Kentucky-Indiana Paralyzed Veterans of America

Description

Kentucky-Indiana Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America received its charter in 1966 covering Kentucky and Indiana from our headquarters located in Louisville, Kentucky. We closely follow the activities in Indianapolis, Louisville, and Lexington VAMC Spinal Cord Injury Clinics. Each year we donate equipment or money to meet specific needs in each of the VAMC's located in Louisville, Lexington, and Indianapolis.

Kentucky-Indiana Chapter is a member of the Paralyzed Veterans of America that was chartered by Congress in 1946. At the time of their charter there were approximately 1,200 members.

After World War II and the discovery of penicillin, many spinal-cord injured veterans who had before died within hours or weeks of injury, were being saved. The life expectancy of a SCI veteran, even at the time, was only two years. The veteran faced those years with little or no accessibility to public places, inadequate follow-up health care and almost nonexistent prosthetics equipment. The organization was founded to correct these and many other problems faced by the SCI injured and diseased veteran.