CEO – Madonna Long. Meet our CEO,
Madonna grew up in Nevada and Wyoming. One of eight Crosthwaite kids, attending high school as a track athlete who competed in hurdles and the long jump. She sustained a spinal cord injury age 18, during her senior year of high school, she survived a severe school bus accident caused by brake failure. The accident resulted in a spinal cord injury, leaving her paralyzed, and tragically claimed the life of her best friend Julie Paulson. Personal Life: She is a mother and a grandmother.She rasied her children as a single mother. (Tyler (Ashley, her daughter-in-law), Elex, Elex and Wyatt, her grandkids), Joshua, Julie, and Tanner.
She is our CEO of Summit Services & Supplies LLC in Wyoming specializing in medical supplies, catheters and ostomy products. Summit is the only brick and mortar medical supply store in Wyoming, specializing in catheters Madonna started her business because her friends across the United States were dissatisfied with their medical supplier. Summit Services & Supplies operates in 6 states to serve people who need catheters.
Our CEO Madonna Long is a prominent American disability advocate, consultant, and power wheelchair user. She has dedicated her career to lobbying policymakers and educating the public on Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) and healthcare reform. Did you know that She also helped advance Accessible Taxi Policy for Wheelchair Accessible Taxis in Washington D.C., New York City and Chicago.Political History:Early in her career, she worked alongside Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and ran for the Nevada State Assembly in 1994. Throughout her work, she helped educate leaders in both parties on accessibility to public access, through her work with Complex Rehab Technology (CRT):
Education: She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Homeland Security.
Professional Advocacy & Career. She served as a national consumer advocate for complex rehab power wheelchairs.
Capitol Hill: She worked directly with U.S. senators and congressional staff in Washington, D.C., to educate policy makers on Medicare reforms and healthcare access.
Access to Advanced Components: She fought to ensure insurance and Medicare cover specialized wheelchair additions, such as power seat elevation (like iLevel technology) and advanced positioning systems, which are vital for a user’s health and medical functionality.Madonna helped to revise restrictive policies through Medicare and Insurance, by Revising Restirctive Policies: Where she actively fought against competitive bidding programs and restrictive federal regulations that force providers to supply lower-quality equipment or cause extreme delays in wheelchair delivery and repairs.
Madonna beleives that Doctor-Driven Approvals: Madonna advocated for clinical choices to remain between patients and their physicians, rather than letting government bureaucrats dictate the specific model or functions of a wheelchair a patient receives.
Broad Infrastructure and Community AccessibilityAccessible Infrastructure: Through initiatives like the United Spinal Association’s Roll on Capitol Hill, she worked directly with lawmakers to expand funding for home modifications, veteran housing adaptations, and universally accessible public transportation.
Civil Rights Enforcement: She lobbied against bills that would weaken enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), working to ensure businesses face immediate incentives to maintain physical wheelchair accessibility.
Direct Community Education & Policymaker Awareness: Long routinely brings congressional leaders and their staff face-to-face with the daily realities of power chair users, operating under the community motto: “Nothing about us without us.”Crisis Safety: During the COVID-19 pandemic, she co-hosted virtual town halls with organizations like Unite4CRT to establish safety and sanitation standards for complex rehab equipment.
Madonna Long has spent over a decade lobbying lawmakers, municipal taxi commissions, and automakers to expand the availability of Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs). Helping Access through edcation and building relationships.Her major actions to improve accessible taxi infrastructure include: Launching and Promoting the MV-1 Universal TaxiVehicle Development: Long helped launch and work for VPG Autos (Vehicle Production Group), the company that engineered the MV-1. The MV-1 was the first purpose-built, factory-built American vehicle specifically designed to meet or exceed ADA guidelines for wheelchair accessibility.National Legislation: She managed regional public policy and pushed for accessible taxi legislation across major municipal markets including Washington D.C., Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Nevada to get the vehicle approved for taxi fleets.
Helping to Overhaul Washington D.C.’s Taxi Fleet and Overcoming Resistance: Long worked closely with D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton, who initially believed she would never see accessible cabs in the District. Through relen
tless advocacy, she shifted his position.Fleet Integration: She convinced the D.C. Taxicab Commission to include the MV-1 in the city’s unified taxi color-scheme showcase. This secured a commitment from Mayor Vincent Gray to drastically increase WAVs across the city.Federal Pressure: She used high-profile advocacy platforms like the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Gala to directly connect Senator Tom Harkin with local taxi commissioners, accelerating accessibility expansion.
With Advocates protecting Taxis Against Rideshare Gaps & Pushing Regulation: Madonna has testified at public hearings against the unregulated expansion of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft.Defending WAV Requirements: She argued that while traditional taxi fleets were mandated by city regulations to expand their accessible vehicle numbers, early rideshare platforms bypassed these mandates, leaving wheelchair users stranded.