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UWM to open center for wounded veterans
By Ryan Cardarella
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced plans for the Mobility Challenged Veterans Center (MOVE) on Thursday, aimed at improving the quality of life for wounded soldiers.
The center will conduct research to develop new and more effective ways of rehabilitation for veterans with mobility problems incurred from service.
“We want to return our veterans to a comfortable standard of living,” said Randall Lambrecht, dean of the College of Health Sciences.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore was able to secure a $1 million federal appropriation to support the effort. The center will employ researchers from UWM’s College of Health Sciences and will collaborate with members of the Clement J. Zablocki Veterans Medical Center.
“The men and women that have laid their lives down for us are coming back wounded in many ways. You hear a lot of rhetoric about supporting the troops and this is where the rubber meets the road,” Moore said.
The project will have four main components aimed at improving the quality of life for veterans.
Those components include investing in new technology to improve diagnosis and decision making, designing more pressure-sensitive and realistic mobility devices for veterans, using university manpower to assist in rehab and training programs and improving injury assessment capabilities.
The first MOVE project will focus on developing more efficient artificial sockets for lower leg amputees, who often experience great discomfort with current models.
Ultimately, the center hopes to establish an international think-tank specializing in problem-solving and technological discovery. According to Lambrecht, the center will be operational later this spring.
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