Fifty years after a traumatic spinal injury, Rick Hansen is marking a major anniversary in his rehabilitation journey and also advocating for the needs of future patients.
Hansen is best known for his Man in Motion world tour in the mid-1980s.
In June 1973, Hansen was thrown from a pickup truck in a crash while on his way home from a fishing trip.
The injury paralyzed him from the waist down at just 15 years old.
In November 1973, Hansen began his recovery journey at Vancouver’s GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre. This week, he reflected on what is still needed to provide better care for newly-injured patients.
“The health system has to become more integrated and focused on spinal cord injury, it needs to be a provincial priority,” Hansen told Global News. “They also realize it needs a hub-and-spoke mentality, the excellence that exists here needs to be connected virtually to every part of this province and there’s work to be done there.”
Hansen said he is also working to address the lack of a centralized rehabilitation strategy in B.C. and has been in talks with the province.
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