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New Online Tech Forum Takes Off
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L. Vincent Lebbad, RTP |
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Like a wildfire from a spark, a question posted
August 27 to the oandp-l listserv has led to an enthusiastic new
online technician forum. Founders of the forum (www.oandptech.com) are L. Vincent Lebbad, RTP,
and Mark Joyce, CO.
The original post noted that Lebbad was interested in starting a
grassroots technician-based forum. Says Lebbad, "For many years, I
have felt that, as a technician, our profession provides very
little access to education, technical information, fabrication
standards, and just plain idea sharing."
"When I started in this field, the so-called technician' was
nothing more than a practitioner's helper," Lebbad continues. "They
were the people who sanded out the wood quad socket after the
practitioner used his finely honed pull knives to carefully create
an intimately fitting masterpiece. The technician was the person
who cut out all the leather and strapping for braces, but never
corrected the tracings or did the metal bending. That was the
practitioner's responsibility."
Technicians of yesteryear never experienced other ways to
fabricate unless they changed jobs and found that the new shop
"never does it that way," Lebbad notes.
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Mark Joyce, CO, at the computer. |
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Today's progressive labs understand that the
professional technician is an integral component of the patient
care team, says Lebbad. A good technician today is capable of
component selection and understands material properties,
orthotic/prosthetic design concepts, lab production costs, and
inventory management.
However, groups and associations have lagged behind the
evolution of the technician in the O&P industry, according to
Lebbad. "Programs are few and far between. Workshops geared toward
technical skills and fabrication sciences are pretty much
nonexistent."
Within hours of his original post, Lebbad had received 43
responses, and within a week his inbox contained 216 replies
essentially saying, "What can I do to help?"
Lebbad and Joyce Combine Ideas
One of the respondents was Mark Joyce, CO, who convinced Lebbad
he could create a website that would be a setting "developed for us
and by us," as Lebbad puts it.
Joyce started his O&P career when he was 13 years old by
sweeping the floors of the shop his father ran for a local
hospital. "By the time I was 15, I was cutting out and finishing
all the metal and leatherwork for Williams flexion braces,
chairbacks, and metal AFOs," Joyce recalls.
Joyce graduated from the Air Force's Orthotics Specialist course
in 1981 and became a Registered Orthotic Technician while acquiring
the college degree needed to qualify for certification by the
American Board for Certification in Orthotics and Prosthetics
(ABC).
Joyce has kept his love for fabrication. "I fully enjoy
inventing new tools, components, device designs, and fabrication
techniques." Being involved in management, Joyce found computer
skills very helpful. "The computer has become as much a tool for me
as my bending irons, rivet bar, and tape measure." His love of
computers was a factor in his deciding to learn how to create
websites.
He had been thinking about developing a website where
technicians, practitioners, patients, physicians, and therapists
could find information in a format to meet their needs when he saw
Lebbad's post.
During its National Assembly in Chicago, Illinois, the American
Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) provided a conference
room one morning for the new forum.
A group of technicians, along with representatives from the
Western and Midwest Orthotic Prosthetic Association (WAMOPA), the
American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (AAOP), and ABC
joined in a roundtable discussion about the new site.
The forum currently has over 200 registered members and hopes to
develop regional education programs, among other goals. Says Joyce,
"The technician forum is filling up with a nice variety of
fabrication tips and discussions on education and professional
issues."
For more information, visit www.oandptech.com 
Table Of Contents - December 2002
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