On Wednesday 6th March the Norwich Steel Bones Club met for their second meeting in attendance with Mark and Steve from OpCare. The Prosthetists were on specialist training and so it gave the group a good chance to catch up fully with each other and hear about the exciting developments at OpCare. Norwich haveSupplied 38 MPKs currently with only 5 left on the waiting list.
Opcare are involved in a new piece of research happening with University of York called the Step Forward trial which will look at the impact of differing prosthetic foots for below knee amputees. If you are eligible the hospital trust will be in contact with you directly. Elana, Opcare’s prosthetist is The clinician for the trials. Norfolk community Health Care the trust that provides the prosthetics service in Norwich are leading hospital in research so it is really exciting to have such research taking place.
BIG NEWS Opcare have recently acquired the TRULIFE Clinical Services a Orthotics and Manufacturing business which adds to the number of centres and services to company can offcer, which will complement current provision well.
Another piece of BIG AND FANTASTIC NEWS is that one of the Clinical Support Technicians (CST’s) at Norwich Clive Harrison has won for a National Award with British Association of Prosthetist and Orthotists as technician of the year. This is outstanding news and we send massive congratulations to Clive. We actually had the chance to congratulate him in person as he came to the end of the meeting and helped one of the attendees fix their leg so she didn’t have to return the following day. One very happy patient, thank you guys !!!
Much of our conversation centered around the fact that each amputee is different and so different approaches and prosthetics are needed. It is often a case of trial and error with a Prosthetist and/or Orthotist and Physio to find what most suits the amputee. This also related to rehab programmes. We spoke about the Pine Cottage Amputee Rehab centre at Norwich which sounds fantastic and for most people to rehab with fellow amputees is invaluable but for others it may be too overwhelming initially. So, each amputee varies and we must continue to commit to the 121 approach as it is the only best way forward.
We spoke about various upcoming events such as:
- A school visit which OpCare is assisting us with on 30th April in Norwich area if anyone is keen to join us please email emma@steelbone.co.uk or ring 01223734000
- We were introduced to a new inclusive gym called ABLE2BE click here for more info: https://www.able2b.co.uk/
- On 21st July 2019 we will host the 4th Annual Steel Bones Celebration Day book tickets here:www.bookwhen.com/steelbones
- On 28th April there is an Inclusive Sports Day event happening at East Anglia Tennis Association with a BBQ and all completely free if you would like to join click here:www.bookwhen.com/steelbones
- Next Steel Bones Club is: Wednesday 5th June 12-2pm we hope to see you all return and other new attendees 😊
Thank you Opcare for your continuing support of these essential clubs, it is wonderful to hear everyone’s views and the have thorough discussions about everything and anything affecting amputee life.
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