Mark Madsen Accessibility Celebration & Track Chair Fundraiser August 13

We've made the national news with our Action TrackChair !

People With Disabilities Can Hike At State Park Thanks To All-Terrain Wheelchair
Elyse Wanshel, The Huffington Post
10/26/2016

A state park is blazing a new trail for itself.

On Oct. 14, Colorado’s Staunton State Park debuted its first all-terrain wheelchair for people with disabilities to use. The Action TrackChair has tank-like wheels that allow users to go off road, on dirt trails and up inclines, which is not possible on traditional wheelchairs, according to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Office.

“Our hope is to push this [program] out to other parks here in Colorado,” Wayne Parkinson, director of Friends of Staunton, a nonprofit that advocates for the state park and helped raise the funds for the new chair, said during a presentation posted to Facebook.

Some more articles published on our Action Trackchair and the Track Chair Program at Staunton State Park! Thank you again to all of you who donated and supported this effort, there have already been many phone calls to reserve the chair and people are very excited about this opportunity to enjoy our park!

Our favorite, and most comprehensive, by far from Josie Klemaier at The Denver Post:
Staunton State Park blazes trails in accessibility with new track chair
By Josie Klemaier | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PUBLISHED: November 1, 2016

Photo by Seth McConnell, YourHub

Lisa Willman navigates the Davis Ponds Trail on track chair at Staunton State Park in Pine on Oct. 21, 2016. The chair was donated to the park and is the first of its kind to be offered to visitors of a Colorado State Park. [/i]
When Lisa Willman and her husband moved to the Bailey area, they started doing volunteer trail work at the new Staunton State Park. Then, in September 2014, she was injured in a motorcycle accident that resulted in her use of a wheelchair.

“After my accident, I just assumed I wouldn’t be out on the trails anymore,” she said.

But she was wrong. Thanks to a new specialized wheelchair at Staunton, Willman and others who use a wheelchair to get around are hitting the trails.

“It’s really hard to describe the feeling of getting back out there,” she said.

The Colorado Springs Gazette:
Staunton State Park unveils all-terrain wheelchair, with hope of more accessibility across Colorado
By: Seth Boster
November 2, 2016

In the 14 years her brother had been confined to a wheelchair, Marie Hensick hadn't seen him so happy.

"I think it was the best summer of his 14 years," Hensick said, recalling the time following the car crash that left her brother paralyzed. "He was just doing so great. You'd ask him how he was doing, and he'd say, 'Just getting better all the time.'"

At Staunton last month, Hensick watched one elderly woman, unable to walk after a fall, take the chair out on the trails, followed by another woman who'd been paralyzed in a motorcycle accident.

"It's just been an overwhelming, unbelievable experience," Hensick said.

Now, she wants to see Colorado's other 41 state parks follow Staunton's lead. At as many as possible, she'd like to see the all-terrain chairs being used free-of-charge.

As would Bob Broscheid, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

And Country Living!
This Off-Roading Wheelchair Makes Hiking Accessible for Everyone
By Maria Carter
Nov 1, 2016

Sadly, Mark passed away in August 2015, but the legacy he left behind inspired his loved ones to see that other people with disabilities enjoy the same time in nature. Last month, the Friends of Staunton State Park organization presented the park with its first Action Trackchair, a specially equipped wheelchair that can handle unpaved hiking trails that traditional wheelchairs cannot. They named the chair Mark 1, in memory of Mark.

For his funeral, Mark's family requested that friends donate in his name to Friends of Staunton, instead of sending flowers. A year later, thanks to the jumpstart from Mark's friends and family, the organization had raised $41,000 to help improve the park's accessibility for disabled guests, according to Colorado Outdoors Magazine. Each Trackchair costs $15,000; the funds will cover a second all-terrain chair and a lift that will help guests get into the chairs.

The park received a special request from Craig Hospital to take a young man out on the trails in Staunton State Park - Colorado Parks and Wildlife's new Action Trackchair yesterday. Mack was injured in a horrific car accident 8 weeks ago and was paralyzed as a result. Six of his football buddies came out from Iowa to visit him this weekend and they all went on the hike with him up Old Mill Trail to the Bunkhouse. The track chair performed beautifully over the rocky terrain!

For over a year and a half, Craig Hospital loaned out their track chairs so that their patients, Mark Madsen being one of them, could get out and enjoy the outdoors, including the trails at Staunton. Without their generosity, Staunton's Track Chair Program likely would never have had its genesis and come to fruition.

Though the park's program won't officially open until the spring, we are excitedly looking forward to a future in which we see this sight every day on our trails, and smiles like Mack's! See videos on our Facebook Page here: www.facebook.com/FriendsofStauntonStateP...osts/740061439467871



Photos by Ted Hammon

The Staunton State Park Track Chair Program is now done for the season and will be back next spring but we got to go out one last time in the Action Trackchair before the snow arrived last week with a very special young lady named Morgan. What you'll notice in the video on our Facebook page (link below) is Volunteer Ted H. using the Attendant Joystick to control the chair, an accessory we were able to purchase thanks to a generous grant from the Conifer Rotary Club . Thank you Rotary !

From Morgan's mom:
I would like to thank Friends of Staunton for my daughter and my experience today. I'm an avid hiker of Staunton and have tried taking my daughter there but due to having Smith-Magenis Syndrome and low muscle tone, we never were able to do anything except sit in the picnic area. Today, that changed! With the track chair we had 2 hours of FUN! Morgan saw deer, saw fish jump at Davis Ponds,and we finally got to hike together! Her syndrome normally causes her to have behavioral breakdowns but she had so much fun there were no meltdowns in our 2 hours in Staunton. I'd like to thank our tour guide, Ted who became Morgan's fast friend and Mr. Parkinson. I appreciate everybody who came together to make this possible for Morgan today. She's still so excited! We had the greatest experience ever! Thanks Staunton!
Sincerely,
Cassie

Morgan, her mom Cassie, her grandpa Ira, and Volunteer Ted H.


Morgan, President of Staunton State Park Wayne P., and Vice President Steve S.


To see video of the Action trackchair with the attendant control in use, please go to our post here .

Our 2nd Action Trackchair, Mark 2, has successfully been delivered to Staunton State Park and we are patiently awaiting spring to arrive so the Staunton Accessibility Program can get underway! Thank you to everyone who helped make this a reality, you are amazing!
#MarkMadsen #accessibility