Roosevelt AT Lab coordinator goes the extra mile for local family

Roy and Shawna Mounteer

Ray Mounteer was an active hunter, fisher and hiker. Then, a series of surgeries changed everything. He lost the use of his legs and began crawling to get where he needed to go--inside the house and out to the car.

"I was pretty distraught over the whole thing," he said. "It takes a lot out of you when you're as active as I was. ... I didn't know where to go or who to talk to. It hit so fast."

His wife, Shawna, spoke to someone at the hospital and learned of the Assistive Technology Lab on the Roosevelt campus at Utah State University. The lab is part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program at the Center for Persons with Disabilities.

"Next thing I know, here's this man knocking on my door with this chair."

Cameron Cressall, the Roosevelt AT Lab coordinator, responded to the call with assistive technology, and more. "He has gone above and beyond the call of duty to make things bearable at the house for me," Ray said.

Cressall came two or three times, helping them with a motorized wheelchair, a handrail for the shower and a manual wheelchair that they could put in the car and take to the store. It was important to Ray to have a wheelchair that could go into the car, since he and his wife do everything together.

"He made it so easy for me to adapt to this condition, and now that I'm getting better and my legs are working again, he gave me words of wisdom and moral support," Ray said.

"They seem much happier. It's been wonderful seeing this transformation in their lives," said Cressall.

Clay Christensen, Logan's AT Lab coordinator, said both AT labs can make life easier for people who experience a temporary need for assistive technology. While he was not involved in the Mounteers' case, he has seen many people whose lives were made easier with loaned equipment, like a wheelchair or hand rail. "A lot of times, if somebody is temporarily rendered without the use of their legs, insurance will not provide them with a chair, whether it is a manual wheelchair or an electric one," he said. "They will be denied but they will still need mobility. ... There are a great many people out there who are needlessly going without or suffering, that if they were aware of our services could be provided with the equipment that they need."

The AT Labs and independent living centers around Utah help in those situations. Both Utah AT Labs have equipment loan banks. "If people come to us, we can pull our resources together."

"It definitely made a difference in our lives," said Shawna. "Ray was able to be part of our family, to get out. ... He became a completely different person."

If you need equipment, or if you have used equipment you would like to donate, call UATP at 800.524.5152.

Steve and the new portable lift

Steve Nelson

Meet Steve Nelson, one of our dedicated volunteers. He uses a wheelchair, but unfortunately it was hard for him to find the right angle to remain in his chair while he worked in the Logan Assistive Technology Lab. Sometimes, he'd sit on the floor.

Recently, the AT Lab received a donated portable lift for scooters. It allows people in the AT Lab to raise the scooter off the floor and work on it at whatever height is comfortable to them. This is great news to everyone in the Logan AT Lab who doesn't want to get a sore back from bending over equipment while they work on it.

Steve is removing batteries from a scooter that was recently donated to the AT Lab.

It's especially great news for Steve. "The floor got cold," he said.

Do you have equipment that could make life easier for someone with a disability? Contact AT Lab Coordinator Clay Christensen!

The AT Lab is part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program at the Center for Persons with Disabilities, located at Utah State University.

Customized rolling seat spares family from injury

Norma shows of the new rolling seat from outside the
Assistive Technology Lab in Logan.

What do you get when you combine a tiny bathroom, two conscientious parents and growing young man with multiple disabilities who uses a wheelchair?

Unfortunately for the Martinez family, it was an injury waiting to happen. It was important for them to bathe their son daily, but getting him in and out of the small bathroom space was dangerous for them and for him. Norma Martinez said they tried chairs designed for the bath for her son Gabe, but they were still unable to make it work for him in the space that they had. So they turned to the Assistive Technology Lab on the Logan Utah State University campus for a customized solution.

AT Lab employee Dan O'Crowley puts on the finishing touches.

The AT Lab specialists designed a rolling seat that could be used to transport Gabe down the hall to a larger room with a Hoyer lift--a piece of equipment that lifts people into wheelchairs. They use towels to lift him out of the tub--an arrangement that spares them back strain.

"The chair worked out great," she said after giving it a test run. "We have more ideas to make it even better."

That's what the AT Lab does: find customized solutions for people with disabilities--usually for the cost of materials. You can find out more on the Utah Assistive Technology Program website. UATP is part of the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.

Modified walker helps boy interact with his family

Aaron

Meet Aaron. He has a ready smile and a love of light and sound, but he was also born with a condition that gave him low muscle tone. He spent a lot of time on the floor until a walker brought him closer to the level of his family.

"I bought it with the intention of hoping it would help him learn to walk, to help him with his core strength and give him another option besides lying on the floor," said his mother, Kimberly. The walker, which was a simple purchase from Amazon, was a great improvement--it helped him interact more with his family and he soon learned how to work its bells and whistles. Aaron also progressed from needing to be propped up with towels to sitting by himself in the walker.

He enjoyed it, but as time went on, Aaron kept growing. He is now two and a half. His legs were so long, it was like he was sitting on the floor with his knees bent.

He is not walking yet. He and a physical therapist from the Center for Persons with Disabilities are working on it, and they've made a lot of progress, but meanwhile he needed some modifications to keep himself upright.

His mother, Kimberly, went to the Up to 3 program for help--and Up to 3 turned to Assistive Technology Lab in Logan. (Up to 3 and the AT Lab are both part of the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.) The people at the AT Lab attached a wooden mount and some tall, after-market wheels to the walker, adding inches to its height. With the help of his modified walker, Aaron was standing again.

He looks happy in his walker, and Kimberly looks happy watching him in it. "He can move around," she said. "He's not strapped to a chair."

Logan AT Lab welcomes new employee

Dan O'Crowley

Dan O'Crowley is the newest addition to the Assistive Technology Lab family. It's good news for the Logan lab--which has been remarkably busy--and for Dan, who is working toward a career in prosthetics.

"Growing up I've always loved engineering," he said. He nurtured his own interest in inventing and problem-solving throughout high school and has since gravitated toward prosthetics--a field that will require him to earn a master's degree.

In the meantime his working on a bachelor's degree in biology at Utah State University, and working part-time at the AT Lab. He learned about the lab from his wife Marcy, who did work there as part of her special education coursework.

"When I got married and I started school here, she said, 'Dan, you should go volunteer at this place I know.'"

She knew of his love of tinkering. He was a mechanic for a summer with his brother. He built a wooden fridge--patterned after an old-fashioned ice box--for his dad in wood shop during high school. And when his parents decided to build a house while he was in high school, he drew up the blueprints.

"That was a big learning curve," he said.

Marcy was right when she introduced him to the lab--he enjoyed it. After volunteering for a semester, he received an invitation from lab coordinator Clay Christensen to work there part-time. Now he is there, helping the lab handle an ever-growing workload.

Welcome, Dan!

Great information on the USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab, in 1 minute

Thanks to help from KLCY's Aggie Report in the Uintah Basin, we offer this quick look at the new Utah State University-Uintah Basin Assistive Technology Lab in Roosevelt. Come see us if you're in the neighborhood!

UATP trailer means CReATE devices can now go on the road

Jose Morales receives a wheelchair from CReaTE
in Salt Lake City. Soon, people in  the
Uintah Basin will have access to CReATE devices.

For years, CReATE has been putting equipment into the hands--and smiles on the faces--of people who need mobility equipment on the Wasatch Front. Now, refurbished mobility devices can roll out to new parts of the state.

An exchange of devices between CReATE in Salt Lake City and the Uintah Basin can now begin, thanks to the opening of the Utah Assistive Technology Program's new USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab and the addition of a big trailer.

The new trailer was purchased through a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, and it's an important part of UATP's goal to make services mobile in the Uintah Basin.

UATP staff can now to pick up donations from the USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab and deliver them to the CReATE program in Salt Lake City. There, they can be refurbished and transferred at an affordable cost to people who need them. The CReATE program can also transfer wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility-related assistive technology back to people in the basin.

"We want people to know that this is part of the Roosevelt Lab," said Clay Christensen, the Logan AT lab coordinator. "{Roosevelt AT Lab Coordinator] Cameron will represent CReATE in the basin area."

That's good news--and it's sure to bring more smiles to people with disabilities in rural Utah.

Reeve foundation grant augments USU-Uintah Basin AT Lab services

The AT Lab in Roosevelt will offer services
similar to those out of the Logan AT Lab.

People with disabilities in the Uintah Basin will soon have more help meeting their goals for independence, thanks to a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the new Assistive Technology Lab at Utah State University in Roosevelt.

The lab and the $73,925 High Impact Innovative Assistive Technology grant from the foundation will open up new possibilities. People in the Uintah Basin will have expanded opportunities to obtain and learn about assistive technologies that could make a difference to people with mobility, communication, vision, hearing or other disabilities.

“We have a physical presence over there in the Uintah Basin now,” said Alma Burgess, the grant’s principal investigator.  “That allows us to do something similar to what the AT Lab does in Logan now.”

The funding will support the Roosevelt lab’s services. It will also enhance the device loan bank already operating there. The loan bank allows people to find out if a piece of assistive technology—which can sometimes be costly—will truly work for them before they make a purchase.

The Roosevelt AT Lab will also provide training on how to use assistive technology; build, modify and maintain devices; and work with people with disabilities. In addition, it will perform services similar to those already offered in the CReATE program in Salt Lake City, offering affordable refurbished devices to people who need them.

Video: Accessing Services from the Utah Assistive Technology Program

Do you need an assistive technology device? Do you have a goal for independence and you need to figure out how to meet it? Do you already know of technology that could help you gain independence--or even income--but you don't know how to finance it?

This is for you!

This video offers a brief introduction to the Assistive Technology Lab, the CReATE reutilization program (at 19:09) and loans available through the Utah Assitive Technology Foundation (at 36:31).

Roosevelt’s Assistive Technology Lab at USU opens, welcomes coordinator

Cameron Cressall is the new AT Lab coordinator in the Uintah Basin.

There is a new face in the assistive technology scene in Roosevelt—and he’s ready to get people rolling.

Cameron Cressall is the coordinator of the new Assistive Technology Lab on Utah State University’s Roosevelt campus. Assistive technology is used to help people with disabilities achieve independence.  The new lab will work in partnership with other providers, including the Active Re-Entry Independent Living Center in Price, to provide customized assistive technology to Utahns in the Uintah Basin.

“It’s not hard to be passionate about my job,” Cressall said. “I’m building, creating, doing fun things, making people happy.”

While the lab is just getting started in Roosevelt, Cressall is not new to assistive technology. He worked in the AT Lab in Logan, where he regularly helped people meet their goals for independence. 

Both AT labs are part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program in the Center for Persons with disabilities, and they do more than just repair equipment. They also customize it to ensure it works for individuals with disabilities.

"We look forward to working with Cameron to continue meeting the needs in the Uintah Basin," said Nancy Bentley, Active Re-Entry's director. "Now we can involve the community even more, because the lab can take used devices, give them another life and put them into the hands of the people who need them."

"The AT Lab on USU's Logan campus has provided services that have helped a lot of people in Northern Utah," said Sachin Pavithran, the UATP director. "We're excited to bring those services to the Uintah Basin, and to provide them in a mobile format to reach people in rural settings."

Before getting involved in the disability field, Cressall worked in construction and building. Eventually he found himself back in school at Utah State University, taking the Interdisciplinary Disability and Service Learning (IDASL) class offered through the CPD and completing a bachelor’s degree in social work. The IDASL class teaches people from all fields of study about disability issues. It also gives service learning opportunities to students, including an option to gain experience in the Assistive Technology Lab on the Logan campus.

“It totally changed my life,” Cressall said. “Of all the classes I’ve taken at USU, that one class had more impact, hands down, than any other. … It led me to what I do today.” It also provided a good blend of tinkering, building, customizing and serving people.

How you can help

Both the Logan and Roosevelt labs need your donations—especially of used assistive technology equipment like wheelchairs, scooters, lifts and power wheelchairs. If you have devices you would like to donate, please call 1-800-524-5152.

USU sees changes—but UATP services remain the same on Logan campus

The Center for Persons with Disabilities is decorated with farewell
graffiti. It is scheduled for demolition this month, but UATP's
services to clients will remain the same.

If you’ve been on the Logan campus of Utah State University lately, you’ve probably noticed some changes. The building that houses the Center for Persons with Disabilities was recently covered in graffiti in one last, affectionate gesture of farewell. It is now fenced off from the public and will soon be demolished.

Construction will begin this summer on the new Center for Clinical Excellence, which will house many Center for Persons with Disabilities programs.

Here’s how these changes will affect the people served by the Utah Assistive Technology Program: They  won’t.

Though UATP is a program of the Center for Persons with Disabilities, it is not expected to relocate to the new center, which is scheduled for completion in late fall of 2017.

Throughout the construction period, the Assistive TechnologyLab will go on serving clients from the same on-campus location in the Janet Quinney Lawson Building.

Some administrative UATP offices have moved physically, but they are still located in the Human Services Research Center on the Logan campus, and email addresses and phone numbers remain the same.