As the trade show season approaches, we reflect on the balance of professional enthusiasm and personal moments, like cheering from the stands at a child's baseball game. Brent and Joris also peek into the future of prosthetic manufacturing, highlighting Coyote's groundbreaking vase mode printing components that could reshape our industry.
Embarking on a transformative journey, we trace one individual's path from graphic design to touching lives in the O&P field. Drawing from the creative wells of East Carolina University's art and design program to a personal studio, the narrative weaves through the inspiration found in family disability experiences, leading to a career where design principles meet patient care. The conversation delves into the extra education required for this impactful profession and the role problem-solving plays in the heart of human-centered healthcare.
Then, we dissect the decision-making behind educational paths in the O&P industry, including the merits of specialization within this fascinating field. We share the story of Dale Schneider, whose foray into 3D printing began in a home studio and helped him with an internship. Dale's experience underscores the importance of precision, networking, and a willingness to embrace new technologies, like the shift from bulky 3D scanners to sleek iPhone apps. Join us for a heartfelt discussion that not only sheds light on professional choices but celebrates the spirit of innovation and personal dedication that define the O&P community.
This episode is brought to you by Coyote.
As the trade show season approaches, we reflect on the balance of professional enthusiasm and personal moments, like cheering from the stands at a child's baseball game. Brent and Joris also peek into the future of prosthetic manufacturing, highlighting Coyote's groundbreaking vase mode printing components that could reshape our industry.
Embarking on a transformative journey, we trace one individual's path from graphic design to touching lives in the O&P field. Drawing from the creative wells of East Carolina University's art and design program to a personal studio, the narrative weaves through the inspiration found in family disability experiences, leading to a career where design principles meet patient care. The conversation delves into the extra education required for this impactful profession and the role problem-solving plays in the heart of human-centered healthcare.
Then, we dissect the decision-making behind educational paths in the O&P industry, including the merits of specialization within this fascinating field. We share the story of Dale Schneider, whose foray into 3D printing began in a home studio and helped him with an internship. Dale's experience underscores the importance of precision, networking, and a willingness to embrace new technologies, like the shift from bulky 3D scanners to sleek iPhone apps. Join us for a heartfelt discussion that not only sheds light on professional choices but celebrates the spirit of innovation and personal dedication that define the O&P community.
This episode is brought to you by Coyote.
Okay, cool, all right. Hi everyone, my name is yours, peels, and this is another episode of the prosthetics and orthotics podcast with Brent Wright. How you doing, brent.
Speaker 2:Hey, man Doing well, there's some some cool things coming down the pike. Couple it's trade show season, right? So I mean you guys kind of kicked it off right at February and now. Now everything kind of falls into place with a bug rapid, and then there's two main shows for the orthotic and prosthetic industry, and one is they call it the Academy meeting.
Speaker 1:So that sounds very fancy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, but it's their 50th anniversary, which is pretty cool. Their theme is unleash and reignite your purpose and your passion, and it's going to be, in Chicago, so not super creative there, right?
Speaker 1:What is it with Chicago's hold over the the event industry? I just, I just have a simple rule, like I don't want to go to Chicago again or I don't want to go to what's it like? What's not got Detroit right? I'm like you know nothing wrong with Detroit, but I've just been to Detroit. I would love to go to Phoenix. I've never been to Phoenix. I'd love to go to I don't know like tons of other places in the States. I've never been right. So I used to like always go and like be looking forward to going to like this new place where you're like Scottsdale, okay, you know and now it's like, oh no, we're going to do it in Chicago, it's always in Chicago, it's like, and in March, you know so in March it can be a little bit dicey, so it could kind of go either way, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:So I don't understand. They must have some super tax or something or some kind of like stimulus fund for this something, because it's or the hotels are super cheap, or something, because it's crazy how many events are there, but anyway. So okay, that's it. That's the academy thing, and the other one is a opa right.
Speaker 2:So the a opa will be in September, I believe, of this year, and so that one, that one will be great and that one. I'm actually on a committee that's doing some of the planning and I can't share everything, but I can tell you that 3d printing will be in full force and there will be a lot of hands on stuff, so really excited about that.
Speaker 1:That's cool. And how about I'm August? Are you going to go to a Morgan or not?
Speaker 2:So well, I do want to. The crazy thing about trade show season is it coincides with high school baseball season, so yep, so like, if I went to so I'm not going to the academy meeting I would miss three of my son's games and then a mug.
Speaker 2:I think, I would miss almost four. So I'm just it's not, you know missing seven games to see people that are not family. I mean they are family but not you know. This is this is, you know, junior senior year, so it's kind of a big deal and so I don't want to miss any games Not going to aim on, probably until he's in college.
Speaker 1:So be a couple years, all right, all right, cool, and then okay, and then yeah. Oh, by the way, this show is being sponsored, right, it's being sponsored by Coyote.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so we're super excited about having Coyote as a sponsor. And, believe it or not, we are at the end of season seven, so 84 episodes in Eurus but Coyote.
Speaker 1:What is this? What is it with the seasons? Anyway, this is totally Brent's idea. But does this mean that, like, not at the end of this season, like my kid has to get kidnapped or something, or I have to have a car crash and lose my memory? What is the thing with the seasons?
Speaker 2:How do?
Speaker 1:you even know when a season is over, Brent. I don't need to know it's going to be a cliffhanger.
Speaker 2:So what we've done is broken each season up into 12 episodes, and so the reason why that's nice is we get a little bit of flexibility throughout the year, right? So if we so, then you have 48 episodes a year, which means that you get four, four kind of gimmies or do it over type of things if something doesn't go quite right. And so it just is a nice even way to do it, and it's kind of neat to kind of keep track of it that way, because then you just multiply it by 12 and you're at how many episodes are Okay, all right, okay, cool Sounds good.
Speaker 1:And Coyote, we like Coyote, right? Oh, absolutely, you use their products.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and they're going to be. My suggestion to people is to go check out their booth. This year at the Academy show. They're going to be showing some stuff that hasn't been seen before. So one is a pediatric strut that I believe they're going to be showing, and then the other is and I know you love vase mode.
Speaker 1:The whole world will do. They just take a while.
Speaker 2:So Coyote is the first company that I know of in the world that is making components specifically for vase mode printing.
Speaker 1:Really good, very good, so I endorse them anyway. I'll endorse them even if they want to sponsor us. That's a fantastic move, a wise move by Coyote, a fantastic maker of components for prosthetics.
Speaker 2:And so.
Speaker 2:But here's the cool thing is so not only will you have the locking mechanism, so how the leg is connected to the prosthesis, but the one thing that has been missing is this idea of suction. So with a suction, when you're doing vase mode, it makes it hard to have the internal area that goes around the bottom of the curvature complete. But what they're doing is they're actually creating that half moon, half shape on the bottom of the socket and you drop that into your vase mode and you have your connector all in one and I think that is super innovative and I think that's what we need. And I mean, people are cranking these sockets out like crazy in vase mode. It's so fast and can be done a lot of times same day.
Speaker 1:Okay. So really really cool tool there, really good stuff. Okay so who's our guest today? Brent.
Speaker 2:Well, you're going to have to figure it out a little bit, but his name is Dale Schneider, and he is actually going to be part of the Kenesaw State University prosthetic and orthotic cohort starting in August. But, believe it or not, he also has a connection to the O&P podcast or the prosthetics orthotic podcast, and so we're just going to have to have you figure it out along the way, okay okay, okay, all right, dale, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks. I appreciate you guys having me. I've been an avid listener for a while now, so I'm happy to jump on board and offer a little perspective from the student side of things.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's cool, that's good. So when did you first get in touch with the orthotics and prosthetics?
Speaker 3:So this would be about two years ago Is when my interest really peaked. I guess enough to look into what it takes to get into the field. I'll give you a little background on myself and then we can kind of go into how that relates to O&P. If that'll work for you guys Totally Yep, awesome.
Speaker 3:So, going way back to 2011, starting undergrad at East Carolina University, my background is with the School of Art and Design, so working with a bunch of illustrators, designers, primarily focused in graphic design, but kind of got to put my hands in all sorts of things printmaking, 3d fabrication, all sorts of any artistic endeavor. So went through that program that had a heavy emphasis on human-centered design, which is how do you design with the people that you're designing for, how do you approach your problem in a way that works best for them? And it's not just designing in a bubble, putting something together and saying here you go. Using the principles of human-centered design is kind of where I got my start. So I took those principles into a career in advertising marketing, working for a studio in Wilmington, north Carolina, right after undergrad and then branching out on my own into my own design studio. Had a lot of fun with that that lasted all the way up to 2017 is when I started my own business, my own design studio, and I'm still doing that today. But about two years ago I decided advertising and marketing is not it. It's not using these skills of human-centered design in a way that I feel uses my talents to the best of their ability. So I started brainstorming ways that I could apply those principles in different fields. That's still using what I've learned, but I might have to learn a little bit more. I might have to apply them in different ways and move on from there.
Speaker 3:I actually have some family members that have experience with aspects related to OMP, as far as assisting people with physical disablements, things like that. I have an uncle who was in a car accident at the age of 18. And that kind of set his life on the trajectory of helping others with physical disabilities because he ended up in a wheelchair, paralyzed both legs. He has a full prosthesis on one hand, a partial hand prosthesis on the other. He made a very successful career of helping people with those different types of disabilities and navigating a work environment that way.
Speaker 3:So, keeping some of the things that I'd learned from him in mind, I decided to look into OMP and what it would take to become a clinician here, looking at different schools, different programs to see what they offer, and realize that I needed a lot more education before even starting. You know, getting to the starting point, you know, with my background being in graphic design and art, I lacked a lot of the prerequisite classes that a lot of the master's programs for OMP require, such as anatomy, physiology, things like that. So I ended up going back to school at Penn Highlands Community College here in Johnstown, pennsylvania, where I'm currently living and working for about two years working through all those prerequisite classes to get me up to speed to where I can start actually learning now.
Speaker 1:Okay, and was it really more the idealism, the propality, or was it this idealism with this kind of like hands-on problem solving? You kind of talked about, like you know, something more useful? Is that really you wanted to be a little more useful than just making I don't know, candy or commercials for potato chips, whatever that kind of thing, or was the real, the impetus for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I think you know, speaking from other students, I've done a lot of interviewing just to see what's going on in the field and if it's something that I really wanted to do. But speaking with a lot of them, it seems to be a common thread of people having kind of the same mentality as I did, where they may have been in another field or they may have been somewhat in health care, but they feel that this is something that they can directly influence their patients and directly help people. You're not behind the scenes so much you know, other than in the lab working, you're still getting a lot of client interaction and you know, working one-on-one with your patients and I think that's something that you do a lot in marketing and advertising, but a lot of times it doesn't seem to have that impact.
Speaker 3:You know you're not out there changing someone's daily life, usually on a daily basis, with advertising and design, whereas this is something where you know there's a whole world of you can walk into it with this idea of you know, as you say, idealism, where you think it's just gravy. You know you go in and you're expecting to help people all the time and I think that allures a lot of new students and that's certainly what allured me. You know you watch videos of process and action. You know seeing six, seven, eight patients, you know a day or even before lunchtime sometimes, and see what your outcomes are. But then, as I'm digging in, I'm seeing more and more students talking about other topics surrounding OMP, like documentation and working with other providers and making sure that everything is buttoned up so that you can actually help the person.
Speaker 1:Just like the more the problem solving that kind of thing or what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely the problem solving is the big part that allures me to this field. You know, getting to use your hands in a way that helps people, but also making sure that you can walk them through the whole documentation process and the whole prior authorization, working with the insurance companies. You know, my point previous was I think a lot of people are discouraged by this not being able to, you know, do exactly what they want to do because they might receive a denial or something like that. But for me, that's inspiring. It's something that you can really work with your patients to understand their problem, dive in, you know, with a strong sense of empathy, to make sure that the solution that you're creating is something that you can actually provide and, you know, help them out.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, and that practicality, that hands on stuff, is really why you could have, you know, become a marketing manager. You know, done some other aspects of design for point design or whatever. You could have become a marketing manager at you know, the OMP company right. So that really hands on thing also really motivated you. That idea of like really working with people hands on. That's really important to you.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, you know, I think especially getting to merge the traditional to the modern. You know, plaster fabrication versus 3D modeling. I think that's something that is enticing to anybody that loves working with their hands. You know you're not sitting there clicking a mouse all day long. You can go back and forth, for whatever the solution may be, I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's really cool. And also, did you talk at all about, like, the financial aspect, the work hours, that kind of thing, or did you think of that before you got into this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's something that, before being able to apply to the master's program, many of them want you to shadow with a local clinic so that you kind of know what you're getting into ahead of time. So that's a topic of conversation that definitely came up from time to time of you know, if you're spending all the money for grad school and all the extra education, what can you expect financially? You know, once you're actually a CPO or a prosthetist or whatever avenue you choose to go, does that make sense? And you know, I think that's definitely a pressure on the industry right now. I think it's something that a lot of people need to consider, but personally I think you know there's definitely it can be very lucrative. I think there are ways, especially with modern technology, where you can differentiate yourself and differentiate your practice, to make the financials make a lot more sense than traditional fabrication all the way would provide.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, that's interesting that you looked at that and also your major practice or your idea is to have a particular practice, you know where already, or what kind of area, or any of no idea.
Speaker 3:I'm really. You know it changes, I would say, on a yearly to monthly basis. You go in with ideas of exactly what you wanna do and exactly you know. I always think of that curve of experience. You know where you go in to a brand new field, and you have all this optimism and you think you know here's what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna make all of these plans. But then as you learn more and you talk to more people, you realize what has been done, what hasn't been done. You realize, you know if there's a steep mountain of things that you need to learn ahead of you and how you need to regroup. So this happens over and over after I talk to every single person I've talked to in the industry and I think right now I'm at a point where I'd love to keep all options open and be able to explore you know different avenues of the industry and where I'd love to fit in most.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's cool. That seems really sensible as well. And then you know you're saying that, you know, apart from total fabrication, you see opportunities, financial opportunities. You know what are you talking about, then, using additive for certain components. What are you thinking, or where these opportunities lie?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so in the back of my mind, when I first started this process of looking into going to become a CPO, I had a conversation with someone who mentioned the idea of exoskeletons and how that's a big thing coming out in the recent years of research and you know opportunities in that area and it's something that I think, other than your typical AFOs and things like that, it's something that we still haven't seen a whole lot of At least I personally haven't seen a whole lot of coming out of clinics.
Speaker 3:But I do think that 3D printing can offer things in that arena for orthotics, where maybe we can produce things a little cheaper than you know we've seen historically. Just kind of one avenue of a financial bonus there. But then, like anywhere else, I think, anytime you can have multiple printers running in a clinic and you're spending less time working with you know plaster materials and you know you're able to calculate your cost and your expenses and all that, I think it sets you up for, you know, a bigger opportunity for success and being able to have a little bit higher margin to really help your patients.
Speaker 2:And I think that's super cool, like especially with the new codes coming down the pike, right. So that just happened. Yoris and I did a show on that a little bit earlier on, about some of the exoskeleton stuff is now covered and you know, the O&P industry is definitely going to have to embrace it, or somebody else will embrace it for us, right, and so I think that's a pretty neat thing that you're looking into. So I did have a question just about how you chose the school. You know there's not a ton of options, right, and some of them are region specific, but how'd you end up at Kenesaw?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so right now, as I mentioned, we're in Johnstown, pennsylvania. My wife is a medical resident in the emergency room here, so it's a three year program for her and then we'll be moving afterwards for her first attending job. And when I first started looking into undergrad or master's programs for O&P there were maybe 13, 12 or 13 programs around the country. I think there may be more now. I know they're adding or working on that or working on adding several more, but really it came down to we've been bouncing around all over the place for my wife's education in her journey and we're ready to find a place that we really enjoy to settle down. We grew up together in North Carolina so the closest O&P school to there at the time was this program in Georgia at Kenesaw State University. Our family's still in North Carolina so it's a much quicker drive going down from Georgia to up to see North Carolina that it would be going down from Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3:Looked at a couple programs Hartford, connecticut has a great program A lot of people recommended out in Chicago area, illinois, northwestern. But just looking at the program at Kenesaw State, I really appreciated their emphasis on doing clinical rotations early. So pretty much as soon as you get in the program. They have contacts in place where you can go work at clinics in the area and get a bunch of different perspectives and hands-on experience, mixing that in with your book work from the very beginning. I think that's a really great thing for KSU specifically to do.
Speaker 1:And did you look at any of the financial aspects or like huge differences in, for example, costs between these programs and stuff like that?
Speaker 3:There are. Some programs are quite a bit more expensive than others, but really the biggest difference comes down. For me, being out of state. You know if you're an in-state resident or an in-state student and you're happy with the program in your state, I think financially it makes way more sense to stick with your in-state program For me. You know there is a program up here near Johnstown in Pittsburgh that have a great program, but one of our considerations for moving was to be closer to family and, frankly, get out of the cold. We're tired of these winners up here in Pennsylvania. So I wasn't willing to sacrifice the plus sides of moving down to Georgia for the financial aspects of staying up here in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then are there any particular areas you want to, like you know, upper extremities, whatever, any kind of particular area like that you want to look more or less into or not yet I think right now I'm more interested in prosthetics as a whole versus orthotics.
Speaker 3:I still have that interest in orthotics, but I definitely lean towards the patient care side of prosthetics. I gravitate towards lower extremity, primarily from personal experience, and we can get into that a little bit. But I like the idea or the process of going from beginning to end with somebody that has a brand new amputation, getting them fitted, showing them you know the ropes of okay, this is how you're going to use this and maybe helping them learn to walk on this and increase their quality of life as much as possible. I think that's it's a beautiful thing that I'm excited to learn more about.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay and then. Well, one thing I want to know a little bit. First, like just from Brent. I have a question for Brent. Actually, what would you advise? Would you just tell the people, like you know, I like the idea of the Kennesaw approach, get clinical early, that seems like really sensible. But with that specialization thing, would you tell people like, hey, specialize early because you can learn the most of everything? Or would you be like no, no, you should be a jack of all trades all the way through grad school until you get out into the field to really understand. You know all of these different areas and I know you're really a firm believer in high volume of patients. But but you know, what would your advice be actually?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100% is high volume of patients, every single thing that you can wrap your hand around. One of the things that we see with the residents that come through East Point is they a lot of times at towards the end of the residency they figure out that there was one aspect that they didn't realize was available to them or they didn't have experience in that they really enjoyed. So we've had some people that were like, hey, I'm only going to do prosthetics, that's what my goal is, and they kind of get into it and they have a lot of fun with pediatric orthotic stuff you know kids with special needs that need specific things and getting them out of wheelchairs, up and walking, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2:It's a whole nother level of experience that we've seen people change their minds on what they do. We've also had people super interested in like helmets and doing stuff for plegeosophely and brachiosophely. So, yeah, my thing early on is yeah, get as much experience as you can. Volume is king. Go to a residency where you're going to see a lot of volume. And you know, I guess I'm a little bit old school in the sense that I also believe that residencies, while they can be good, I would care less about feeling good about my residency and more about I'm going to work as hard as I can to get as much stuff in as I can to see, and so that's why I encourage a lot of people to do their residencies at some of the big companies, because they do have those volumes and they have the infrastructure to have you back to back to back to back patients and that pays dividends, especially when you want to specialize later on.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it seems very, very soon. So daily mentioned, you were influenced a little bit by some personal experience you had. Let's talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely so. I've actually diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, which is a form of arthritis that affects usually the spine and hips. It kind of makes it where the bones start to fuse together over time. You may have seen people, especially later on in life, where they're leaning forward. You know, with kyphosis they're leaning very far forward, their necks kind of drooping. That's really your typical appearance of what AS will look like, at least severe AS. I'm fortunate enough that mine so far has not progressed anywhere close to that.
Speaker 3:But I was diagnosed at a very young age, you know, starting an elementary school. So this started this process of working with within healthcare and trying to get what you need in this whole realm of, you know, needing proper documentation and working with insurance companies and things like that and really feeling the frustrations that come along with that. So you know, I'm on a medication now where it's a weekly injection. That is a very, very expensive medication and it's very difficult to work with your insurance to make sure that they're going to cover this medication and a lot of times that boils down to maybe there's a line item in the documentation that they didn't like and it needs to be shown that we've tried other medications first.
Speaker 3:It's a very frustrating process and once I started digging into OMP I realized this industry is you know that's that happens all the time where you might have a case where you want to provide a solution for a patient and you haven't documented exactly the way the insurance company wants you to document and you'll end up getting a denial. And I think, from personal experience, being able to feel that you know on a routine basis, it kind of gives you this inspiration to want to help other people not go through that. And I think that's something not just from the documentation side but from the holistic perspective of OMP and operating from a human centered design perspective is you want to be able to provide solutions in a way that makes sense, in a way that people can actually use them. And you know, I think having that experience from a young age positions me to really help people in that regard.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay and then. But then at the same time, is this disease degenerative? Is it going to get worse over time? And also, much with you or someone on time.
Speaker 3:It is degenerative. Right now there's a lot of new medications coming out on the market um embryo humera there's. I mean those are some of the older ones, but there's newer ones coming out of the and um and the what are like.
Speaker 1:Also some of the prosthetics, like options that you would be looking at. Are you using anything I thought, or not really?
Speaker 3:The only thing I need occasionally right now is on the orthotic side. I do have a back brace that I don't wear, you know, most of the time. But if I do have a flare up where I find myself buckling over and you know your muscle spasm and that sort of thing, then I'll throw on the um it's like one of the strap back braces and tighten it down as tight as I can go. And you know that'll get me through a couple of days where the flare ups and then I'm good to go.
Speaker 1:And here we of course talk a lot about through your scanning additive or through your printing. Are you getting into that education right now? Are you exposed to that already, or do you? Are you like you have no idea of all this stuff that you just happened to know from your previous life?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it's a little bit of both.
Speaker 3:So in the previous life of art and design at East Carolina University, they have a 3D lab there and our class was actually the first class really to experience this lab and they exposed us to 3D printing, 3d scanning, cnc machines, laser engraving, all of these sort of hands-on material science type things, and that was a blast.
Speaker 3:That was something that I'd never played with before, but just getting to use the scanners and printers kind of set me off to the races. And here recently, while I was doing my studying to get all these prereqs of anatomy and physiology before going to KSU, I did a lot of independent study on 3D fabrication, design for additive manufacturing, things like that. I ended up buying an ender printer just to get one in my office and learn the ins and outs of the mechanical side and then spent a lot of time diving into the design side, because Brent will be the first to tell you, buying a printer is not enough. You need to really spend the time learning the digital side and learning how to design, and that's something where, independently, I've really enjoyed going through that process.
Speaker 1:And were there any? Because we hear quite often the people quite on our own while doing this are kind of like lost. Was the same thing with you? Did you have any resources to particularly turn to or liked or found useful, or oh yeah, tons A lot.
Speaker 3:I have several buddies that are also into 3D printing. They got me started on the technical side of understanding filaments and what you need to look for, properties, different materials you might use. So on the technical side, it was great to have a support system in place. The ping of a message of all of a sudden my nozzle gets clogged and I need to troubleshoot. But then on the design side, linkedin has been a huge help connecting with everyone in the OMP industry. They love sharing videos of everything they're designing, everything they're creating, and they're happy to answer questions. So you'll get on there and say how did you do this? What program did you use? What's the benefit of this? If this print is going to take 3 hours, why would I do that over a plaster? That's going to take an hour. What's the trade off there? And they're happy to answer all of those questions and I think getting on there and watching the videos, attend webinars. There's all sorts of information on design for how to manufacturing and what you need to know to get started.
Speaker 1:And if you look at your fellow students, are they as excited about 3D printing or that have no idea? Are you like the only one, are you like the 3D print nerd in the class or is it like pretty much the knowledge you know kind of spreading?
Speaker 3:I think it's spreading rapidly. I think it's something that a lot of people are in the same boat of me, where they knew about it and they had seen a little bit of it previously like going back 10 years or so, something like that but they never really had a reason to dive in deep. And now that it's branching into this field explosively at this point, I think people are getting very excited about it. You see people talking about it more. It's less of a nerd thing now and more of a. You know this is vital to an industry and I think people are realizing that.
Speaker 1:All right, that's a super nice one. And you know, have you made stuff for class already, or are you able to apply it in that kind of way?
Speaker 3:Not yet. Everything I've done right now as far as actual fabrication on the 3D printing has just been from my home studio and learning how everything works. So one of my first projects I made for myself was actually after talking with I believe it was bio-designs and how important interfacing is. You know how does a prosthesis work with someone's residual limb and make sure that it's going to connect properly and hang on there and not be sliding around? So I created a project for myself where I find a household object and I wanted to design something that would interface with this object. And you know, have a purpose, have a use.
Speaker 3:So I just decided, off the top of my head and learning a little bit about Fusion 360, I was going to start simple and created a can topper, which is essentially a plastic cylinder that sits right over top of the top of your soda can. Once you pop the top, if you want to put it back in the fridge, you stick this on there, put it in the fridge and it holds its carbonation a little bit longer. Not a perfect solution, but it's, you know, a great place to start. You learn how to use your calipers and get all your measurements and interface directly with the soda can. So up to date, you know that's that's kind of how I've been approaching the field. Still doing the webinar is to learn about design for AFOs and things like that, but personally haven't printed any out of my home studio, so that's something I'll be looking forward to once I begin classes.
Speaker 1:And how about 3D scanning? I mean, I think I'm have you been looking at it at all, or have you been, or do you find that not as successful? And all is important.
Speaker 3:So I've been fortunate that most places where I've been throughout my wife's training, bouncing around for her med school and residency I've been able to access some sort of scanning technology.
Speaker 3:Both that and my own, you know, internship type deal In undergrad in this 3D space. We got to experience the 3D scanning and I don't remember the brand, but it was a very clunky, very large handheld scanner that was very, very finicky, very hard to to get exactly what you need. But now I've got to experience things like scanning directly from iPhone using small scanners that pop up on the table or things like that. There's a makerspace here in Johnstown where they actually have these things. They have 3D printers, they have scanners, they have CNC machines where you can go and play with them and get comfortable and learn you know, tricks of the trade. So that's been a lot of fun. And then I did an internship this past summer with Bionic, where they do a lot of 3D scanning. So that was something where I got a lot of experience of using the iPhone to capture very detailed scans and getting my feet wet a little bit with that.
Speaker 1:Okay, I think we finally found the connection, if it only took an hour, oh no, there's more, so Dale what. What, what, what.
Speaker 2:What have you? You said that you've listened to the the prosthetics orthotics podcast. What else have you done for?
Speaker 3:the prosthetics orthotics podcast.
Speaker 2:Let yours in under the hood a little bit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so for the podcast, I actually, when I first connected with Brent, I was asking him all sorts of questions about, you know, just OMP in general and realizing how much information he was able to give. And I knew I wanted to connect more. I knew I wanted to learn a lot more, but I didn't want to just be someone that sucks information from someone. So I offered to help him out with the podcast from the design perspective, using my own design business to put together the sponsorship kits and the help of the website, help with putting up posts for, you know, new content, things like that.
Speaker 3:So I've been the the go-to designer for the podcast now for several months and it's been a blast.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so all that cool artwork, you know, when we switched it from, that's all Dale's doing in the background. It looks like, I appreciate it Very, very cool. So you know, with that in mind, though, and you know, knowing what you know about the podcast and such, so far, I mean, do you feel like you know what? Are we missing anything? Are we hitting on the good topics? Any suggestions for us From the outside perspective, looking in, you know, because sometimes you know, having yours on definitely removes a lot of the blinders. But, you know, sometimes I get focused on what I know and he can do the same and we don't have, like a bigger perspective, and so that's. It's always a good perspective to have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think you guys are killing it. I think you're doing a really good job of having a wide variety of topics that you're talking about. I mean, obviously, it usually all comes back down to 3D printing and how that's gonna impact the industry. But I think that's something that is a huge focus in the industry, so that that comes naturally. But I love how, every time I open up a new podcast and get a new perspective, every single episode, there's an aha moment of you know, oh, I didn't even consider that or I didn't think of that. Something great to keep in mind. And most of the time, after an episode comes out, if I don't know who the guest was, I'm gonna look them up, send them a message and try to connect, and I think that's. That's great I wish. I think everyone should approach you know, the OMP industry that way.
Speaker 1:Alright Dale, thank you so much for your time today and thank you for your perspective I love. I hope your journey in athletics and orthotics will be very fruitful and you have a lot of fun studying. And I think it'd be really nice to hear back from you in a couple years, when you're further ahead, and say, hey, has it turned out like you wanted it? Was it harder, was it more difficult? That kind of thing I think I'd be really really very exciting as well.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I would be happy to you know it's a. It's a long road but I think there's. There's a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. There's a lot of light along the tunnel, just learning and experiencing and and growing throughout the whole process.
Speaker 2:We might. We might get some insider information too into the Kennesaw State program and maybe a couple of those students on to get their perspective. That would be interesting, you know, because one of the things that's interesting is there is so I think it was US News and World Report the prosthetic and orthotic profession cracked the top 20 professions in the United States, and so that's. It's pretty wild that a, that an industry or a profession this small cracked that and I think that's pretty neat.
Speaker 3:That's interesting. I would have had no idea that that'd be the case. I mean, every time you mention OMP to someone that's not in the industry, they're, you know you're. You're swallowing questions like you're drinking from a fire hose, so it's it's interesting that it's such a high, high number there.
Speaker 1:Alright, so thank you very much for being on the show today, though, and Brent, of course.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me. Oh yeah, this was, this was good, this was really good. And, yeah, thank you, dale, for for everything and look forward to the continued collaboration as well and seeing what you do in school and I think this this really provides a lot of groundwork for people looking at OMP and I think that's a it's a great perspective to have that we haven't had really on before.
Speaker 1:Alright, and thank you very much as well to Coyote, our sponsor. Go check them out, check out the website, check out the products they make. We're really fans of their basalt kind of carbon fiber replacement, and they do a lot of other innovative stuff as well. So go check out Coyote. And and thank you for listening today to the prosthetics and orthotics podcast. Have a great day.