i-Limb Hand Wearer Makes Special Visit

John Carpenter of Touch Bionics made a special visit to St. Louis Tuesday, January 5, 2010. He came to see a new below-elbow amputee who was being fit by P&O Care's Clinical Director Jon Wilson. He fit her with an i-Limb Hand, her first time ever with a prosthesis. John Carpenter told her, "I was born without my left hand, so I have no idea what you're going through having lost yours; but I can tell you that you're going to be okay."

You see, John also wears an i-Limb Hand and says it beats the heck out of the myoelectric hands he used to wear. For example, with this hand, he can position it with the palm completely flat, so he can hold a book to read, something he could never do before. John likes to visit new i-Limb Hand wearers so he can encourage them and show them the different grip patterns they can then use to pick up small objects, hold a key, or type on a phone or keyboard (or give someone the finger).

This is the first time P&O Care has fit someone with an i-Limb hand because the cost is so astronomical. Private insurance and Medicare won't pay for it; the only way we got this one paid for was through workers compensation insurance. This is also the first time the smaller or low-profile version of the i-Limb Hand has been fit on anyone in the entire St. Louis Metro area.