Longtime Point Loman Dave Purcell is working on his fifth start-up company, Prostar, which is busy outfitting LifeWalker Upright, an improved walker to assist the aging and disabled.
\nPurcell, age 77, and his wife, Jean, have lived in the Peninsula for 34 years. The couple have been retired 12 years and had no intention of getting back into business.
\nBut “something” came up.
\nThat something was serious problems that Jean, who has had 16 spinal surgeries as well as rheumatoid arthritis, developed with her walker, which she relies on.
\n“My wife\u2019s been using a walker for several years and she\u2019s fallen on it, and that\u2019s hard to take when you love someone and what she depends on is inadequate, having to walk behind it and not feel safe,” said Purcell. “I thought, \u2018I could do much better than this.\u2019”
\nThe problem Purcell decided to tackle was a real one. According to the National Council on Aging, one-third of Americans aged 65 and older fall each year.
\nThere also was the challenge of improving upon a device many older people need to get around.
\n“Walkers haven\u2019t changed (much) since 1953 when they were invented, more than half a century ago,” Purcell pointed out. “That\u2019s crazy.”
\nSo Purcell “attacked” the problem of redeveloping the classic walker. He pulled in experts and advisors in design engineering from his previous companies and UCSD Medical Center healthcare professionals specializing in orthopedics and spine surgery.
\nTogether, Purcell\u2019s team discussed safety needs in the design and how to incorporate the proper ergonomics (efficiencies) while balancing function and comfort.
\nDr. Steven Garfin, a board-certified and world-renowned orthopedic surgeon and a member of Protostar\u2019s advisory board, also played a significant role in these discussions.
\nSafety was Purcell\u2019s top priority. Consequently, he undertook a video, with his wife as the subject, the results of which revealed many shortcomings with the design of the existing mobile devices.
\nThrough several videos, Purcell began to understand the safety issues and the flaws of existing walkers and applied his learnings to develop concept drawings and specifications for Protostar\u2019s walker.
\n“I used the computer to come up with a 3D design,” said Purcell adding that led to development of a mock-up of a better walker that users were then able to “test drive” for him to make further refinements.
\n“We had people try out the mock-up and say what they liked and didn\u2019t like about it,” Purcell said. “What they said was they didn\u2019t like walking behind it and pushing it like a wheel barrow, which they felt was unsafe, saying it (walker) needed to more upright. They tried the new walker, loved it, thought it was improved. A couple of them wanted to take it home.”
\nPurcell said the objective is now to move forward with creation of an actual prototype walker.
\nPurcell has filed for patent protection for the new device. He\u2019s also formed a limited liability company with a board of directors to launch his prospective new start-up.
\nThe LifeWalker Upright\u2019s purported enhancements:
\n– Armrests that provide stability and support;
\n– Weight off-loaded from the spine, hips, knees, ankles and feet;
\n– Walk longer and farther;
\n– Improve your general health with exercise; and
\n– Stand upright and see the world again.
\nWhat are the next steps for Purcell with his new-and-improved walker?
\nProtostar launched a Kickstarter campaign (www.kickstarter.com) on Sept. 10 to raise $150,000 to bring the device to market.
\n“It will be sold in clinical settings \u2013 hospitals, rehabilitation centers, skilled- and assisted-living facilities and by physical therapists,” said Purcell of LifeWalker Upright, adding, “We\u2019re going to Europe to set up distribution there.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Longtime Point Loman Dave Purcell is working on his fifth start-up company, Prostar, which is busy outfitting LifeWalker Upright, an improved walker to assist the aging and disabled. Purcell, age 77, and his wife, Jean, have lived in the Peninsula for 34 years. The couple have been retired 12 years and had no intention of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":268502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Point Loma entrepreneur inspired to create new walker","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}