Robotic rehabilitation technology is helping patients at Fraser Health

New Westminster, British Columbia –

Rehabilitating after a stroke or other debilitating illness can be grueling, but Fraser Health has two new robotic tools it hopes can improve patient outcomes.

All thanks to stroke patient Toan Nguyen, who donated the devices through the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation after they were used in other facilities.

For several weeks, patients have been using the ArmeoPower upper body device, which uses virtual reality to simulate real activities such as fishing or grocery shopping.

Linda Mesetovic, a patient with Guillain-Barre syndrome, spoke to CTV News on Wednesday at Queen’s Park Care Center, where both devices are currently in operation.

She is grateful to be able to use ArmeoPower because it allows her to take a more active role in her rehabilitation.

“I don’t feel like I’m being thrown, knocked down, poked or anything like that,” Mesetovic said. “I actually do it myself, yes. For me it makes a big difference.”

The second device is called LokoMat.

Stroke patients like Leanne Mork use it to regain balance and mobility.

Patients climb onto an exoskeleton suspended above a treadmill, and automatic sensors help them move their legs.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Mork said in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday, fresh from setting a new personal best on the LokoMat on our camera. “I hope we can continue this.”

Given how physically and mentally demanding physical rehabilitation can be, the fact that these two tools include games is seen as an advantage by staff.

“Some games are very based on real life, so things like grocery shopping really allow our patients to become more familiar with the context, which really helps with re-building neural connections,” said Melanie Mayede, an occupational therapist at Queen’s Park.

Specifically, in the case of LokoMat, the exoskeleton harness allows people to participate in certain physical activities earlier than would otherwise be possible.

“With the robotic device, we are able to treat patients with low to moderate levels, whereas patients wearing regular harnesses are at moderate to higher levels,” said Luke Plesa, Clinical Practice Manager for Physiotherapy at Queen’s Park.

Given that the devices are expensive and rare, facility leaders are grateful for the donation.

“I can confidently say that if they had not been donated, it would have been very difficult for us to acquire this technology and place it in a Fraser Health facility,” said Saba Hena, project leader at Queen’s Park Care Centre.

“We are very grateful to our donor who made this possible.”

Although these devices are used in some private facilities, these two pieces of equipment at Queen’s Park are the only devices of their type available in the public system in British Columbia