Holiday Travel for Amputees

The holidays are always filled with traveling. Whether you are traveling to and from stores or to and from family members homes, getting around can be tricky with all the added traffic - especially with a disability. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, over 49 million Americans — nearly 20 percent of the population — are living with a disability. And of these 49 million Americans, 1.7 million are amputees. Here are some great tips for traveling over this holiday season.

What to do before your trip:

Check to make sure that your prosthesis is in good working condition, is clean and is working properly. The last thing that you want is for something to go wrong with your prosthesis while traveling. Make sure to clean the socket before heading out and check the liner to assure that there are no rips or tears before traveling.

Remember to pack these items:

• Extra prosthetic socks and socket liners
• A spare suction valve
• Duct and filament tape to repair straps or buckles
• Plastic bags to protect your prosthesis if you wear it around water or sand
• Phone numbers of specialists in the areas you will be traveling

The holidays are a wonderful time of year to be visiting family and you will want to avoid any unexpected hassles. If you have any other questions about traveling over the holidays visit greatstepsop.com.

Take Steps with Great Steps... Around the World!

Health and comfortable living are two things that Great Steps really likes to embody and pass on to others. Not only do we like to help others live comfortably, but we also like to make sure we are taking the right steps (literally) to ensure a healthy lifestyle-- 24,901.55 steps to be exact.

From May 16th through September 6th, we have decided to walk halfway across the world-- yes, you heard that right, the world-- and we would like everybody else to join us too. We have 15 weeks to do this so we are all shooting for 10,000 steps a day, equaling around 5 miles. We would like everybody to record his or her steps on a weekly basis. If you are not able to take many steps in a day, you can always try to make up for it another day. If you go over 10,000 steps- even better! All we ask is that you do your best and have fun!

If you are someone that needs a little more motivation than just the satisfaction of getting halfway around the world, don’t worry. Challenges will be made and we have plenty of prizes to giveaway, so stay tuned on our facebook and twitter pages. Kick it into high gear and bring out your competitive side! Find a partner to walk with and maybe we can actually make it around the entire world. The possibilities are endless, help us raise awareness!

To learn more about our mission, products, and services, take a look at our Great Steps company page.

Benefits of a Cranial Remolding Helmet

Parents who have children with positional skull flattening often decide to have their child wear a corrective helmet. Helmet holding therapy is a treatment where an infant wears a special helmet to correct the shape of their skull. These helmets are made out of a hard plastic shell with foam lining that is custom made to each child. This design helps keep pressure off the flat spots and helps the head naturally round itself out. These helmets are typically worn for 8-12 weeks for at least 23 hours a day, during both sleep and play time.

The infants that are typically urged to wear a helmet have a condition called Plagiocephaly, which is when just one part of the head is flatter than the other. There are several causes to Plagiocephaly, but the most common is called torticollis, which is when the infant has a shortened muscle on one side of the neck. This causes the child to turn their head frequently to the same side but a corrective helmet can help eliminate these problems. Brachycephaly, a condition when the back of the head is flattened, producing a wider portion of the skill in the back than the front, can be caused by craniosynostosis, a rare closure of the skull sutures before a baby has fully developed. Without adequate time in different sleeping positions or tummy time, the back of the head can be flattened and abnormally widened, but this can be fixed by the use of a corrective helmet.

Whether or not your child should wear a corrective helmet is a difficult decision, so it’s important to know the benefits and the best course of action to take for your little one’s noggin.  

Learn more about our Cranial Remolding Helmet services here.

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Gary Leither: Standing on Two Feet

At Great Steps, we pride ourselves in helping others through their difficult times by helping them receive the necessary assistance to get back on their feet and continue to enjoy their everyday life and that is no different with one of our great patients, Gary Leither.

Gary Leither, 60 years old, from Cold Spring, Minnesota discovered he had type 2 Diabetes back in 1994 after experiencing sores on his feet. Gary was referred to Great Steps where we proceeded to help him out with the correct orthotics to make him feel more comfortable. Unfortunately for Gary, he lost his toes due to his struggle with diabetes later in 2005 and ultimately in January of 2014, after constant sores on his left foot, he had below the knee amputation on his left leg.

Once again, that is where we, at Great Steps, stepped in to help Gary out with the necessary prosthesis and in March we fitted him for his first prosthetic. Gary was very eager to get back on his feet, that he only needed 2 rehab sessions before he was comfortably walking on his own. According to Gary, “the fit was fantastic,” and he was relieved to be done with the countless surgeries and the need to walk around wearing a boot, which is another reason why the transition period was very smooth for Gary, stating that he “accepted the change real well.”

While providing him with the necessary prosthetic, Great Steps continues to assist him with the necessary orthotics for his right foot that currently has Charcot Foot to help improve his posture and assist in walking.

One of the main factors for his smooth transition into accepting that he would need a prosthetic was when he met and talked to the staff here at Great Steps and realized that many of them were also living their lives with prosthetics. Gary was very surprised by the fact that some of the staff members he spoke to had prosthetics and he didn't realize it for quite some time.

After many years of working and even a brief period of owning and managing his own floral shop with his wife, Gary is enjoying the retired life with his wife of 29 years, Ione, whom is also retired after teaching for 25 years, and his three kids (two daughters and son). Gary enjoys every moment of his life and likes to keep himself busy by reading, fishing, golfing and watching the Minnesota Twins. He also volunteers for his church and at the St. Cloud Hospital 2-3 times a week. After multiple years of experiencing sores and enduring surgeries, Gary is just excited to finally be on his feet and wants to enjoy every moment by keeping himself busy.

He thanks Great Steps for providing him with the necessary orthotics and prosthetics to continue living the life he enjoys with his family and friends stating, “Great Steps is a very good company, with wonderful staff.”

Great Steps New Employee Travis

“It’s so rewarding getting to help improve people’s lives.” - Travis Laudenbach

Great Steps Orthotics & Prosthetics is excited to announce that Travis has joined our team of practitioners. Travis is an ABC Certified Fitter of Therapeutic Shoes and will soon be seeking certification as an ABC Pedorthist. As an ABC Fitter of Therapeutic Shoes, Travis is certified to work with our Therapeutic Footwear Program here at Great Steps.

Travis is a St. Cloud, MN native. He loves the city so much he even went to college at Saint Cloud State University and graduated in December of 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science. He has always loved helping people as well as working with his hands and machinery, so the orthotics and prosthetics industry was a natural fit. It is very exciting to watch the changes Travis is making for the patients here at Great Steps. In addition to working with his patients, Travis loves working with the rest of the Great Steps O & P team - he has commented that he feels like the people he works with

are more like a family than his co-workers.

Travis loves all things sports. As a lifelong Minnesotan, he loves cheering for all of the Minnesotan teams. In addition to watching sports, he also loves playing sports. In the summer you will find him playing baseball and eating chocolate chip ice cream. In the winter he’s out playing hockey, both on skates and boots. Whether you are a patient of Travis’ or have a family member who is, he is here to help guide you through the Therapeutic Footwear process. Next time you are in the Great Steps office be sure to say hi to Travis!

Lauren's American Girl Doll Wear's AFO's Too!

Lauren first came to Great Steps Orthotics & Prosthetics (Great Steps) at 10 months old when she received her first pair of AFO’s (ankle foot orthoses) from Josie Johnson, CP/BOCO. With the help of the AFO’s, Lauren was able to begin crawling and at 18 months, she took her first steps on her own. Lauren’s mom and dad had never been so proud of their little girl. Over the years, Great Steps has created many AFO’s for Lauren, but this Christmas, Lauren received something special from Great Steps.

This Christmas, Lauren’s Nana and Bopa gave her an American Girl Doll named Ruthie. Ruthie is a very special American Girl Doll however, because she too now wears AFO’s. The AFO’s were the first thing Lauren noticed when she opened Ruthie and her first comment regarding the doll was, “look, she has braces just like me.” 

Lauren began noticing differences in herself and other children at about age 4. Both that she wears AFO’s and that others have unique qualities as well (i.e., a friend that uses a wheelchair). To help celebrate her unique qualities, Lauren’s mom and dad thought of this great idea. They had always appreciated the quality moral stories that American Girl Dolls promoted and they felt like they celebrated differences as well (i.e., you can purchase wheel chairs, hearing aids, etc. for the dolls). With this in mind and recognizing that the small AFO’s that Lauren used to wear looked like they may be able to be put on a doll, this inspired them to ask Great Steps staff if they would be willing to make an AFO for their little girl’s American Girl Doll. 

Since then, Lauren’s Nana has made the Ruthie doll her very own hospital gown as Lauren had surgery in January 2014. They used Ruthie as both a comfort item and somewhat of a teaching tool.

“I think definitely, anytime that a child has a difference, and that difference can be celebrated by someone who can relate, even if it is a doll, it helps to make the differences the norm. We encourage Laruen to ‘check out the cool design on friends AFO’s as well” stated Lauren’s mom.

Stories like Lauren’s are what make working in the O&P industry so rewarding! We hope her story inspires those with children that have disabilities to embrace and celebrate their unique qualities as well.

**NOTE: Anyone interested in a custom device made for their child’s American Girl Doll can contact Heidi at Great Steps by phone: 320-258-0115 ext. 31