Has technology helped your family in some significant way?
Has technology helped your family in some significant way?
Technology gives paralyzed individuals an opportunity to control environment
By EMILY CHRISTENSEN
WATERLOO, Iowa --- One person's trash is another's treasure.
The old saying is most commonly used when describing a fun thrift store find or a roadside freebie. For Dylan Huntbach, one man's trash is his lifeline to independence.
Huntbach, 20, was paralyzed from the neck down when he dove from the shore and struck the bottom of the Cedar River in early July. He was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and just recently returned to the Cedar Valley for intensive rehabilitation at Covenant Medical Center.
It was there that Huntbach met Katie Jo Wedeking, an occupational therapist and St. Ambrose University graduate. At St. Ambrose, Wedeking worked closely with Professor Jon Turnquist, an assistive technology professional.
At Covenant, she took that knowledge about assistive technology and put it to work for Huntbach.
Wedeking recently installed what is known as an environmental control unit in Huntbach's rehab room. The unit allows Huntbach to turn on his radio and his television, and to control the volume and channels. He can turn a lamp and a fan off and on and call his nurses at their station. He can even call his friends on the phone.
And when he leaves the hospital in just a few short weeks, Wedeking will install a similar system in his home at no cost to the family.
"This is my demonstration model, but I didn't want Dylan to have to wait," Wedeking said.
Similar units purchased through assistive technology companies would cost the family between $7,000 and $20,000. Huntbach said he used one of those units in Iowa City.
"It means more independence. I don't have to rely on someone to turn my TV or my radio on. I can just do it in the night or whenever," he said.
Huntbach's parents, Kim and Dave, said the device also has put their minds at ease.
"When he got his voice he could yell, but before he got his voice he could turn his TV up or his radio up and they would hear that," Dave Huntbach said.
♥ ♥ I love to read. ♥ ♥
I don't think technology has helped my family in a significant way but it does help us on a daily basis.
Ugh my phone!!!
- iluv2read
on Sep. 4, 2012 at 12:27 PM