AgDARE - Agricultural Disability Awareness and Risk Education

Spinal Cord Injury - Teacher Fact Sheet

Use these facts, points and figures in your introduction and discussion of the lesson with the students.

• One month of medical supplies costs more than a monthly payment on an ATV.
• One set of urinary catheter supplies for a week costs more than three CD's (5 sets of catheters and 2 leg bags).
• It takes three-quarters of a second for a tractor to overturn. It takes a half a second just to think about how to react. That only leaves a quarter of a second to jump. To put this into perspective, one eye blink takes about a quarter of a second. A tractor turns over in the same amount of time it takes to blink your eyes three times as fast as you can (University of Kentucky, et al, 2000).
• Improper hitching (hitching too high) causes most tractor overturns.
• A seatbelt should never be used on a tractor without a ROPS.
• Most tractors can be retrofitted with a ROPS. Many dealers will do this at cost.
• Tractors manufactured after 1986 are ROPS and seatbelt equipped.
• ATVs should never be used for pulling posts or stumps.
• Ladders or climbing surfaces should be secured to the wall or structure. They should have flat surfaces for your feet.
• The costs of caring for a spinal cord injury patient may be more than $100,000 per year, if you include medical care, medical supplies, and the value of a helper for personal care and assistance. Health insurance will not cover most of these expenses.

• Breaking New Ground Website http://pasture.ecn.purdue.edu/ABE/Extension/BNG
• Hancock J & Field WE. (1989). Special Breaking New Ground technical report: Farming following a spinal cord injury. (Available from Breaking New Ground Resource Center, Purdue University, 1146 ABE Building, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1146).

Back to Contents