Desiring a Job Well Done Drives Technician’s Skill
By Gordon Zernich Located in a community where many a clock radio
alarm is set to the salsa-meringue beat and shots of espresso
finish off the vestiges of a groggy slumber, Luis Montalvo, RTP,
begins his daily routine.
 Montalvo, owner, manager, and operator of Luis
Proshetics Fabrication in North Miami Beach, Florida, is a good
example of the skilled, conscientious technicians that help enhance
prosthetic outcomes for amputees.
As his day gets underway, Montalvo checks his home office
telephone answering and fax machines for work and purchase orders
and other concerns. He organizes priorities into a daily schedule
for himself and the employees of his ten-year-old family business.
His help and support includes his wife of 31 years, Lilly; his
youngest daughter, Stacey; and her beau, Salvador "Santos" Mendoza.
When business goes into overdrive, he can count on his other two
children, Luis Jr. and Linda, for additional help. Usually he works
about ten hours a day, but, depending on demand, he is no stranger
to working into the wee morning hours and on weekends.
Montalvo started work in 1982 in the shipping and receiving
department in Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital before discovering
his niche in prosthetic fabrication. "I got to know the orthotic
and prosthetic department employees. I became very interested in
what I heard and saw there, so I transferred to that department
when a vacancy opened up. It changed my mind as to what I thought
it was all about. I looked past the negative part of limb loss and
started to notice how cool it was to see someone get back up on
their feet and walk again."
Montalvo decided to start his business fulltime after spending
15 years at Jackson Memorial. He laid the groundwork during his
years there by establishing professional memberships with several
state and national prosthetic and orthotic organizations.
Information Needed for Optimal Socket
As his day continues, Montalvo begins fabrication per work
orders. He may need additional information from the prosthetist.
Sometimes he receives nothing more than the cast of a residual limb
and the name of the company that sent it, so it is up to him to
find out what specifically needs to be done: A check socket? A
conventional definitive prosthetic socket and liner? Suction,
below-knee definitive socket? What?
"I'd like to know the activity level of the patient before I
begin a job," Montalvo says. "Is the patient sedentary? Is he
community ambulatory? Is the prosthesis for a more active lifestyle
or for an extreme user? I need that information from the
prosthetist so I can match the fabrication of the socket to the
patients needs." A skilled prosthetic technician like Montalvo will
do his best to determine the combination and quantity of fabrics
and which resin and how much are needed to make the optimal
socket.
Other Interesting Aspects
Montalvo particularly enjoys requests for laminating decals and
other designs into the socket's fabrication. "Once someone
requested a butterfly design laminated here and there into the leg.
Another request was for a child who wanted a Spiderman-designed
leg. I get a kick out of making them. It gives me an idea about the
persons attitude and motivation. I wish I saw a lot more of
that."
Other projects are more involved. For example, a prosthetist may
do some of the work onsite and then contract the finishing work to
Montalvo. The job may require Montalvo to transfer the alignment
worked out between the prosthetist and client during walking trials
and to finish the prosthesis with an attractive, featherweight
cosmetic covering. "It is ideal to have pictures of the sound limb
to make a really lifelike cosmetic finish, but it is sufficient
when the prosthetist sends me measurements of key areas of the
unaffected limb," he says.
Looks Good and Is Good
It is important that a prosthesis looks good. First impressions
are made from outward appearances, but quality components and
craftsmanship further define a job well done. "If the prosthetist
has to remove the cover in front of the patient to make a small
adjustment, I want them to see clean workmanship and nothing
sloppy," Montalvo says.
Advancing with Technical Progress
Montalvo has seen the extent and scope of technical progress
over the past 25 years and has grown and moved with it. Such
experience, knowledge, instinct, and intuition has led him to meet
and overcome many technical obstacles - small and not so small -
through craftsmanship.
"I try to make the best leg I can all the time," he says. "I
like to be able to go to sleep knowing that what I did was good,
and that I didn't take any shortcuts. When the leg is delivered,
everybody is satisfied." Gordon Zernich is employed at the Veteran Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Miami, Florida. He has recently satisfied the Board for Orthotist/Prosthetist Certification (BOC) requirements for certification and will receive credentialing shortly. 
Table Of Contents - February 2005
|
