It’s been quite a while since I posted anything.
I have been quite busy with custom orders over the holiday season, for which I am extremely grateful. I have been challenged and loved every minute of it.
I am excited to be the first educator in residence at the Generator in Burlington Vermont. It is a vibrant makerspace in the South End of Burlington that is a mix of artists, techies, inventors, etc with all of the tools to boot.
My project proposal was to create a prosthetic limb for a pet who from amputation or congenital deformity had only 3 legs. I was inspired for the project by a talk I saw by Sayeed Arida from NuVu school in Boston. They created a prosthetic limb specialized for a person who wanted to be able to draw.
When I made this proposal I had no idea that it would be so difficult to actually find a candidate that met the criteria. To have the best chance to make a successful limb you need 40-50% of a residual limb for the prosthetic to attach to. I didn’t realize that most pets that are amputees have complete amputations and no stump to work with.
My second hurdle is materials. I know that the materials that are used in most medical devices are quite expensive. However, once I started thinking resourcefully I realized that my cousin in law (is that really a thing?) works with carbon fiber in boat building and repair, Beasley Marine. I also have some thermoplastic from a splint that I work after tearing a ligament that is able to be remolded and reused.
I have made contact some wonderful people already through this project who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise in the field of prosthetics.
My class will be taking a field trip to Yankee Medical in Burlington, an establishment that provides medical equipment and devices. We will get to see some equipment in progress and hear about the materials that they use to create prosthetic devices.
I will be posting updates about this project as they develop! Stay tuned.
Best,
Courtney