One of the largest newspapers in Sweden featured a device that Greig Martino, CP made for one of his patients, Cindy. The device was part of a design exhibition entitled, “The Future Starts Here“, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The exhibition has now moved to the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design in Stockholm for a several month stints as part of its journey around the world. The review describes the exhibition as “Profound and thoughtful”. This device is probably the “lowest tech” device we have ever produced; However, we think it is symbolic of one of our core beliefs that – fully understanding an individual’s needs is the starting point of the prosthetic design. So often the desire is to take a “high tech” device and morph the individual’s lifestyle to incorporate it- which works for some- but should ultimately be the decision of the end user.
For those of you who don’t speak Swedish…a rough translation of an excerpt from the review says:
“The fact that the best innovations are not necessarily high-tech is shown in a film at the very end of the exhibition: 71-year-old Cindy suffered a serious heart attack and was forced to amputate both arms and legs. While waiting for her new robotic prostheses, she invented various tricks to simplify life. With the help of cable ties, it became possible to open drawers and thanks to the small silicone stands, she did not ask for help with everyday tasks such as holding a fork or brushing her teeth. Cindy became her own engineer.”