By Mark Robbins
A Marine lost both hands and still wanted to ride a bicycle, but his prosthetic hands made it difficult for him to shift gears. He later received a new device that allowed him to give a command to a microphone that he was wearing, and the gears shifted up or down as needed.
A Soldier was blinded while on patrol and wanted to continue skiing after leaving the military. Instead of being tethered to a rope or having a guide yell instructions on a noisy ski slope, a special vest was made with vibrating discs controlled by a guide to let the skier know to turn, slow or stop.
A veteran who lost her leg wanted more flexibility when using her wheelchair. She asked if it could be modified to turn into a walker. Now, she has that wheelchair/walker that can be easily converted in seconds.
Each of these projects—and hundreds more—have been designed and built by college engineering students through a collaboration with the Quality of Life Plus (QL Plus) Program. QL Plus is a nonprofit organization that seeks out veterans and first responders with disabilities who want to partner with student engineers to build devices that cannot be found through the VA or from other sources.
These one-of-a-kind devices promote active lifestyles and help veterans and first responders to navigate their new everyday lives. It creates a connection to their community as an active participant.
Founded in 2009, QL Plus now works with engineering schools at 25 universities across the country. QL Plus harnesses STEM student innovation to improve the lives of injured American veterans and first responders. Bringing together the bravest and brightest helps to identify important challenges and discover new, innovative technology solutions.
Each university is assigned one or more projects, which then gets turned over to a team of 2-8 STEM students. The Challenger, which is what QL Plus calls the veteran/first responder, then meets with the students to discuss the idea, provide feedback on the design, and adjust the final product to build a truly customized one-of-a-kind, life-changing assistive device.
All of this is done at no cost to the Challenger. Meetings are held by video calls, but if a Challenger needs to go to the campus for measurements, fittings, etc., QL Plus covers those costs.
For the university students, these projects are part of their Senior Capstone Project, which is required for graduation. They work with their faculty advisors and outside mentors to design and build a device that best fits the needs of the Challenger. But beyond their coursework fulfillment, these students are fulfilled personally by being able to work on something that genuinely makes a difference to those who have served our nation.
There were more than 60 projects that QL Plus student teams worked on during this past academic year. In addition, the first National Design Competition was hosted by QL Plus, and eight student teams participated. Their goal was to create a cooling socket that would be more comfortable for those with prosthetic legs. The top three schools in the competition were George Mason University (first place), University of Dayton (second place) and University of South Florida (third place).
More information on QL Plus can be found at qlplus.org. Click on Get Involved if you would like to apply to be a Challenger or Mentor. You can reach out to QL Plus at [email protected].
Mark Robbins is the executive director of the Quality of Life Plus Program. He has worked with veteran-supporting organizations since 2008.
Read more articles for the veteran community here.
