APEGA gifts new mobility vehicles to Edmonton preschool-aged children with disabilities

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Look out, world — Priscilla’s got a car now, and she’s raring to go.

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With a lot of help from engineers and dreamers, the Edmonton four-year-old’s world just got a whole lot bigger than the wheelchair view she’s been used to.

Professional engineers volunteering with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and physical and occupational therapists from GRIT, Canada’s hub for inclusive early childhood learning, partnered to create the emPOWER Car Project.

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Modified to suit each child’s unique mobility needs and growth, they bridge the gap between the typical power mobility devices available to older children.

“This project highlights what can be achieved when engineering expertise meets the needs of our community. This commitment to improving lives is a hallmark of the engineering profession, and APEGA is so proud to be a partner on this project and is thrilled to see these children experience increased independence,” said CEO Jay Nagendran.

Typical 4-year-old

In many ways, she’s a typical four-year-old. “Funny and goofy,” she loves dolls, she’s pretends to be a vet, and she loves jokes.

But Stage 3 hypoxic ischemic encelopathy wrought havoc on her brain, leaving more questions than answers for her loving parents and older sister, said her mom, Ashley Harrison.

“That was kind of our biggest question when she was born, is she going to be present in a moment?

“Unfortunately, with brain damage, it’s very wait-and-see,” Harrison said. “You have no idea. You don’t know if she’s going to be able to eat, if she’s going to talk, if she’s going to need an air trach tube. You have no idea.”

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As milestones went by unreached, the family knew her development would be different from that of other children.

Fundraising has helped Priscilla travel to Panama for stem-cell treatments, and raised cash for an advanced gait trainer, a robot that she wears to learn how to take steps.

“You can, you can have fun in a wheelchair, people can bring the fun to you, of course. But it’s not fun to be in a wheelchair,” Harrison said.

“Her being in a walker is very strenuous. It’s so much work, holding her head up, making sure her legs are moving in the right direction. There’s so much that goes into it for her whole body. As much as she’s getting around, it’s a lot of work,” Ashley said.

But her new “car” has big, coloured switches she can push to go sideways or forwards.

“It was so thoughtful, the way the vehicle was put together, like specifically for the kiddos, and what each kiddo would need,” Harrison said after this week’s handover celebration.

“She got into it, and she was so happy, and she just had the biggest smile.”

“It gives her that inclusion where she can actually participate in what’s going on around her, but participate on her own. She doesn’t necessarily have to have someone doing it for her, and I think it’s going to help her be really social, like she starts kindergarten next year,” she said.

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“She’s got this cool little car that she could still participate in,” Ashley said.

“It’ll change her life a lot, for sure … It will give her an idea of how it feels to kind of have that autonomy over where she’s going,” she said.

“The thoughtfulness that went into this project is just mind-blowing.”

A little help from friends

The handover celebration at Safety City was a joyous moment for the kids and their families.

Years in development, the EmPOWER mobility vehicles take only 20 hours to build and cost $700 to produce, much less than traditional power mobility devices that typically range in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Portable and easy to handle, these vehicles can be transported in the trunk of a car and have been tested in diverse weather conditions — from snow to mud— to ensure children’s opportunities for movement year-round.

“The emPOWER vehicles are an incredible gift for these families. At GRIT, we know how valuable and affirming it is when children can gain independence by reducing barriers to mobility,” said Amber Mack, CEO of GRIT.

Dhiraj Goutam helped lead the volunteer program on the project.

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“Making sure that these chairs can get around and they can interact with kids their own age was really important to us. We had a great team that was quite resilient, and we found ways to work through the challenges and make sure that we got what we needed.”

Goutam said he loves to work at the junction of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“This is part of the reason why I’ve gone to engineering — I want to help the communities around me. It’s a big part of what we do in our workplace, and having the opportunity to work on a program where I got to directly deal with folks in our community and trying to help them in ways that are a bit more visible and tangible,” Goutam said.

For more information, visit apega.ca.

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