'Bike-On' adaptive sports clinic at hospital in White Plains provides new way to work on mobility

A new department using specially equipped bikes gave former patients and people in the community the ability to try out custom-fitted handcycles and take a spin around Burke's track. It's all a part of the hospital's "Bike-On" adaptive sports clinic.

News 12 Staff

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Oct 7, 2021, 7:30 PM

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Updated 1,170 days ago

People with disabilities got a chance to work on their mobility today at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains.

A new department using specially equipped bikes gave former patients and people in the community the ability to try out custom-fitted handcycles and take a spin around Burke's track. It's all a part of the hospital's "Bike-On" adaptive sports clinic.

"I could feel when I was doing this,” said Lin Weilee of Mount Vernon.

Weilee had suffered from COVID last year and she developed Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure. This left her confined to her home until recently. But the "Bike-On" clinic is allowing her to get back outdoors and back to moving around.

“I could feel all of those muscles that I haven't been able to use, she added. "All of these sort of ridge adaptations are going to help me to build up the strength and build up the endurance."

Jerome Brown, a former Burke resident, shared the same excitement for the program as Weilee.

"You feel more empowered you know," he said. "It allows you to use more of your upper body strength."

The "Bike-On" clinic is allowing those who were isolated from the pandemic to get back on track with life, which puts a smile on Eileen Andreassi's face. Andreassi is the Director of Theraputic Recreation and Adaptive Sports at Burke.

"It's just a great physical social and emotional outlet for anybody living at home that wants to get going again," she noted.

Burke will be holding another handcycling clinic on Oct. 21.