APT Center's Dr. Kristi Henzel Receives $200,000 Grant from the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation
Dr. M. Kristi Henzel, APTC Principal Investigator, Assistant Chief for the SCI/D service at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center (LSCVAMC), and Assistant Professor of PM&R at Case Western Reserve University, secured a two-year, $200,000 Design and Development grant from the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation for her project entitled “Insensate and Unprotected: Development & testing of FootSafe technology for prevention of injuries caused by inadvertent lower extremity displacements from wheelchair footplates in Veterans with SCI/D”.
For individuals with SCI/D, wheelchairs (WC) are critical to independence and quality of life. However, if users’ feet become mispositioned or dislodged from the WC footplates, even optimally configured WCs can be dangerous during daily operation by those who cannot feel, see, or easily reposition their lower limbs. This project will build upon previous work completed with funding from the VA Innovators Network to help address these issues by developing “FootSafe”, a VA-patented prototype assistive technology that detects lower limb and foot displacements from the footplates of power wheelchairs (PWC) and alert to the user’s smartphone with the goal of preventing traumatic injuries. This PVA award will support further testing and optimization of FootSafe sensor outputs, test the current Inadvertent Lower Extremity Displacement (ILED) detection algorithms, pilot use of machine learning algorithms for advanced ILED detection, and obtain consumer feedback on the FootSafe user experience.
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Dr. Henzel will be working with a team of Co-Investigators and engineering professionals, as well as two SCI Veteran Consumer Advocates who will provide advocacy for the voice of the patient in FootSafe system development:
Kath M. Bogie, DPhil, FAIMBE (Co-Investigator), APT Center Principal Investigator, LSCVAMC; VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Service Research Career Scientist; Professor in the Depts. of Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
Steve Majerus, PhD (Co-Investigator), APT Center Principal Investigator, LSCVAMC; Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
Kevin S. Xu, PhD (Co-Investigator), Electrical Engineer, Computer Scientist and Assistant Professor, Dept of Computer and Data Sciences, Case Western Reserve University
Steven Mitchell OTR/L, ATP, Clinical Specialist in Seating/Wheeled Mobility & Assistive Technology, SCI/D service, LSCVAMC
Mr. Sean Ferry and Mr. Robert Morris, MBA; SCI Veteran Consumer Advocates
Congratulations to Dr. Henzel and her team!
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