Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022 - 30

VITALS MEET A MEMBER
Michelle Hall
measures Ruth
Evelyn for an
upright bicycle.
Engineering
prostheses
Specialized populations
require special care-this
prosthetist sees it through.
BY GRANT HEIMAN
MICHELLE HALL, M.S., CPO, LPO,
FAAOP(D), prosthetics team lead at Gillette
Children's in St. Paul, Minnesota, went to
school for biomedical engineering with
the intention of attending medical school.
However, an internship working with
prostheses set her on a different path.
COLLABORATING TO BENEFIT KIDS' CARE.
" We work with the patient and their family
to optimize their care and daily function
through use of custom orthoses (limb
braces) and prostheses (artificial arms or
legs). We are constantly adjusting pieces to
grow with the child. Kids typically outgrow
them annually. We want to ensure that
these kids continue to grow as normally as
possible and are able to do all the things
that other kids do. "
PRIORITIZING THE BACKLOG OF NEEDS.
" Throughout the pandemic, care has been
accessible at varying degrees. Although
Gillette Children's remained open, many of
our kids have complex medical conditions
that placed them at greater risk of
complications to COVID-19, so their families
chose to postpone their care until they felt
it was safer. This meant that many of our
30
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Spring 2022
kids outgrew their custom devices and were
desperately in need of new ones. We've done
our best to address each kid's needs as
quickly and efficiently as possible, but our
clinicians have felt that strain and pressure.
It has taught all of us patience and grace. "
FAVORITE PART OF THE JOB. " As the team
lead, I take on more complex cases. One
patient, Ruth Evelyn, has been with me and
our team since she was 2 years old. When
she was 5, she wanted an upright bicycle.
Working with her combined my engineering
and biomechanical and clinical skills, but
also my clinical skills. We had to combine
safety parameters and techniques used for
both orthoses and prostheses to make a
custom prosthesis for steering the bicycle.
Ruth's story gained traction nationally,
leading a kid's family in Texas to reach out
to my colleagues at Scottish Rite Children's
Hospital and ask for a similar prosthesis.
I shared my designs, and they successfully
customized the design to that specific
patient. It was awesome to be part of
that collaboration. "
Know someone we should meet? Email
magazine@childrenshospitals.org.
Photo: Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, St. Paul , Minnesota
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2022

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