A Calgary entrepreneur has brought together an international charity and an Alberta high school class to make prosthetic hands and fingers for a fraction of the cost.
Prosthetic hands for children can cost thousands of dollars and they have to be replaced often as the child grows so the costs can add up over a lifetime.
Colin Pischke owns Print Your Mind 3D and has teamed up with a group of Edmonton students and e-NABLE, an American NGO that designs 3D models of hands and makes the designs available for free. Pischke and the students are using 3D printers to turn those designs into working hands for distribution to children who need them.
“This whole project has been extremely rewarding. I am very thankful to be part of something that is truly changing people’s lives both here in Alberta, where we are going to be matching people who need these in Alberta, and also around the world. It is one of the most rewarding experiences,” said Pischke.
“Then they’ll be able to have a better life than what they have now,” said student Lucas Whitfield.
Each of the prosthetic hands costs about a hundred dollars to produce and the group is hoping to raise $3500 to complete their project.
They'd like to print all the parts for the 3D hands by early spring and then assemble them all at an event here in Calgary.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help them reach their goal, click HERE for more information.
(With files from Keving Green)
