Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 6, 1994 TAG: 9409070025
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
One day 31 years ago, Terence Thom was working as a laboratory assistant at a coconut oil factory on Trinidad, a Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela. That's when he took a walk that brought him to Roanoke.
Thom, who was 20 at the time, went to gather some samples of the plant's products for testing.
As he walked through the crushing plant, he stepped into a screw-type conveyor on the floor. Before the operator could stop the machine, it had ground off Thom's left leg below the knee.
Thom, who was born in Guyana but has lived in Trinidad all his life, is now a middle school science teacher. He moves around with the help of an artificial leg; but over the years, he has had trouble having legs made that fit properly.
A physician friend, Thom said, recommended Virginia Prosthetics Inc. on Williamson Road as a possible solution to his problems. The doctor "thought very highly of this place," Thom said.
Last week, Thom, accompanied by his wife, was in Roanoke to be fitted with a new leg.
Virginia Prosthetics is one of two businesses in the Roanoke Valley making artificial limbs and one of three involved in orthotics, the fitting of patients with braces to aid them in their movements.
Virginia Prosthetics was founded in 1966 by Fred Murko, former director of physical therapy at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville. The business is now run by Murko's son-in-law, J. Douglas Call.
His company, according to Call, is among the top three in sales of the 14 artificial limb providers in the state, although he declined to release sales figures.
The company recently completed a $250,000 addition and renovation project that doubled the size of its plant and included the installation of computerized equipment used to design artificial limbs for a better fit.
During the three months the equipment has been in operation, 90 patients have been successfully fitted with artificial limbs through its use, Call said.
The computer allows technicians to enter into a computer the measurements for the limb and limb socket. Using that information, another machine carves a mold from which Virginia Prosthetics produces the limb. The mold is carved for Virginia Prosthetics by a company in British Columbia, but Call said his company will soon have the equipment to carve the mold itself.
The addition to the building increased the number of patient examination rooms from three to six. A kitchen and lounge area were added for the company's staff. Extra office space was created, and the front entrance was modified with an automatic door to make it easier for amputees to come and go.
Call said his company usually serves an area from the New River Valley to Waynesboro and as far south as Eden, N.C.
The company staff goes to hospitals and nursing homes to give amputee clinics. Its products are sold only with a doctor's prescription, Call said. Charges are based on a Medicare fee structure and are covered by health insurance.
Virginia Prosthetics employs nine people, an increase of two from the first of the year. Four of those, including Call, are certified practitioners by the American Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics, Call said.
Stacy Bell, director of publications and marketing for the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association, said certification within the industry indicates a practitioner has met minimum requirements for education, experience and clinical skill.
The company itself is certified by the board, Call said. That, according to Bell's association, makes it one of 730 such facilities in the United States.
Call said job opportunities are good now for those certified in orthotics and prosthetics. A certified practitioner in this area can earn an average salary of about $50,000, he said.
According to the national association, about 1.5 million Americans have had amputations, most the result of cancer and diseases that cause poor circulation. An estimated $1 billion is spent annually in the United States on orthotic and prosthetic rehabilitation, and that figure grows 6 percent annually.
Sixty percent to 70 percent of the patients seen at his company have lost a leg below the knee, Call said. Another 15 percent to 20 percent have had a leg amputated above the knee. The remainder have had arm amputations.
Modern technology has eliminated the need for many arm-amputees to wear metal hooks that are operated by moving their shoulders in a harness. Artificial arms with realistic-looking hands made from a synthetic material are now available and are operated by the minute electric current produced by the contraction of a patient's own muscles.
These myoelectric prostheses cost patients around $8,000, compared to $2,000 for the traditional metal hook type.
Electrodes inside the artificial arms pick up the electric signals from the muscles that operate the hands. Recent advances that require less of an electric signal have made the limbs available to more people than ever before, Call said. The arms, which are operated by 6- or 9-volt batteries, provide 23 pounds of pinch force, or the same amount as a normal hand, he said.
Research has been done on similar technology for artificial knee movement but the product has been too expensive to market so far, he said. However, one recent advance in artificial-leg technology that excited Thom is an energy-storing artificial foot.
The new type of foot puts spring in a patient's walk, requires less energy to use and gives the patient a more natural walk. It's the difference between bouncing a rubber ball and a wooden ball, Thom said.
Call is donating the new leg to Thom, whom he came to like through telephone conversations. Thom arrived in Roanoke on a Sunday, was measured for his new leg on a Monday and was fitted with the final product on a Wednesday. Normally, this process takes two to three weeks, Call said.
Having a properly fitted artificial limb makes him feel better psychologically, Thom said. It also helps prolong his life by removing the physical stress of moving about.
"What I'm looking forward to doing now is going on hikes with my wife," he said.
by CNB