The Chanda Plan Foundation: Making Alternative Health Care Available

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Chanda Hinton is on a mission: to make alternative and complementary therapy available to people with physical disabilities. To accomplish this, in 2006 she founded the Chanda Plan Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides both education and grants to make alternative treatments, including acupuncture, massage, aromatherapy, and ongoing physical therapy, accessible to people with disabilities.

“My vision is to have healthier communities and society through education and through funding by Medicaid and insurance companies for alternative treatments,” says Chanda.

Chanda’s Journey into Alternative Therapy
Chanda’s interest in alternative therapies stemmed from her own experience with chronic pain and other complications secondary to C5-6 quadriplegia. When she was 9 years old, Chanda became paralyzed below the chest following an accidental gunshot wound inflicted by a teenager in her home state of Nebraska. After undergoing rehabilitation, which included learning to use a power wheelchair, she resumed participating in most everything her friends did, other than being active in sports.

When she was 18, she started driving and the following year got a guide dog that, she says, is “the best friend I’ve ever had.” Chanda got accepted to the University of Denver, choosing the school partly because of Denver’s accessibility.

From the time of her injury, Chanda’s family physician, like most Western medical doctors, treated all her secondary conditions, such as muscle spasm and bladder and bowel dysfunction, with medication. That worked relatively well until Chanda developed chronic abdominal pain after moving to Denver.

Her doctor gave her Percocet, a commonly prescribed narcotic analgesic. Like other narcotics, Percocet, even when taken in prescribed amounts, can cause physical and psychological dependence when taken for a long time. Over time, Chanda became increasingly depressed, lost her appetite, dropped to 59 pounds, and her chronic pain continued.

Introduction to Alternatives
With no positive results from traditional medicine, Chanda’s sister Crystal, a yoga instructor, suggested Chanda try alternative healing modalities. Chanda began receiving acupuncture, massage therapy, and electrical stimulation, changed her diet, and started ongoing physical therapy—a modality she groups with alternative since insurance companies only pay for a limited number of treatments and require notable documented progress to continue.

Over a period of several months, Chanda progressed from being fragile to healthy. Her chronic pain disappeared. She gained 30 pounds and her strength, endurance, and sensation improved. Her physical therapy progressed from passive range of motion to actively lifting weights and pulling herself up into semi-crunches. Not only did Chanda become healthier physically, but her mind/body health improved as well.

“My self esteem improved and I began to feel better than I ever remember feeling,” says Chanda, now 26.

Creation of the Chanda Plan Foundation
After her success with alternative therapies, Chanda decided she wanted others to receive the same kind of help.

“I thought about all the other people I knew with physical disabilities and I wanted them to get healthy too,” says Chanda.

Chanda contacted Medicaid to get funding for alternative modalities, but didn’t find the help she was looking for. Undeterred, Chanda asked to speak to a supervisor, who explained that a legislative body was needed to make the decision. The process involved getting a bill sponsored and finding lobbyists willing to work pro bono. Even then, Chanda was told, bills often die, and the approval process could take several years. That’s when she decided to take things into her own hands.

“When I realized how many years it will take to get Medicaid funding in place, I decided to set up a nonprofit association,” she says. “I wanted people to have accessibility to alternative treatments now, not years from now.”

The Chanda Plan Foundation is currently funded through both grants and private donations, including the support of the Denver Foundation, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and the Anschutz Family Foundation. To attract new sponsors, the Foundation sponsors three fundraising events a year, including a golf tournament, a healing expo where people are educated about the various alterative therapies, and a gala with keynote speeches with noted people with disabilities, such as comedian Josh Blue, who has cerebral palsy. Next May’s gala will feature Eric Weinheimer, the blind man who climbed Mount Everest.

Applying for Funding
To receive funding from the Foundation, prospective recipients must first take a quiz, available on the website, to determine their eligibility.

“The quiz is to make sure applicants align with our criteria,” explains Chanda. “We don’t want to waste anyone’s time.”

The next step is to complete an extensive application. Chanda then does the preliminary check to make sure that all necessary documents are received and forwards them to a six-member board that determines final eligibility.

Approved clients choose their own providers.

“It’s really important that individuals decide where they want to receive care because they know what’s best for themselves,” says Chanda.

Looking to the Future in Alternative Therapies
In the future, Chanda would like to see a center in Denver where people could come and learn about alternative therapies and perhaps receive them as well. She’s begun work on a documentary film on mind/body healing that will include her personal stories and interviews with the family of Christopher Reeve.

She also moved ahead with getting Medicaid approval. A pilot program will be implemented in 2010 to show that alternative treatments reduce the overall costs of care through reducing pressure sores, decreasing the need for medications, and fewer and shorter hospital stays, among other preventative outcomes.

Even once this funding is available, Chanda realizes there are many tasks that lie ahead.

“Education is a big part of the vision,” she says. “Doctors and key people in the disability community need to become educated about these alternative and complementary treatments.”

For more information, contact:
The Chanda Plan Foundation
9963 E. Carolina Circle, Suite 103
Denver, CO 80247
http://www.thechandaplanfoundation.org
ch@thechandaplanfoundation.org
Phone: (303) 246-4290