BEIJING--Two well-known HME manufacturers are keeping athletes running and rolling during the Paralympics in Beijing.
Otto Bock Healthcare, the Duderstadt, Germany-based maker of orthotics and prosthetics with U.S. headquarters in Minneapolis, has sent a team of 136 technicians from 19 nations to ensure the athletes’ equipment is in top working order for the games, which began Sept. 6 and end on Wednesday.
The technicians are spread among the central main workshop in the athletes’ village and 13 satellite workshops at each competition site. They are called upon to do everything from welding protective braces to 30 wheelchairs to fixing a broken arm prosthesis just before a competition. As of Friday afternoon, the team had provided 1,466 services to athletes, all free of charge.
Meanwhile, the good times are rolling for Team Invacare as the athletes sponsored by the Elyria, Ohio-based manufacturer continue to rack up medals.
By Friday, Invacare-sponsored athletes had amassed 20 medals: nine gold, five silver and four bronze in racing, and one gold and one silver in handcycling. Tennis and basketball athletes were yet to compete.
Invacare and its sports and recreation division, Top End, are sponsoring 18 competitors from homelands as diverse as South Africa and Canada. Top End also customized 240 wheelchairs for the Chinese Paralympic team.