier Rehab Institute has used the adult-sized treadmill to help people with paralysis to stand and walk. The benefits of this therapy are dramatic. Patients are seeing significant improvements in their health and quality of life – and some are even walking again. The WHAS Crusade for Children has provided a challenge grant of $45,000, roughly half the cost for the device.
Event participants can choose between the 10-mile or 25-mile bike ride or hand-cycle ride or a one, three and five mile walk, run or wheel. Registration is $15 per person, or $40 for a group of four and includes lunch. T-shirts will be given to the first 250 people to register for the event. Other donations are accepted and all contributions are tax deductible as permitted by law.
The cycling part of the event crosses the Clark Memorial Bridge and proceeds east along the waterfront in Jeffersonville. The 10-mile ride travels west along the river and the 25-Mile ride continues to Utica, both return to Waterfront Park. The ride is scenic and flat and suitable for beginner to advanced riders.
Family activities, including music, food and games, will begin after the event at approximately 10 a.m.
The Larosa Loop honors the memory of Dr. Ethel Larosa-Klemens, a pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation physician who passed away on October 26, 2006, after a 15-month battle with cancer. She was a member of the American Medical Society, Kentucky Medical Society, Greater Louisville Medical Society, Executive Committee of Southern Indiana Rehab Hospital, Adopt-a-Student Pilot Program, American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Advisory Committee at the Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs and Filipino-American Society.
To register and join the fun, or to make a donation in honor of Dr. Larosa, log on to http://giving.jhsmh.org and click on “Larosa Loop” or click here.
Frazier Rehab Institute provides approximately 100 children with inpatient services and 470 children with outpatient care each year.