Rehabilitation
The most comprehensive rehabilitation facility in the United States, The Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation, is located in historic Warm Springs. The Institute yearly serves more than 3,000 people through inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and vocational and independent living services. The descendant of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) polio foundation and the birthplace of the March of Dimes, the Institute is internationally known and offers a unique opportunity for the physically and mentally handicapped to seek their personal goals and victories.
Therapeutic Recreation
The Institute’s center for therapeutic recreation is a fully accessible recreational complex designed for people with all types of disabilities.
It includes:
- 25-meter pool
- 400-meter indoor track
- Archery range
- Bowling alleys
- Fitness rooms
- National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball court
- Racquetball courts
- Twelve-acre lake
Good Shepherd Therapeutic Center
President Roosevelt’s love of horses did not diminish after he was stricken with Polio and as soon as he could sit in the saddle again he was lifted onto his horse to enjoy rides around his Little White House. This tradition lives on in Warm Springs today. Located on the 303 acre Bar Rest Ranch you will find the Good Shepherd Therapeutic Center which happens to be adjacent to the Roosevelt Institute and FDR State Park. The center’s catalyst has been Therapeutic Horseback Riding.
Benefits of Hippotherapy
In Hippotherapy, the modality is used as a purely medical procedure. This technique increases tolerance for the pain of normal physical therapy. As a motivating tool in education, it encourages participation in learning by the mentally disabled or children with behavior problems. For those individuals unable to participate in other sports, it is a challenging recreational activity. The movement of Hippotherapy is particularly beneficial to students in wheelchairs who have no natural mode of locomotion.
Services Offered at the Center
The Center also offers a Job Training Program for adult mentally and/or physically disabled, an Animal Assisted Therapy Program, and a Wildlife Education/ and Rehabilitation Program. The Center served over 2000 clients with Hippotherapy in the past year and over 7000 senior citizens participated in Nursing Home Animal Assisted Therapy. Also located on the premises is a residential shelter for children from birth to 17 providing long term, emergency placement and needs assessment services for at-risk children.
The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person.
Contact
Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation
P.O. Box 1000
Warm Springs, GA 31830
Phone: 706-655-5000
Fax: 706-655-5011
TTY: 706-655-5176