WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Life-Changing Devices

Life-Changing Devices

Burlington, Vermont - June 29, 2007

Just a few steps off North Avenue in Burlington, we met a man to whom taking a few steps is a major accomplishment. Judd Carty says, "You put on your shoes and socks. I put on my legs. It's the same difference."

Carty lost his legs at the knees two years ago. He says he wasn't paying attention as he walked too close to a train in Essex Junction. Carty remembers, "I got dragged underneath the train and the feet were cut off."

So he came to Yankee Medical, where David Poland's lab produces prosthetic limbs. Poland explains, "I always thought of it as a blend of medicine and craftsmanship."

Poland went to art school before joining the Air Force, where he worked in operating rooms. His clinicians take plaster casts of patients' limbs, mold them in plastic to create a temporary socket, then finish the prosthetics with a metal "bone" covered in foam and acrylic.

Poland explains, "You might make ten prostheses, but they're all different."

This work cannot be outsourced. Yankee Medical owner John Ficociello says, "The whole device is custom made for each patient."

Each replacement limb requires several visits with patients to ensure a good fit. That's on top of the hours of work with physical and occupational therapists, who, in Judd's case, helped him learn to walk again.

Yankee Medical is one of a handful of Vermont companies that make prosthetic limbs and braces. This is the region's largest manufacturer for a small market. Ficociello says, "Less than five percent of the population needs our services in the first place."

But to that group, work like this is life-changing. Traumatic accidents are just a fraction of the business. Most jobs are for Vermont's aging population and people with worsening health concerns. Poland says, "Diabetes is one of the big problems nowadays."

The lab can have ten or twelve projects going at a time, for people from Malone, New York to the Northeast Kingdom, from Bennington to Lebanon, New Hampshire. Poland says his work is "very rewarding."

Years ago, prosthetics were crude: just steel or wood. Now they're made of titanium, nylon, and carbon. These are lighter, stronger, and more comfortable materials.

Judd Carty will still use a wheelchair for long trips, but his prosthetics are a step towards a happier future, with fewer limitations. He says, "Nobody can do what God can do. But you can come close."

He came close with his new, "Made in Vermont" legs.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont