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Every weekday Shawn Patrick sheds some light on some good news with His Good Vibes Story. Here is today's...
A group of high school students in Maryland are making it possible for a new father with impaired mobility to walk with his newborn son. Jeremy King had surgery for a brain tumor three years ago and was left with physical challenges like not being able to balance well. He can walk, but he can ‘t do it safely while carrying a child, so his wife, Chelsie, a drama teacher at Bullis School, turned to a coworker for help.
She reached out to Matt Zigler, who teaches a class called “Making for Social Good,” where students design products that have a positive social impact. He threw the challenge to his class and they got to work on something that could attach to Jeremy’s wheelchair. The students did interviews with the Kings to understand the issue and needs and eventually narrowed down their ideas into two projects: the WheeStroll Stroller Attachment, which connects an infant car seat to a wheelchair, and the WheeStroll Stroller Connector, which connects an entire stroller to a wheelchair.
Using the school’s MakerSpace, students were able to 3D print parts and buy others from Home Depot. Their goal, beyond helping the Kings, was to create an affordable design that other MakerSpaces could replicate to help families with disabilities. Their designs were complete in time for the birth of the King’s son, Phoenix, and they’re working well for the family. “Using it was overwhelming because I never thought I would be able to do something like this with our son,” Jeremy says.