news // mclaughlin >> Former Prez appointed to order of canada; Pg. 4 Volume 144 · Issue 15 • January 12, 2011
www.thebruns.ca
brunswickan canada’s oldest official student publication.
UNB group funds for flood relief
Innovation is hands on in UNB faculty
Hilary Paige Smith News Editor After the province was pummeled by inclement weather in December, one UNB student group is taking action. The First Rivorton Rovers, a UNBbased senior branch of Scouts Canada, are raising money and driving for donated goods to help impacted residents in St. George, NB. The small shorefront community, with a population of just under 1,500, was among the hardest hit by the flooding on Dec. 14 and 15. The storm forced dozens of people out of their homes. The border town of St. Stephen was also hit hard, with dozens of homes and businesses flooded. The surge of storms just prior to Christmas left an estimated $50 million in damages in the province. Mike Stewart, a second year student and second mate with the Rovers, and Jennifer Purdue, second year student and scribe for the Rovers, said one of their team members is from St. George and knows people personally impacted by the damages. “We were mostly alerted to what was going on by him because we felt like there wasn’t really a lot of coverage in the first couple of days, so when we saw what was happening to him, we had to do something about it,” Purdue said. When asked why they decided to get into fundraising for flood relief, Purdue answered with a simple, “It’s what we do.” The scout crew blends their outdoor adventure activities with community service work. Once the group learned of the severity of flooding, they leapt into action. Their planning and fundraising began over the break and continued into the new semester. There is a donation box set up in the Student Union Building and starting on Monday, change collection jars were set up at Sodexo locations across campus. Thus far, the group already has a few carloads of clothing and other goods. Non-perishable food items, however, are in short supply. Just driving and fundraising, though, is still not enough to the Rovers. “We’re also trying to find a way to actually get hands-on involved with the relief effort. We’re currently looking at doing that through the Red Cross,” Purdue said. When Purdue first heard about the
SEE RELIEF PAGE 2
Adam Clawson, lead designer of the UNB Hand, project engineer and part-time PhD student, is in charge of developing a revolutionary new prosthetic hand for amputees. Mike Erb / The Brunswickan Hilary Paige Smith News Editor The Institute of Biomedical Engineering at UNB has a feature unique in North America. Their research laboratory on prosthetic technology is also home to a clinic for amputees looking to be outfitted with up-to-date prosthetic limbs. Dr. Kevin Englehart, associate director of the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, said he believes a research lab with a clinic on a university campus is the first of it’s kind in the country. “We’re kind of two teams under one roof. We have researchers that are trying to develop the next generation of artificial limbs, but we’ve also got clinical people here who actually fit limbs on amputees. We’re a living research lab and clinic,” Englehart, who is also an
electrical engineering professor, said. The clinic is integrated into the biomedical engineering building. UNB has been in the process of developing artificial limb technology since the 1960s and Englehart said technology has advanced drastically since then. “Really, the mandate is still the same. We have a prostheticist who takes what’s available now and fits it on amputees and we’ve got researchers who push the state of the art and develop the next generation of artificial limbs five to 10 years down the road,” he said. The clinic has an active client load of about 120 people, with patients coming in from as far as Newfoundland. In a calendar year, the clinic sees about 30 to 40 patients. “We do see people coming in from all over because we really are the best at what we do. People who can’t get that kind of service where they live will
come to see us.” And what makes the clinic at UNB the best? Englehart said people are drawn to the clinic because of its research capabilities. If someone has a particularly challenging limb deficiency, they come to the research lab for solutions. “Our team is really quite specialized and we can pretty much handle almost anybody with adapting a prosthesis to suiting whatever needs they have,” the associate director said. Students are involved on a number of levels. The institute is a learning facility and there are about 15 graduate students working in the building. There are also undergraduate students who come in for summer employment and their seniors thesis. Exchange students from other universities with occupational therapy programs and international
students are among those who’ve come through the clinic to study. There is a similar institute at a university in Chicago where, Englehart said, a number of his former students travel and become professors. At the UNB lab, researchers are looking toward the future to ensure their patients get the best in prosthetic technology. Here, one of the biggest innovations the facility has in store is a new type of mechanical hand with more flexibility and dexterity. The technology is also expected to be cheaper than most. “That should be ready in about two years and our clients will be the first to wear that,” he said. The lab also specializes in determining what signals are sent from the human brain to the hand to better their understanding of prosthetics.