DETROIT (WXYZ) — Students at the University of Detroit Mercy are making a difference by using skills they learned in the classroom to make life a little easier for people with mobility challenges.
Nursing and mechanical engineering students teamed up for the yearlong capstone project titled Faces on Design. Three teams worked with a client with a physical disability.
They presented the results of their capstone projects at the College of Engineering and Science on Monday.
Pete has multiple sclerosis. His team created a custom shower chair that swivels, slides, brakes and makes it easier to get in and out of the bathtub.
Without it, he said stability and scraping his shins on the bathtub had been an issue.
“It’s just awesome," Pete said of the device.
Hope Sovran was born with spina bifida. Her team designed a device that helps her carry and retrieve items in her wheelchair.
“I thought it was an incredible experience," she told 7 Action News.
Scott Vansumeren, who was paralyzed in an auto crash, now has a device that helps his wife get him in and out of their RV bed.
He told 7 Action News, “Not only did the professors get to see (the students) grow, we got to see them grow.”
Molly McClelland, a professor of nursing explained, “We can have the nurses, who are skilled with anatomy physiology, pathophysiology, they understand the implications of using a wheelchair, they understand the implications of having a chronic disease like MS, and they can take that knowledge work with engineers, who are really skilled in design and innovation and things like that, and they solve a need," she explained.
Megan Conrad, an associate professor in mechanical engineering explained, "We assign them the client and they go out and meet that client and work with the client and their family. And they're able to, with that client, identify what kind of need, what kind of problem they have in their life that they can hopefully help that client become more independent or enjoy some activity that they miss in their life."
As students pointed out during their presentations, projects like these put to use their problem-solving and communication skills. They practiced planning for failure and working to bounce back.
Alena Krolczyk, an engineering student explained, “It’s really cool to see the concepts that we’re learning in school, using the machine shop and physically building something and putting everything we’ve learned together and seeing firsthand, directly with the client how they’re going to interact with it and use it."
She added it's great to see "how excited he’s getting over it and how much it’s really going to help him and hopefully improve his quality of life every day.”
Nancy Sovran, Hope's mom, said, “The compassion and the kindness and the intelligence that (the students) possess is amazing.”
Hope's father, Andrew Sovran, added, "It just makes quality of life better."
