Teacher debuts his high-tech arm
Published: February 25, 2006
Jim Henry was in the spotlight Thursday afternoon with a television camera rolling.
It was his first chance, in front of an audience, to show off the cyberlike functions of his new prosthetic arm.
The West Salem High School teacher grimaced as he tried to use the muscles in his torso to activate the hand, wrist and elbow.
“I’m so excited about using it,” Henry said, “that I’m trying too hard.”
The specialists who have been working with him during the past nine months to create the one-of-a-kind, high-tech arm reminded him once again to be patient.
“Now this is the part when the work really starts for him,” prosthetist Branden Petersen said. “Repetition and practice.”
Henry’s mechanical arm might set a standard in the prosthetics field, medical officials say.
“He’s adapting to it well,” prosthetist Jude Elliott said. “He’s learning to use it quickly.”
Not quickly enough for Henry, 46, a competitive cyclist who lost his left arm and shoulder 23 years ago. He never had the desire or need for an artificial arm until recently. Now, he’s a walking billboard for the latest technology in the field.
Motion Control of Salt Lake City and Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics of Salem teamed with Henry to design the almost-$100,000 prosthesis.
“It’s the Lamborghini,” Elliott said.
Sleek and black, Henry’s new arm is made of cutting-edge materials such as anodized aircraft aluminum, carbon fiber and Kevlar.
He expects that it will turn heads and plans to use it as a teaching tool.
A cameraman from KPTV Channel 12 followed him to West Salem High School, where he showed off his arm to students in the engineering lab.
It came with accessories, including two “hands,” one shaped like a hook; a half-dozen rechargeable batteries that slip in behind the elbow; and two forearm covers, one black and one clear.
“I’m jazzed that it came out this cool,” Henry said. “I got more than I wished for.”
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