Multiple Sclerosis Center of Southwest Florida Inc.

Our goals/expected outcomes:


Clients will have increased mobility and reduced pain through participation in therapeutic services.
Clients will become less isolated through participation in creative classes and support groups.
Clients will gain strength & balance through MS focused exercises.
Clients will have reduced stress, depression, and improved coping skills by being engaged and supported by the MS Center's providers, staff, and other MS patients. 
Families and caregivers of MS patients will have increased support and education
More people suffering from MS in Southwest Florida will have access to services and information to help them manage their disease

To increase mobility and reduce pain:  Provide short term personal training to encourage independent exercise at gyms or wellness centers. To reduce isolation Increase clients connection to each other and to the community.
Increase activities at the MS Center: therapeutic, educational, and social. Improve the website to include more information and links to resources. Provide community outings. Provide information and guidance about free transportation. Provide information and assistance in obtaining assistive devices.  To reduce stress, depression, and improve coping skills. Provide mental health counseling for clients and their families.  Provide care coordination, resources and referrals. Add facilitated support groups that include young adults, the newly diagnosed, and the elderly. Provide emergency assistance to those going through transition from work to disability.  Provide navigation to provide support to the families and caregivers of MS patients.  Provide support groups for families.
Add educational resources and lectures on caregiving.  To improve knowledge of community resources and education about MS.  Increase educational resources and lectures. To increase access and awareness of free medication programs and free medication. To improve accessibility to MS Center programs: Increase communication through e-newsletter and video taped seminars. Expand classes through use of neighborhood sites

We offer our clients a comprehensive wellness program consisting of therapies proven to help people manage the symptoms that affect their everyday lives. The MS Center’s focus is on wellness, not illness. Most of our clients see significant improvement in mobility, balance, and an overall feeling of well-being after participating in our program for just a few weeks.  We have classes that help improve mobility and balance, and decrease pain, such as Yoga and Foundation Strengthening. Reducing isolation is critically important to our comprehensive wellness plan. Our art therapy program is hugely popular, as are our access to equine therapy at NTRC. These social activities decrease depression and promote a sense of well- being. We are a rapidly growing organization, managing our donation dollars wisely. Our organization is led by the Board of Directors, a seasoned group of professionals, including a CPA, an attorney, and local community professionals. Our executive director has 19 years of nonprofit professional experience, whose career includes previous roles in program and operations management. We have contracted with  licensed or certified professionals throughout Southwest Florida to provide exercise classes and creative classes. Also critical to our success are dozens of dedicated talented volunteers. We have a partnership with FGCU to provide interns from their Social Work and Health Sciences departments to assist in program coordination and health administration. Frequently we have volunteer students from FGCU's physical therapy department to help out in our classes. We partner with the Naples Art Association who provides instructors and supplies for two of our art classes. We also partner with Lee Health's Healthy Life Style Centers to provide short-term personal training programs to help our clients develop an MS friendly exercise program.

We have grown from 76 registered clients in 2015 to close to over 300 today. To better serve our clients we increased the number of contracted providers for social work and mental health counseling. We also increased the number of classes we offer from 8 classes per month to 44 classes per month. Classes and services are offered at low or no cost to the client. We served over 500 people with MS through email and phone contact.  We added the Care Coordinator position to implement case plans, conduct client assessments, and report on our expected outcomes.