Community Engagement.

Our Role in the Community 

Since our inception, fostering innovation, expanding access, and enhancing healthcare equity have been at the core of our mission to better the lives of those living with spinal cord injury (SCI) and paralysis.

People living with SCI and paralysis experience gaps across the care continuum, most significantly when they return home from acute settings, and when they transition from one provider to the next.

At every turn, these individuals and their families encounter significant cost and systemic barriers. These prevent them from accessing essential healthcare equipment, critical home modifications, as well as necessary physical therapy, which are the keys to unlocking their greatest potential mobility and quality of life.

After experiencing these gaps firsthand, Thomas Smith and his friend Tucker Mullin launched the Thomas E. Smith Foundation (TESF) in 2010, with the goal of ensuring everyone with SCI and paralysis gets a fair shot at recovery, regardless of their circumstances or ability to pay.

Since then, we have been dedicated to bridging systemic gaps and inequities through meaningful engagements with community leaders, decision and law makers, while also increasing awareness among the general public.

Our work expands access to high quality care, maximizes health outcomes, while working to create lasting improvements to the standard of care so that anyone living with SCI and paralysis can not just survive, but thrive.