Patient Success Stories

O&P Professionals Help Build Extraordinary Lives
- US Government Releases New Diabetes Findings
- 44 Athletes Named to Paralympic Squad

- Advances in Prosthetic and BIonic Technology Featured on NewsHour
- A History of O&P
- Grand Rapids Teen Returns to Tennis with  Help from Prosthetic Limb
- Prosthetic Leg Improves Ithaca Woman's Quality of Life
- First Iraq War Veteran in Beijing Paralympics
- Marine Enjoys the Life Aquatic with "Scuba" Limb
- More Advances in Prosthetic Technology Noted
- Tennessee Considers Parity Legislation
   

How We Are Developing the Best Care For Our Patients
- AOPA Member, Favored  Prosthetist for Paralympians
- AOPA Member Profiled in Voice of San Diego
- AOPA Member Profiled in Flathead Beacon
- AOPA Member and Oldest Full-Time Prosthetist, Still Going Strong
- AOPA Member Touch Bionics Expanding to Meet Demand for i-LIMB

US Government Releases New Diabetes Findings
New government estimates show that nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes, an increase of more than 3 million in two years. This means that nearly 8 percent of the U.S. population has diabetes, mostly the type-2 diabetes linked with obesity, poor diet and a lack of exercise, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

44 Athletes Named to Paralympic Squad
Twenty-five of the 44 team members are returning Parlympians. Among the U.S.’s best medal hopes are sprinter Jessica Galli, high jumper and javelin thrower Jeff Skiba, shot putter Scott Winkler and discus thrower Carlos Leon, who broke the world record in Tempe this weekend.

Advances in Prosthetic and BIonic Technology Featured on NewsHour
On May 29, PBS’ NewsHour featured a story about the development of prosthetic and bionic technology. At the University of Pittsburgh, researchers are working to meld monkeys with machines. In the segment, Andrew Schwartz, professor of neurobiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a senior researcher on the project, explains how his team are wiring electrodes into the brains of monkeys and teaching the monkeys to use a robotic arm to feed themselves.

A History of O&P
A timeline that details deveolpments in prosthetic tecnology.

Grand Rapids Teen Returns to Tennis with Help from Prosthetic Limb
About 16 months after losing a limb above the knee, Ashley Hendrick is back on the courts… in an amazing testament to her faith and fortitude. "I always wanted to come back and play, but I did not know if I would be able to," said Hendrick, 18. "Tennis does mean a lot to me. I had to learn how to walk again, I had to learn how to do it differently. I am just really happy that I have been able to get back into tennis and everything else I love to do.”

Prosthetic Leg Improves Ithaca Woman’s Quality of Life
Instead, on Feb. 26, 2007, Liz Heywood had her leg amputated above the knee. She replaced it with a prosthetic knee, leg and foot.“ Getting the amputation was the best decision of my life,” says Heywood, 46, who lives in Spencer and has two daughters, ages 18 and 8. It's a life that many of us would have given up on. It's a life that nearly killed Heywood. But it also made her a better and stronger person.

First Iraq War Veteran in Beijing Paralympics
Melissa Stockwell, who lost her left leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, was one of 18 women named to the U.S. Paralympic Swim Team on Sunday, becoming the first Iraq war veteran to be selected for the Paralympics. No Iraq or Afghanistan veterans were among U.S. disabled athletes in Athens in 2004 or Turin in 2006. Stockwell is the first to land on the team headed to Beijing this summer.

AOPA Member, Favored Prosthetist of Paralympians
Wander into prosthetist Mike Pack’s office, and you might mistake it for Santa’s workshop. Busy workers hastily move from one station to the next. The smell of acrylic fumes fill the air, while drills and other tools cover the wooden counters. But unlike St. Nick, Pack delivers a unique gift: the gift of movement through artificial limbs. Two elite athletes named Sunday to the U.S. Paralympic track and field team credit much of their success to Pack’s prosthesis skills. They call him the best in the nation at his craft, and they’ll be wearing his handiwork when the head to Beijing in September.

AOPA Member Profiled in Voice of San Diego
Joe Crase’s coworkers were his toughest crowd. The orthotics and prosthetics practitioner dreamed of having his own business, his own practice. But then he found something more immediate to scratch his entrepreneurship itch. A couple of years ago, the certified cervical spine orthotist quit his day job, leased a warehouse in Spring Valley, filled a 6,500 square foot room with seven huge inflatable bounce houses and opened a birthday party business for kids: Airtime.

AOPA Member Profiled in Flathead Beacon
Kendall Carpenter’s philosophy on animal prosthetics is simple. “If someone asks me to do it,” he said, “I’ll do it. There’s no reimbursement for it, except that we’re here to help things.” At Glacier Prosthetic Care, which practices both prosthetics and orthotics, Carpenter believes he has fulfilled his longing to do meaningful work. He works hard with a small staff: himself, his wife Gina, who helps manage the business and does post-mastectomy care, and an office administrator, Chrystelle Armstrong. His practice is one of two prosthetics offices in the valley and one of a handful in the state.

AOPA Member and Oldest Full-Time Prosthetist, Still Going Strong
Alfred “Denny” Denison, 84, of Tinley Park, is believed to be the oldest full-time prosthetist working in the United States. He's currently working full-time in the Hickory Hills office of Scheck & Siress, a local prosthetics and orthotics company, and spends most Fridays with colleagues at the Shriners Hospitals for Children-Chicago.

AOPA Member Touch Bionics Expanding to Meet Demand for i-LIMB
In order to better meet marketplace demand for its bionic hand, Touch Bionics is establishing a subsidiary in the United States. According to Touch Bionics CEO, Stuart Mead,  “Having a stronger US presence enables Touch Bionics to better serve its growing network of partner clinics in America, the company’s biggest market.”

Need more information about the O&P profession?
Or, do you need to speak with an expert in the field?
Contact Steven Rybicki at (571) 431-0876, ext. 235 or srybicki@AOPAnet.org.