Rick Hansen visits New York on the 25th Anniversary of the MIMWT

On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Rick Hansen and members of the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) and Rick Hansen Institute (RHI) were in New York to sign RHF/RHI's first collaborative research agreement in the United States, with the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Bronx, NY. The agreement (the first of two to be signed in the U.S., with the second taking place in Miami on Friday) allows the Rick Hansen Institute and the VA Medical Center to share spinal cord injury research, collaborating on developing international clinical trials, and working on implementing best practices in research. The Rick Hansen Institute, as part of Rick Hansen's 25th Anniversary, has already signed similar agreements over the last six months in Israel, Australia and China. The end result is to standardize spinal cord injury research and rehab -- worldwide, with the goal of finding a cure for spinal cord injury.

Following the agreement signing, Rick Hansen received a demonstration of the revolutionary ReWalk mobility device, an 'exoskeletal' technology which allows persons with complete motor paraplegia to walk again via the robotic leg braces, powered by a backpack, and controlled by a wristwatch. The demonstration was given by U.S. Air Force Veteran Lieutenant Ian Brown, a Pararescumean who was paralyzed on active duty in Afghanistan in 2002. Lt. Brown has been learning to use the ReWalk system for the last month.

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