Joaquim has been a patient at Aquacare Salisbury – Injury Center since the end of March following his life changing injury in December of 2022.
“Joaquim pushes himself each and every session to progress his strength, stamina, and stability with the goal to be as independent and as present in life as possible,” said Brooke Mihalek, PTA. “He has a wife and teenage twins that are active in extracurricular activities where he wants to remain involved.”
In an effort to seek all opportunities available to him, he reached out to ReWalk Robotics to learn more about their exoskeleton and myocycle products to see if he would be a good fit. Thankfully, he is an ideal candidate and with Aquacare’s help, he has gone through the process to receive an in-person trial of the exoskeleton.
“I was able to do a Zoom meeting with one of the representatives to discuss the upcoming processes to be aware of what would be needed from myself and our team during Joaquim’s next few visits,” Jessica Wood, DPT said. “We were able to set up a Zoom meeting during one of his sessions to collect objective data where one of their representatives walked me through each of the measurements they needed to see or collect.”
Mihalek and Wood then completed a training session on the device, using the software, and the training process.
“It was an exciting day when a representative from ReWalk came out to help us complete a trial of the device,” Mihalek said. “Jess and I got to work with the device while it was empty to better understand how it works and its components. Then we were able to get Joaquim in the exoskeleton and have him complete a trial of all the basic skills to evaluate how it fits him and his ability to utilize the device.”
Aquacare and Joaquim are finalizing the remaining paperwork to justify medical necessity so Joaquim can be approved to receive the device.
Aquacare recently found out that Joaquim has been approved for his own ReWalk exoskeleton!
He will continue to work with the Aquacare team to achieve his goals and he will be able to work with the ReWalk team to increasingly use the components of the exoskeleton.
“Now we practice, practice, practice,” Wood said. “Our sessions are dedicated to training with Joaquim in the device so he can learn self-management skills of donning, doffing and skin checks; transfers from sit to stand and stand to sit; and of course walking!”
Congratulations Joaquim!
Stay tuned for updates…