Outsource Marketing Solutions blog

Park's Hunt For Lost Leg Rider

The artificial limb was discovered as workers began clearing up the site of the park's oldest rollercoaster, the Corkscrew.

The 28-year-old ride at the Staffordshire (England) theme park is due to close next month.

A diamond wedding ring was also found during the weekend's clean-up operation.

Russell Barnes, divisional director at Alton Towers Resort, said: "At the Alton Towers Resort we deal with over 5,000 items of lost property every year including several unusual finds.

"As the Corkscrew is the oldest rollercoaster in the Park, we were expecting to find some strange items when we started clearing the Corkscrew area but a prosthetic leg definitely tops the list as the most bizarre.

Qantas Gets a Gold Medal in Buzz Killing

Congratulations Christine! Thumbs up.

Boo Qantas.  Thumbs down.

From the CanberraTimes.com

ACT paralympian Christine Wolf's return home yesterday was soured when staff on her flight from
Sydney refused to allow the gold medallist to take her prosthetic legs as carry-on luggage.

Wolf whose left leg is amputated above the knee was already on the plane from Sydney to Canberra when the Qantas attendant refused to allow her to bring the valuable prosthetics into the cabin. Australian coach Iryna Dvoskina, who travelled back to Canberra with Ms Wolf yesterday, said she would make a formal complaint.

''[The prosthetics] are just so sensitive, we never check it into luggage, we take it on the plane all the time and now, on our last flight after two months away and we are just very happy to be home, it was just so unhelpful and unfriendly,'' Ms Dvoskina said.... READ MORE

Robo-Arm On The News...Friday with Charlie Gibson

A New Hampshire man involved in testing a state-of-the-art robotic prosthesis will demonstrate the use of the "Luke Arm" on ABC's World News Tonight with Charles Gibson on Friday.
Read the rest

$50.00 Prosthetic Knees

From the Dallas Morning News

"...In 2004, Dr. Gonzalez gave some of his best engineering students a task: Come up with a knee that could be made for less than $50 using basic tools such as a table saw and an electric drill....

LeTourneau senior Eric Minelga of Soldotona, Alaska (who now works in Boeing Co.'s design group), gets credit for what's known as the M1 Knee.

The design uses five pieces of a tough DuPont plastic known as Delrin, held together with four bolts and nuts. The knee is fitted on a thigh socket and a lower-leg length of pipe attached to an artificial foot.

When the wearer stands, the knee locks to support the person's weight. It bends more than 90 degrees when the wearer squats. And it gives the wearer enough fluidity of movement to pull the foot forward when walking.

Dr. Gonzalez and his students next explored how to transfer the process for making the M1 Knee to workshops in Africa and Asia.

The first chance to try it out came at the Bethany Crippled Children's Clinic in Kenya, run by a Pennsylvania-based Christian charity called CURE International. In the summer of 2005, a LeTourneau team helped build prosthetic legs for 18 children and young adults at the clinic..."

TouchBionics Acquires LivingSkin

Company secures global supply of top-quality custom cosmesis, hires U.S.sales and marketing executive 

NEWBURGH, NY, USA and LIVINGSTON, Scotland, May 15
TouchBionics, developer of the i-LIMB Hand, the world's first commercially available, multi-articulating bionic hand, today announced that it has acquired the complete operations of LIVINGSKIN, the developer of the unique and lifelike prosthetic skin that Touch Bionics supplies with its ground-breaking product. The acquisition will allow Touch Bionics to fulfill growing customer demand from across the world, while applying its commercial and technical expertise into new cosmesis solutions for multi-articulating hands and digits.

In addition, the acquisition of LIVINGSKIN's operations (Aesthetic Concerns Prosthetics, Inc.) provides Touch Bionics with an established physical presence in North Americamfrom which to build on the rapid growth that it has already experienced in the region. In theU.S. alone, over 180 patients have already been fitted with the i-LIMB Hand. Touch Bionics' U.S.facility will house, production, technical support, inventory and administration to directly support its growing North American customer base.

Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates, the clinical company previously associated with LIVINGSKIN, is not included in the acquisition and continues to operate independently of the newly combined business.

READ MORE

Whatever It Takes!

My friend Meredith Goins at GSMI asked me to let y'all know about this!

Kids of all abilities connect with nature at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont (Tremont)....connecting people and nature in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont provides in-depth experiences through educational programs designed to nurture appreciation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, celebrate diversity, and foster stewardship.

Click here to download their newsletter AND if you can help them obtain outdoor wheelchairs - call Meredith right away! 865-448-6709

Tuesday morning peeve

Quite a nice article about shoe repair shops in Puyallup, Washington - with the exception of the use of orthodics (sic).  It's entitled "Saving Soles One Shoe At A Time" by Joan Cronk of The Herald.

What is it about that word?????  It's NOT EVEN A REAL WORD!

There is a glossary at OandPCare.org.  If I were a Certified/Licensed Orthotist in Puyallup, Washington, I would write a letter to the editor of The Herald and explain that "orthodics" is not the correct spelling of the word "orthotics." 

"...A large part of the business is orthopedic

shoes. When someone brings in a pair of shoes and a need for orthopedic lifts, insoles or other apparatus, Tabachnyy can take care of them.

'If you buy an orthopedic shoe it can cost $800,' Lyudmila Tabachnyy said. 

Sergey can fix them right up by fitting the orthodics (sic) into their favorite shoes.

'People are happy when they get their orthodics (sic),” Lyudmila Tabachnyy said. 'People get attached to their shoes, and Sergey can rebuild them.' "

Source

Amputee Golf Classic: May 2nd

Scout Boats will donate a 170 Costa as a hole-in-one prize at the upcoming 3rd Annual Celebrity/Amputee Golf Classic which will take place Friday May 2, 2008 at the renowned Champions Gate Golf Club & Resort in Orlando, FL. The boat will be on display from one of Scout’s Florida dealers in New Smyrna Beach, Gerry’s Marina.

This one-of-a-kind charitable event is used as a platform to raise proceeds and awareness for amputees, and this year the event will benefit Shake-A-Leg Miami and Wounded Warrior Project. Shake-A-Leg Miami helps children and adults with physical, developmental and economic challenges; liberating them from realm of imagination into the realm of experience by means of innovative sailing and water sports education and recreational programming. Wounded Warrior Project provides programs and services to our nation’s injured service members to in a successful transition back to civilian life. The event will also support Tiger’s world foundation which provides scholarships to children in need of nutritional and physical education.

Source

The “Fluidhand” from Karlsruhe

A new prosthetic hand is being tested at the Orthopedic University Hospital in Heidelberg / Grip function almost like a natural hand

It can hold a credit card, use a keyboard with the index finger, and lift a bag weighing up to 20 kg – the world’s first commercially available prosthetic hand that can move each finger separately and has an astounding range of grip configurations.

Source

Snowboarders with Physical Disabilities Compete In the First Ever Adaptive Snowboarding World Championships

(April 14, 2008, South Lake Tahoe,CA) Adaptive Action Sports (AAS)-- a California based non-profit that creates action sports opportunities for physically disabled individuals -- hosted the official Adaptive Action Sports United States Adaptive Nationals Snowboard Team, which included amputee, paralyzed and vision impaired snowboarders, to compete at the United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) National Competition at Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Colorado this March 31^st through April 7^th 2008. AAS founders, Amy Purdy and Daniel Gale, were on site to help the team prepare for competition. Purdy is a double leg amputee, avid competitive snowboarder and Gale is board sport enthusiast.