MAGIC BY KEN REEDY

The Healing of Magic program is alive and doing well in Kansas City, Missouri.  This program has been running since the summer of 2002 in the Mid America MS Achievement Center which is located at The Rehabilitation Institute at 3011 Baltimore.  This is just one of only four centers in the United States.  The program has been used here to help people who have Multiple Sclerosis to make their lives a little easier and more fun.

     This operation has been headed by two members of IBM 129, Ken Reedy, who is the Healing of Magic coordinator, and Walt Mitchell.  These two magicians have worked with the patients at the MS center all this time and have helped them get through life a little easier.  Thanks to the sponsorship of Ring 129 and the efforts of the therapists that both Ken and Walt work with, the program has been a success.

In 2006, Walt and Ken started to work with "Synergy House" to help the youths there to improve their self-esteem. It has been very successful and is still going on today.

     About a dozen other members of the club have received Healing of Magic training and offer the program to other rehabilitation centers in the metropolitan area.        

     The Healing of Magic program involves the teaching of simple magic tricks to people who have been the victim of stroke, accident, spinal cord and head injuries, developmental disabilities, and other diagnoses. It is a carefully designed, systematic approach that has gained widespread support from therapists as a viable treatment modality. It combines the skills of entertainment professionals (magicians) with those of the medical field (therapists) to provide a quality of therapeutic training that exceeds the limits of traditional rehabilitative techniques and programs.

     The movements required to learn the simple tricks help patients regain lost physical skills while increasing motivational levels and self-esteem. Therapists who have tried this program are impressed with the way it captivates the interest of their patients and carries them through obstacles such as pain, frustration, and boredom with the more traditional approaches. In their eagerness to master the magic, patients willingly practice a trick over and over again, often hundreds of times. And since all the tricks are designed to improve physical, psychological, perceptual, or social functions, the patient’s rehabilitative progress is more quickly achieved than in some traditional methods.

Magician Walt Mitchell and patient Judy Schnacke.

Patient Judy Schnacke, therapist Bria Heymach, patient Mary Franzke, magician Ken Reedy & patient Jill Kralicek

Patient Reta Wilson & magician Ken Reedy.