Hillside to open Multipurpose Activity Center

The activity court is part of the 20,000-square-foot outdoor sports complex.
HOWLAND -- Forum Health Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital will open its new Multipurpose Activity Court with a dedication ceremony and inaugural wheelchair basketball game on Thursday.
Events start at noon, followed at 12:30 p.m. by the wheelchair basketball game between the Youngstown Hot Wheels and a Hillside team comprised of Adapted Sports participants and employees. The event will be at the HRH Sports Complex located behind Hillside, 8747 Squires Lane N.E.
The activity court, part of the 20,000-square-foot outdoor sports complex, is the fifth phase of Hillside's Field of Dreams project, an initiative to enhance the development of the Adapted Sports program. These meet the diverse needs of people with physical impairment by offering various activities to encourage participation in therapy, physical exercise and wellness, as well as the opportunity to participate in sporting activities.
Linda Case, clinical supervisor of recreation, Adapted Sports and transportation, said the new multipurpose activity court is a greatly anticipated, welcome addition. "We can now offer sporting activities not previously available in the community for people bound to wheelchairs and for those who used to play sports and are not able to do so since constrained to a wheelchair," she said.
What's there
The 60- by 120 foot outdoor court is striped for basketball and tennis and can be used for activities such as volleyball, kickball and shuffleboard. The multipurpose activity court will be used for inpatient and outpatient therapy as well as participants of Hillside's Physical Exercise and Senior Wellness programs.
The variety of activities introduced by the Adapted Sports program assists in therapy and addresses the many fitness challenges of current and former rehab patients. With the acquisition of five new bikes and four recumbent hand cycles, biking was recently added to the program offering which includes archery, golf, boccie, bowling, air rifle, air pistol and other activities.
One of only 60 dedicated rehabilitation facilities in the United States, Hillside is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and has programs accredited by the Commission of Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.