Sebastian Ramirez, a student from Colombia, uses a check socket to try to get a perfect fit for patient Joseph Marsala, of Milford, Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics in Stratford, Conn.
Students are here learning how to fit amputees for prostheses so they can return to Colombia and work in a clinic funded by Sikorsky Aircraft.
Once the fit is perfected with the check socket, the final prosthetic limb is made from carbon fiber, the same material used in Sikorsky helicopters.
Photo: Autumn Driscoll / Connecticut Post
Students from Colombia who designed prosthetic devices for amputee patients got some practical experience in fitting the artficial limbs to patients Wednesday.
The students worked with local amputee patients of Hanger and Prosthetics and Orthotics.
The students, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Sebastian Ramirez, are completing a training and internship program with Hanger to prepare them as qualified clinicians.
They will be returning to Colombia in May to care for amputees at the Central Military Hospital Prosthetics Laboratory there.
Colombia has the highest number of victims of land mines in the world, according to Colombia Reports, which published an article in 2009 that found there were more than 8,000 victims of land mines between 1990 and 2009.
The country has been engaged since the 1960s in a civil conflict between left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries.
The two students Gutierrez, 34, and Ramirez, 24 both from Colombia's capital, Bogotá, who received scholarships from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to attend the training program, worked side-by-side during the prosthetic fitting.
"Today they will be putting their training to practice, so that when they go back they will be prepared to take care of these victims," said Nathan Seversky, a certified prosthetist at Hanger.
Patients Joe Marsala and Bob Smith, both from Milford, volunteered to help the two students by providing an opportunity for practical experience.
When it was time for Smith's fitting, Seversky encouraged Gutierrez as he slipped on the prostheses he created for Smith.
"It's comfortable," Smith said, as he stood up.
The carbon fiber used in the prosthetic is also used by Sikorsky in helicopters.
"Our industry has borrowed technologies from Sikorsky, so it is already an interesting partnership,'' Seversky said.
Sikorsky officials said the company has an important connection to Colombia, which is its third largest customer.
"Colombia is a long term, important costumer," said Jim Corcora, Sikorsky's director of industrial cooperation.
"Since we work in Colombia, we wanted to reach out to them and this was a good opportunity to do so."
The students worked with local amputee patients of Hanger and Prosthetics and Orthotics.
The students, Miguel Angel Gutierrez and Sebastian Ramirez, are completing a training and internship program with Hanger to prepare them as qualified clinicians.
They will be returning to Colombia in May to care for amputees at the Central Military Hospital Prosthetics Laboratory there.
Colombia has the highest number of victims of land mines in the world, according to Colombia Reports, which published an article in 2009 that found there were more than 8,000 victims of land mines between 1990 and 2009.
The country has been engaged since the 1960s in a civil conflict between left-wing insurgents and right-wing paramilitaries.
The two students Gutierrez, 34, and Ramirez, 24 both from Colombia's capital, Bogotá, who received scholarships from Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. to attend the training program, worked side-by-side during the prosthetic fitting.
"Today they will be putting their training to practice, so that when they go back they will be prepared to take care of these victims," said Nathan Seversky, a certified prosthetist at Hanger.
Patients Joe Marsala and Bob Smith, both from Milford, volunteered to help the two students by providing an opportunity for practical experience.
When it was time for Smith's fitting, Seversky encouraged Gutierrez as he slipped on the prostheses he created for Smith.
"It's comfortable," Smith said, as he stood up.
The carbon fiber used in the prosthetic is also used by Sikorsky in helicopters.
"Our industry has borrowed technologies from Sikorsky, so it is already an interesting partnership,'' Seversky said.
Sikorsky officials said the company has an important connection to Colombia, which is its third largest customer.
"Colombia is a long term, important costumer," said Jim Corcora, Sikorsky's director of industrial cooperation.
"Since we work in Colombia, we wanted to reach out to them and this was a good opportunity to do so."
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