Category Award - Health
James Reeder - Recipient of the Health Category Award
Nominated by Technical Aid to the Disabled ACT (TADACT)
Jim is a physiotherapist with Therapy ACT, working with children in ACT Special Schools. Jim uses his skills to assist children who have physical disabilities. Whilst doing this work, he has become aware that these children need special equipment to help them manage their disabilities and to maximise their potential for physical development.
Jim went to Technical Aid for the Disabled ACT (TADACT) to acquire help while developing special equipment. Since first volunteering with TADACT, Jim has progressed to designing and manufacturing equipment in his own time, outside of his work responsibilities.
Jim designs and builds equipment to suit each child's individual needs, taking into account the child's specifications and requirements. The equipment assists children with improving muscle tone, enhances skeletal development and mobility and enables carers to more effectively manage the children.
Jim dedicates approximately twenty hours a month to his volunteer work. These hours include time for creative thought, the design and manufacture of the equipment and also for sourcing the required materials.
The cost of the equipment is kept to a minimum by using low cost, often recycled materials and construction techniques. The low cost of the equipment greatly assists parents and the special needs schools.
The equipment Jim designs is generally not available commercially, or else the commercially available equipment requires modification to meet the individual child's specific requirements. He undertakes the design, manufacturing and testing of the special equipment with advice and assistance from other members of TADACT if required.
To produce the special equipment Jim has had to learn new skills along the way. These include various fabrication techniques such as welding steel and aluminium.