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Missions of Mercy Overseas
Dr. Chaz Holder |
by Edward Ellis
ayetteville, North Carolina, home of Fort Bragg and the 82nd Airborne paratroopers, has six prosthetic limb providers listed in the phone book. It also has one resident genius in that field: Dr. Chaz Holder, founder of CZBioMed Enterprises. Dr. Holder has revolutionized the design and manufacture of prosthetic limbs. The Doctor himself has an amputated forearm and has amputations of both legs. Because he was frustrated by the discomfort and expense of artificial limb prostheses, Dr. Holder took on the challenge of rethinking the design of artificial limbs and began building new limbs with advanced technologies. For persons with below the elbow amputations, Dr. Holder has designed a universal artificial arm that can be fitted in 15 minutes, and then can often be used with less than one half hour of training. Holder has developed a fundamentally new technology that requires no socket to fit the remaining part of an amputated limb and also has an adjustable fitting. The Doctor uses three of his manufactured models, a below the elbow prosthetic arm, below the knee prosthetic leg and an above the knee prosthetic leg.
Dr. Holder’s concurrent mission is a mission of mercy overseas. He is working to place these devices in third world countries, where those who have lost limbs have no access to prostheses of any kind. In February 2000, he manufactured more than 200 below the elbow prostheses to be shipped to Sierra Leone. Then he traveled to the West African nation, where he supplied and fitted 188 limbs to individuals with missing limbs in 8 days. Dr. Holder’s mission to Sierra Leone was sponsored by World Hope International. Another non-profit, Kids First of Seattle, is sponsoring a February 2001 trip to Vietnam, where he will also provide and fit hundreds of his new technology artificial limbs.
Dr. Holder’s greatest joy is to see the faces of those he helps. He described a young security guard in Sierra Leone who had lost both arms to an explosive device. The young man was unable to feed himself or care for his other personal needs or for his family for over two years. Dr. Holder said after fitting the former security guard with a below the elbow prosthesis, within one half hour the young man was able to use his new limb to write his name. The next day, the man was able to tell the Doctor that he had fed himself, undressed, bathed, and dressed himself for the first time in two years. His pride was that he could now take care of his family. “That smile on his face,” Dr. Holder said, “made my trip more than worthwhile.”
CZBioMed Enterprises, Dr. Holder’s prosthetic systems development center, is a design and research center, which manufactures and puts into service hundreds of artificial limbs with the newest technology. These new prosthesis designs, which do not use a socket, can solve a lot of problems for amputees. Dr. Holder’s devices have reduced weight, increased comfort and reduced fitting time. These devices are made of light-weight metal and polymers and are fitted with Velcro straps and seatbelt-like harnesses. Since they do not require the traditional sockets, they are adjustable so that children who are growing, or persons who need monthly fittings, can use them comfortably without frequent visits to a specialist. CZBioMed is able to make a prosthetic arm in about one hour. A leg prosthesis may take a bit longer. The cost of materials for the below the elbow arm prosthesis is about $300.00. These devices retail for about $1000.00; however, most of them are given away in countries where they are unavailable and badly needed.
“Artificial limb design as we know it today is a 19th century technology that emerged after the civil war,” said Dr. Holder. Every limb prosthesis made today uses “socket technology,” each artificial arm or leg must be manufactured individually for each unique missing limb. A below the elbow or below the knee amputation requires one type of construction. The requirements for above the elbow or above the knee prostheses are more complicated, because a moving joint such as an elbow or a knee must be added to the structure. Every socket prosthetic item must be fitted to the individual and then refitted regularly. Traditionally manufactured prosthetic limbs can cost from a $3,000 minimum to an average of $10,000 to $15,000. An above the knee prostheses can cost $30,000 or more, depending on joint and foot fabrication. The biggest advance in this century was the development of the suction socket after World War II, although there are some new developments such as lighter and realistic looking plastic limbs or the metal flex-foot. By far, the devices built by CZBioMed have the most advanced design and are the most practical to use prostheses available. Fortunately for the beneficiaries of Dr. Holder’s overseas missions, the price remains reasonable.
Dr. Chaz Holder was honored as North Carolina’s Disabled Citizen of the Year and by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, for his technological innovations at CZBioMed Associates. He is an active member of the Amputee Coalition of America and he holds more than a dozen patents for artificial limb design. CZBioMed Enterprises is located at 3005 Marita Drive, Fayetteville, NC 28301, U.S.A., Phone 901-488-4212.
Contact Chaz Holder by email at DBLAmputee@aol.com
Contact Edward Ellis at EdwardEllis100@hotmail.com
Edward Ellis, who has a respiratory disability, has been an advocate for people with disabilities for twenty years. He is President of the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3899, in San Francisco. |
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