NEXT STEP ENDOWMENT
Jeff Smith notices that amputees don't have a very visible presence in the community.
And he knows why.
"They don't have prostheses, because they can't afford them, and their insurance coverage either won't pay for them, or they don't have insurance," Smith says.
"So the reason you don't see a lot of amputees in the community is because they're sitting at home in their wheelchairs."
That may be about to change, however.
Next Step, a new, nonprofit organization based in High Point - and launched with a generous donation from a local amputee - will provide prostheses for amputees who cannot afford them.
Smith, owner of Advanced Prosthetics & Orthotics in High Point, serves as director of Next Step.
Retired High Point businessman Bill Ervin, whose right leg was amputated below the knee two years ago, donated $50,000 to create an endowment for Next Step through the High Point Community Foundation.
"All of a sudden, people who were going to be sitting in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives are going to be able to jump back into life," says Paul Lessard, executive director of the High Point Community Foundation.
"With the wealth and resources we have in this country, to have people sitting in wheelchairs because they can't afford prosthetics is criminal."
Ervin, who spent about six months in a wheelchair before finally getting his prosthesis, says he created the endowment because he knows how difficult life in a wheelchair can be.
"Let me tell you, if you want a miserable life, that was it for me," says Ervin, whose amputation in July 2000 resulted from blood problems in his leg. "I know how miserable I was in that wheelchair, and how appreciative I was to get my prosthesis, so I wanted to do something to help these people."
Paying for a prosthesis was no problem for Ervin, but for many people, today's prosthetic devices - particularly the high-tech ones - are not financially accessible, according to Smith.
"The average below-knee prosthesis costs around $6,000, and the average above-knee prosthesis is around $8,000," Smith says.
A primary reason for the high costs is that prostheses must be both lightweight and strong, which requires manufacturers to use expensive materials such as titanium and carbon fiber, Smith explains.
"You can imagine if you used stainless steel on a prosthesis, it would be bulky and heavy and would weigh the patient down," he says.
In addition to the expensive materials, prosthetic devices are much more high-tech than they used to be, Smith says. For example, the most advanced above-knee prosthesis features a computer-controlled knee unit and can cost as much as $40,000, he says.
To complicate the matter, Smith continues, many insurance companies will cover a prosthesis, but they won't cover the cost of replacing it. And while prostheses generally last a long time, the socket - where the device attaches to the residual limb - needs to be refitted on an almost yearly basis, he says, necessitating total replacement.
If insurance companies won't pay for that replacement, "that's kind of like buying an automobile with no resale value - it's not worth anything to anybody but you," Smith says.
Because every amputee is different - and some have special needs - Next Step will take patients through a test-fitting procedure and provide custom-made prostheses, Smith says.
"We don't want to just prefabricate prostheses to give people so they'll have something to hop around on," he says. "We want to provide them with not just service, but service at a real high level."
Once a patient is fitted with a prosthesis, The Rehab Center of High Point Regional Health System has committed to provide for the patient's physical therapy, according to Smith.
"Getting a prosthesis is only half of the process of helping someone walk," he says. "Getting physical therapy to learn how to use it is the other half of the battle."
And once the battle is won, the benefits - to both the patient and the community - become obvious, Smith says.
"If there's an opportunity to get these people to return to work, it'll pay back the community twofold," he says.
Lessard agrees, adding that Next Step meets a need that until now has not been met in the community.
"It might sound strange to you and me, but a prosthetic might be a luxury in some situations," Lessard says.
"For some people, it's a case of 'Am I going to eat, am I going to have a place to sleep, or am I going to get a prosthesis?' People shouldn't have to make that choice."
High Point Enterprise staff writer Jimmy Tomlin can be contacted at 888-3579 or jtomlin@hpe.com.