Perry Prosthetics helps patients deal with limb loss
Written by Duane Ramsey | | news@toledofreepress.comChristopher Perry and his staff at Perry Prosthetics in Perrysburg are making a difference for patients who have lost limbs.
After a motorcycle accident claimed his right leg below the knee, Perry wanted to help others who had experienced a loss of limbs. He began studying prosthetics, going from the lab to the clinical stages of that field and understanding what he needed to do.
“I was riding my motorcycle home from school when my life changed forever. My leg was severely damaged and I was taken by Life Flight from a small town to a hospital in Toledo. I have made it a life goal to provide the same level of care to my patients that I experienced after my accident,” Perry said.
Christopher Perry
Perry became a certified prosthetist in 1998 and opened his own practice in 2000. Today, his firm helps hundreds of patients deal with their physical challenges.
The majority of its nearly 100 current patients have experienced limb loss from vascular problems or the onset of Type 2 diabetes. Only about 23 percent of amputations result from accidents or trauma, Perry said.
Most of the patients are fitted for prosthetics following amputation without revision surgery while some require limb revisions to allow the prosthetics to work for them.
Perry said he and his team are working to create an arm for a 14-month-old patient with congenital limb loss.
They also helped a 14-year-old athlete to play football, hockey, and run track with two artificial feet, he said.
Currently, the firm is working with Eileen Ueberroth of Toledo, a patient since November 2010, to provide prosthetic legs, arms and hands for her. Ueberroth demonstrated her progress with two prosthetic legs at a walk-in clinic held Nov. 22 at Perry Prosthetics.
The firm holds the monthly walk-in clinics working with patients from their practice and outside it. The clinics are offered free to all prosthetic patients in the community, Perry said.
The most recent clinic included several patients with prosthetics, a doctor with a prosthetic leg and a physical therapist who works at rehabilitating such patients.
Dr. Sydney Fernandes of Perrysburg lost his left leg from above the knee in January 2010 due to acute vascular blockage.
“It was a big shock and changed my entire life. It’s a difficult process,” Fernandes said. “I would handle amputee patients differently now after what I experienced. Most doctors who are not actively involved with them think rehabilitation is a breeze and it’s not.”
He had to close his practice in Oregon after his surgery while he continues his rehabilitation. He recently went from using a walker to walking with a cane. His goal is to return to his practice after this winter, Fernandes said.
Fernandes said he is very grateful to Perry and his staff for the care they have provided him.
“We don’t do typical prosthetics here. We use a complete custom process that includes the design, production, fitting and alignment of prosthetics for patients,” Perry said.
All of the prosthetics are fabricated in the firm’s laboratory by certified technicians. Perry said that people with mechanical or technical backgrounds who can visualize the work to solve problems make the best technicians.
Perry has one technician, Julie Rubel, who just completed her residency with his firm.
Perry and his staff of 11 full-time employees are dedicated to helping their patients become as mobile and self-sufficient as possible with the prosthetics they provide. They operate out of a 7,000-square-foot facility.
It includes an Amp-U-Fitness Walking Clinic that was created to improve the health and well-being of their patients.
“We provide them with an outlet where they may interact with other amputees who face and overcome the same obstacles they may face,” Perry said.
For more information about prosthetics, visit the web site www.perryprosthetics.com.
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