College Students Developing Device to Help Cerebral Palsy Patients

Two students from the Oregon State University College of Business have launched a plan to start a business to develop and market a device that assists children and adults with cerebral palsy and other disabilities.

The device is called the Spencer SkyArm. It was designed by Jeremy Trebelhorn, a junior at the school majoring in Management Information systems. The other student, Tyler Gerding, handles the business side of their project company, which they call 26th Street Technologies.

The two presented their SkyArm and their business model to their honors Introduction to Entrepreneurship class, which helped them develop a plan to bring their product to the market.

“The arm will not only help people with cerebral palsy but also build support for the entrepreneurship program at OSU,” said Gerding.

The Device

The device, named Spencer after the builders' first customer Spencer Mosley, is a sling device that helps cerebral palsy patients move an arm. The design supports the weight of the arm vertically, which eases the effects of gravity. This has the effect of making lateral arm movement much easier.

The device attaches easily to the back of a wheelchair, and requires no external power source to operate.

The Plan

The students are gathering the resources to produce the first run of Spencer SkyArms. The first run will be distributed to a focus group on their campus. They plan to have 10 Spencer SkyArms completed by the end of the first quarter of 2007.

If you know a child or adult with cerebral palsy, contact a cerebral palsy attorney to find out if the cerebral palsy patient is eligible to obtain compensation that will help cover the cost of therapy or assistive devices.