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Segways offering disabled vets more mobility

The last time Erick Castro went to an amusement park with his wife and 2-year-old son, he paid to get them in and left. Walking around for hours was simply too much for the former Army sergeant who lost a leg while in Iraq.

But recently, Castro, 27, received a Segway personal transporter and his life changed. He can get to his classes at Arizona State University with more ease and do a lot of the little things, like get the mail, that were once difficult.

Best of all, “now I can stay at the amusement park,” he said.

Castro is among 56 veterans who have received a Segway from Segs4Vets, a charitable group headed by a disabled businessman.

The group is in the process of giving away 42 of the stand-up electric scooters to disabled veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last 17 of those will be awarded Wednesday at a ceremony in Arlington, Va.

Although not approved as a medical device, disabled veterans report that the Segways give them greater mobility. Therapists say they could be part of a future movement for the industry because they force troops to stand longer, which helps them in getting used to their prosthetic limbs.

”We’re in the walking business,” said Mark Heniser, a physical therapist at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. “We are giving these guys ... knees with microprocessors that cost tens of thousands of dollars. We want them to use them. This will help them walk more efficiently.”

Segs4Vets was created by St. Louis businessman Jerry Kerr, who suffered a spinal cord injury nine years ago. Kerr, a home builder and real estate developer, shattered a vertebra in his neck in a diving accident at his lake house in 1998. After years of therapy, Kerr regained the ability to stand and has some control of his hands but can hardly walk.

Kerr, 53, was among the first to buy a battery-operated Segway, shortly after the device was introduced in 2001. He used it around his house for everyday getting around and for trips, such as when he toured Yosemite National Park. He liked being able to talk to people eye to eye despite his injury.

And something else happened.

“The more I used it, the stronger I got,” Kerr said. “All those balancing muscles that disappeared started coming back.”

Hearing about soldiers and Marines who lost limbs fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan got Kerr thinking about how he could help. He wanted to honor their sacrifice and see if they also could benefit from Segways.

“When you see guys use it [for the first time], you see light bulbs go on, you see joy on their faces,” Kerr said. “You take a guy with his legs chopped off, and joy is a scarce commodity.”

Segs4Vets also has donated seven machines to military medical centers so physical therapists can evaluate and train injured veterans for the program.

Recipients are chosen by a committee that includes a retired Air Force general. The committee considers in part how much a Segway, which retails for about $5,000, will improve a person’s quality of life and mobility.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has evaluated the Segs4Vets program but has yet to offer an opinion on their therapeutic value. VA is considering testing Segways on older veterans who have a wider range of disabilities, said Kendra Betz, who led the VA team that performed the evaluation.

Heniser, who evaluates and trains Segway-using patients, said the machines help injured veterans stay on their feet and out of wheelchairs.

Joy Ilem handles health-related issues for the Disabled American Veterans, a Washington-based lobbying and service organization. She questioned whether Segs4Vets recipients would overuse the devices. Clinicians often shun electric wheelchairs and scooters in favor of walking or manual wheelchairs so patients increase stamina and independence, Ilem said.

“It’s not being mean; it’s wanting them to be as physically fit as possible,” she said.

Veterans who have used the device say it has made their lives easier and less painful. And, they say, it allows them to work toward goals instead of on mere mobility.

Ryan Groves was a Marine infantry squad leader when a rocket attack in Fallujah on Oct. 17, 2004, mangled his legs. He lost one leg, and the other is fused at the knee.

Today, Groves, 27, is taking law classes at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where a five-minute walk for most people takes him 15 or 20 minutes. And at the end of it, “I’m usually hurting pretty good,” he said,

The Segway, which he had painted Marine red and gray, has made “a huge difference,” he said.

“I can zoom from the parking lot to the library in two minutes,” he said. “There are events I go to where everyone’s standing up and socializing and talking, where if I had to walk, I wouldn’t feel like doing that. With the Segway, I have a little more time for standing.”

Kortney Clemons, 27, who studies at Penn State University, rejects the idea that more walking, or using a wheelchair, might be healthier.

Clemons lost his leg in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad and now hopes to compete in the 100-meter dash at the Beijing Paralympic Games in 2009. His Segway “saves my energy for the end of the day so I can run and train,” he said.

Some Segway recipients say they just prefer standing up to get around.

“If I’m in a wheelchair, people look down on me and think, ‘Aw, too bad,’” Castro said. “Now I’m in a Segway, they think it’s cool.”