
07/21/2025
Alison leads two fulfilling lives: one as a physical therapist at Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City, and another as a longtime volunteer for the Joni and Friends Wheels for the World program, a nonprofit that delivers wheelchairs and mobility equipment to communities around the world, including many without direct access to health care.
One day in 1999, Alison heard a radio ad about Joni Eareckson Tada, a woman who broke her neck in a diving accident and started Joni and Friends to help those with disabilities. Alison was so moved by Joni’s story of strength and resilience that she thought, “Could I be doing more?” She learned more about the organization and volunteered.
“I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to hear that message,” Alison said. “The more I learned, the more I wanted to be a part of it.”
For 25 years now, Alison and her husband Eric have collected wheelchairs and other mobility devices and prepared them for global distribution, including equipment donated by Saint Luke’s. Her skills as a physical therapist come in handy to properly fit the wheelchairs to each person's unique needs and teach others how to use them.
Alison has been on many overseas trips to deliver wheelchairs to people in remote villages who would otherwise have to crawl or be carried. She describes the work as hands-on and humbling.
“You don’t have to be a physical therapist to get involved in something like this,” she said. “If you’ve got a heart to serve, there’s an opportunity for you.”
Read the full story of this physical therapist's calling to give back on a global scale: https://heyor.ca/KGMbb7