Inventive Rehab Tech Preserves Amputee’s Job, Way of Life
Mark Ficocelli, an Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission (RSC)
rehabilitation technologist, can be called the “Thomas Edison”
of prosthetic adaptations. Ficocelli tinkered, fussed, fixed and
created various technological adaptations so that Knox County
farmer James McDonald, whose arm had to be amputated at the
elbow after a 2002 equipment mishap, could maintain a family
business and rural way of life dating back six generations.
After his misfortune McDonald went to RSC’s “One-Stop Employment
Center” in Mt. Vernon. RSC helped pay for the farmer’s
prosthetic arm and therapy, which included learning to write,
use tools and open feed bags left-handed and opening and
gripping the prosthetic device with back muscles. However, two
problems cropped up. McDonald’s overused left hand developed
carpal tunnel syndrome, and the mechanical “claw,” while strong
enough to clasp a gallon milk carton, lacked the power to hold
or manipulate the myriad tools used on a farm.
Ficocelli came to the rescue as McDonald’s right-hand man. After
consulting orthotists and mechanical engineers at Ohio State
University, he affixed a pulley and added rubber bands to
strengthen the mechanical claw. The simple adaptation solved 80
percent of McDonald’s gripping issues and enabled him to do
carpentry, plumbing, and operate power tools. Ficocelli modified
chain saws, shovels, even the levers, shifts and such that
operate tractors and heavy-duty equipment. McDonald and others
joined the tinkering, adding their imagination to Ficocelli’s
ingenuity. Most of the modifications were completed in six
months.
Thanks to Ficocelli’s helping hand, McDonald hasn’t missed a
harvest or a milking since he got back up on his feet. This
McDonald still has a farm.
