What We Do

The Sister Kenny Foundation distributes funds exclusively to Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute programs throughout the Twin Cities area. Grants are made in these four areas crucial to achieving the Institute’s mission of making lives work:

• innovative patient services allow people who have experienced a limiting illness or injury to achieve the highest level of independence possible and return to their families and communities. Support for these services ensures that exceptional patient care remains the heart and soul of the work of Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute.
• professional education ensures the availability of top-of-the-line diagnostic specialists and caregivers at the Institute.
• clinical research allows practitioners to gain deeper insights that translate into more effective rehabilitative patient care.
• advanced technology integrated with rehabilitative care has contributed to patients achieving positive outcomes more quickly and cost-effectively.

Sister Kenny Research Center

To ensure that patients have timely access to the latest breakthroughs in rehabilitative care, the Sister Kenny Foundation is also seeking support to develop the Sister Kenny Research Center.

The center will have qualified leadership, staff and resources dedicated full-time to rehabilitation research. The center will also improve patient outcomes, advance the skills of current clinicians, attract the best and most innovative clinicians, and establish a vital community resource.

The Sister Kenny Foundation funded the InMotion2 robot, which uses a video screen that prompts the user to perform an arm exercise. If movement does not occur, the robot moves the person’s arm. If the person starts to move on her own, the robot provides adjustable levels of guidance and assistance.