A 1st - insurance covers hippotherapy - OR

[Justa_Bob]

SAIF insurance of Oregon is covering hippotherapy for treatment of traumatic brain injury at Forward Stride, Beaverton OR.

“…it’s the first time that Forward Stride has been able to bill any kind of insurance company directly. Usually clients have to pay for their treatment and get reimbursed by their insurance, which most do only partially.”

Very, very exciting. Hopefully this leads to greater benefits for clients in OR and other states. Additional details:

Hippotherapy puts patients back in life's saddle again

“Hippotherapy puts patients back in life’s saddle again,”
The Oregonian, Wednesday, October 20, 2010, by Jacques Von Lunen

Cheers!

[Vegas_Sky]

SO SO SO good to see this! I live in Corvallis and Forward Stride is the best therapeutic center in Oregon, and one of the best in the nation. I’m considering going there myself for physical/cognitive rehab from my TBI.

Hooray for insurance companies, and best of luck to Jay Downing for a full recovery.

[horsepoor]

Saw this article this morning and was going to post it too (you beat me to it). Thought it was nicely done and really felt for the guy, tough cowboy now having to wear a helmet and ride backwards. But hooray for SAIF for paying for the therapy, and Forward Stride for offering it. While it wasn’t the focus of the article, I hope it helps generate some donations for Forward Stride as it is a great organization.

If anyone is interested in learning more about FS, this is the website http://www.forwardstride.org/. I’m not affiliated with them, just aware since they are local to me.

[walktrot]

That’s great! The barn I have been at for 10 years has a therapy program that I used to volunteer in. Years ago we had adult TBI patients who really got a lot out of horse therapy. Unfortunately they had to stop because insurance would not pay and their funding ran out.

We can only hope that more companies can see the benefit of hippotherapy. There is no machine that can emulate walking. The horse is best because you move in all 3 directions: forward/backward, up/down, right/left.