Happy Retirement, Mike Miranda!

This week we say goodbye to our Prosthetic Technician, Mike Miranda. Mike joined us almost three years ago after a move from San Antonio, Texas (with his wife Dawn) to be closer to his son and family. He joined us shortly after Dawn came aboard as a Prosthetic Assistant. Dankmeyer represented an excellent opportunity to work with his hands and apply his engineering knowledge as a technician. Dawn recently left us to return to nursing, and now Mike has decided that it is time to retire. We appreciate all the hard work Mike has put in, and his dedication to excellence in all the devices fabricated for our patients.

We wish Mike well and a happy retirement!

Teaching About Limb Loss and Limb Difference in the Community

We always love getting involved in the community, but particularly so in April, just in time for Limb Loss/Limb Difference Awareness Month. This is a time when we raise awareness for people who live with limb loss/limb difference. It is also a great time to spread awareness of the growing industry of prosthetics and orthotics.

Rebecca “Becca” Frost, CPO, from Dankmeyer’s Western Maryland Office, had the pleasure of going to Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg, MD to speak to the students in the Biomedical Science program. These students are in their Junior year and are taking a class called Medical Interventions, which is an elective course for students who may be interested in the medical field or engineering.

Becca examines a prosthetic arm created by a student.

These students were tasked with a design challenge to create a prosthetic arm for a teenager with osteosarcoma (cancer), who had to have their arm amputated. The students teamed up in pairs or groups of three to create a prosthetic arm that is capable of picking up a cup - using a wide range of fabrication materials, including wood, cardboard, plastic, strings, cables, and 3D printers.  The students were able to show off their completed projects so Becca could see all their hard work and ingenuity!

Becca was able to bring in the ‘real deal’ demonstration prosthetic arms, made by professionals in Dankmeyer’s fabrication lab! The students were able to see and feel many different types of artificial arms and legs, as well as ankle braces and 3D printed objects. Many of our teaching demonstration devices allow the student to put on the devices themselves, so they can feel firsthand what it is like to use a body powered hook, walk with two prosthetic feet, or walk with an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO). You can see from the students’ smiling faces and inquisitive looks that everyone was having a great time!

Becca was also able to teach these students about what it is like to be a Certified Prosthetist Orthotist (CPO), and the education it took for her to get there! For anyone interested in becoming a CPO, you must have a bachelor’s degree and complete all the pre-requisite courses before you can apply to one of the few schools in the country (currently 13) that offer a master’s degree program in prosthetic and orthotics. These graduate programs require 18-24 months of education in the classroom, which prepares you for residency. Then residency requires an additional 18-24 months of on-the-job training! Once you complete both the master’s degree and residency programs, you become Board Eligible and have to sit for a total of six exams (four standardized exams on the computer and two practical hands-on exams) before becoming a fully Certified Prosthetist Orthotist.

Becca likes to say that prosthetics and orthotics is “the best combination of patient care, working with your hands, and making a difference every day!” And of course, we agree!

Check out this gallery of pictures from the class project Becca worked with.

Hello Sarah Martinez, CPO and the Eastern Shore Office Team!

Take a moment to Discover a Dankmeyer Difference Maker!

Sarah Martinez, CPO became the lead practitioner in the Dankmeyer’s Eastern Shore Office in June 2021. Sarah graduated from East Carolina University with her B.S. in Industrial Engineering Technology and later went on to complete her M.S. in Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. While completing her graduate education, she was able to provide care overseas by attending a mission trip to Lima, Peru with the Dreaming and Working Together team.

Sarah has been practicing in the field since 2018 and completed her 18 month residency at the Orthotic Prosthetic Center in Fairfax, VA before moving to Maryland. She joined Dankmeyer shortly after her move. Would you like to know a few fun facts about Sarah - ten to be exact? Sarah is the first Dankmeyer team member to share her answers to Top Ten Facts in this video.

Sarah is not the only Dankmeyer team member that works to take care of our patients in Easton. Sarah is joined at the Eastern Shore office by Rebecca (Becca) Frost, CPO and Jamie Dean, Patient Services Coordinator. Becca splits her time between the Eastern Shore team and the Dankmeyer team in our Western Maryland office. Jamie relocated to the Eastern Shore shortly after joining Dankmeyer a little over eight years ago and manages all the office’s administrative needs. You can look forward to their Top Ten Facts in future spotlights!

Sarah, Becca and Jamie love to see patients in the office for provision of new devices, urgent replacements, and repairs to existing devices.

“We understand that much of the work we do is considered essential for our patients, and we continue to take COVID precautions to make sure we can continue to provide our patients proper prosthetic and orthotic care in a safe manner. Please reach out and give us a call with any questions or concerns. Our Eastern Shore team looks forward to working with you.”

Phone: 410-636-8114 or 800-879-1245. EXT 297




Nancy Lee: February 39 Years of Service!

Little did Nancy know that when she took a part time job as a typist at Dankmeyer she would still be employed 39 years later as the System Administrator! 

When Nancy started, Dankmeyer’s main office was located in a small building at 2010 Maryland Avenue in Downtown Baltimore. Working at Dankmeyer provided many opportunities over the years, and Nancy took advantage of them, progressing through roles such as Patient Services Representative, Patient Services Coordinator, Billing, and Executive Assistant. Nancy particularly enjoyed working in our remote offices with Mr. Charles Dankmeyer, CPO in Frederick and Easton and assumed the role of Patient Services Representative/Coordinator when our Sinai Hospital Campus location opened. 

That Maryland Avenue office provided some fun times.  Nancy fondly remembers Subway lunch runs, choir practice, holiday celebrations held IN the office, firing up the grill on the city sidewalk for hotdogs prior to Orioles games, and working in very close quarters with her lifelong friend, Eileen.  It was while Dankmeyer was still at the 2010 Maryland Avenue location that she fell into her role in the IT Department. Not long after Dankmeyer made their first computer purchase to use word processing, she needed to become the expert, and she laughs at the memory of her first computer class.  When told to “boot up your computer”, she had to ask a classmate “What does that mean?”

One of her favorite memories at Dankmeyer is the office move from 2010 Maryland Avenue to the current main office location at 825D Hammonds Ferry Road in 1994. Packing up the entire office was daunting, but the new location was exciting and she was able to expand her responsibilities with additional hands on in IT, as new equipment needs and networking users was part of the relocation effort.  Nancy went on to earn a certificate in Unix System Administration at a local community college and not long after assumed her current position as System Administrator.

From that first “boot”, she has always enjoyed the challenge new software provides and enjoys creating and utilizing all the opportunities a computer provides.   She loves to explore new software and trains every new “user” (team member!) that comes on board. She has been honing her skills every day keeping Dankmeyer up and running in a virtual environment.

Nancy takes every opportunity to create material for the electronic display board in the waiting area, badges, flyers, website, newsletter and social media material. She has been the primary organizer of many winter holiday celebrations, with their invitations and decor. When she designed the Dankmeyer Holiday Card in 2021, you could see her creativity and sense of humor shine when she chose a very current version of a Zoom meeting featuring all staff members in a holiday setting. 

Although Nancy misses direct contact with you, our patients, she feels confident she is exactly where she’s supposed to be, helping those who help you.

 

 

Congratulations for 42 Years! Joseph DeLorenzo!

Dankmeyer started a tradition several years ago that we dubbed First Friday. On that first Friday, we recognize those with birthdays and work anniversaries that month. We mark their accomplishments, we celebrate their friendship and we respect their focus and dedication to our patients and clinical partners. We also have cupcakes, or cookies or something for fun!

Joseph DeLorenzo’s work anniversary with Dankmeyer is in January and 2022 is a very special milestone. As the longest serving employee at Dankmeyer, Joe has been with Dankmeyer for 42 years. Yes, you read that correctly. Originally from Long Island, New York, he came to Baltimore as a young man and recalls working many summers at Dankmeyer scrubbing and sweeping floors - doing what many young adults who are part of an O&P family do - cleaning! He liked working with his hands, and became a technician, eventually deciding to become a prosthetist. As the Production Manager for a number of years, he oversaw all aspects of device fabrication, eventually giving that position up to assume joint ownership of the company with Mark Hopkins in 2012.

Joe has seen the company grow to multiple offices and the staff to support that work, and supervised many changes in technology and fabrication of prostheses and orthoses. He splits his time between running the company, checking in on some long time patients, and working in the lab - both hands on and training others. O&P combines his love of teaching, carpentry and hand skills, and helping people overcome their physical challenges. We are glad he is here and congratulate him on his remarkable journey at both Dankmeyer and in O&P.

Joe participated in our #DiscoverDankmeyer video challenge. We thought you might enjoy seeing that here.