Drew Christy inspires Rose-Hulman, Hope Haven technology partnership

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
With help from Hope Haven staffer Mike Neuman (left), Drew Christy takes his second ride on the iHorse simulator Monday at Hope Haven Horse Farm. The device was designed and built by Rose-Hulman seniors Jaqueline Simon (back center), Melissa Montgomery (right) and Nicole Richardson (not pictured). It is one of three new devices unveiled on Monday that were designed by Rose seniors.

Reflecting on her son's year-and-a-half at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Debbi Christy speaks of his kind heart.

Drew Christy, a 2006 South Putnam graduate, was more than halfway through his sophomore year at Rose when he suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of a Feb. 22, 2008 automobile accident.

With Drew's wreck, his time as a biomedical engineering student came to an end. It did not, however, end his ability to help others.

"Drew always wanted to help other people," Debbi said Monday at the unveiling of the Rose-Christy Project at Hope Haven Horse Farm.

The project is a partnership between the therapeutic horse farm in eastern Putnam County and the Terre Haute engineering college in which three teams of senior biomedical engineering students designed new pieces of technology to help Hope Haven more effectively serve its clients.

"This is a way Drew can help other people in spite of being injured," Debbi said. "His focus was research. That's where his heart was."

The research, conducted by nine senior biomedical engineering students, yielded three new devices that Hope Haven will use to improve services it provides to its clients and to better track the progress made by clients engaging in equine therapy.

The new devices are the capstone projects for the students.

The first is a new therapeutic saddle designed by students Candice Sandberg of Plainfield, Peter Doorman of Dyer and Michael Boyer of Richmond.

The saddle provides customizable back, hand and leg support for the riders participating in equine-assisted therapy.

Each of the supports is removable so that riders can us only the parts of the device needed on a particular ride. In this way, new participants in the therapeutic riding can "graduate" from the full support perhaps all the way to riding in a conventional saddle or bareback.

The second device is "The Stable-izer," a vest worn by the horse rider that alerts both rider and therapist when the rider is leaning too far from the vertical position. It was designed by Creasy Clauser of Crawfordsville, Alex Schwier of Lawrenceburg and Tanya Colonna of Broadview Heights, Ohio.

Balance and core strength is an important part of equine therapy, so the clients often have trouble leaning too far in one direction, which can be dangerous on top of a horse. The Stable-izer vest is connected to a pair of sunglass lenses that can clip to glasses or a visor to alert a rider who is leaning too far in one direction or the other.

It does so by utilizing LED lights attached to the lenses as well as a sonic alert if the rider is leaning for too long.

The third project is the iHorse simulator, designed and built by Melissa Montgomery of Alexandria, Nicole Richardson of Janesville, Wis., and Jaqueline Simpson of LaGrange.

The iHorse simulates the hip motion and core muscle activity experienced when a person rides a horse.

Use of the iHorse will make it possible for riders to warm up before mounting a real animal and, perhaps more importantly, will allow riders to continue therapy even when the weather does not allow.

Hope Haven founder Christina Menke is optimistic that the new technologies will move the therapeutic riding industry forward.

As Hope Haven Horse Farm client Will Crane models a new therapeutic saddle, farm founder Christina Menke explains the use of the new saddle designed by a group of three Rose-Hulman seniors.

"We know that therapeutic riding helps our clients, but there's no statistical data to support it," Menke said. "All three of these designs will help get some hard, statistical data of what this (therapy) can do."

She said that while therapeutic riding has become more widespread since it began being used in the 1960s, there has not been documentation of exactly what kind of progress can be made by therapeutic riding clients.

With the new technology in house, Hope Haven is partnering with a pair of northern Indiana therapeutic horse farms to track the progress made by clients with and without the new technologies.

Menke added that some grant money has been secured, but the farm is seeking more partners in the study.

Anyone interested in volunteering with Hope Haven can learn more by calling 317-641-5746 or visiting hopehavenhorsefarm.com.

The farm is located at 10416 E. U.S. 40, Coatesville.

Even with this group of Rose students graduating on Saturday, the partnership with the college is not likely to end. One student from each group is remaining on campus as a graduate student, so Menke hopes to keep in contact with these three nearby partners.

Additionally, Menke and her staff have more ideas of how technology can help their work. She hopes future groups of students may be able to do similar work.

"We'd like to continue collaborating with Rose if they'll have us," Menke said.

It is a collaboration born of Drew Christy's unique set of experiences. Of course, he was a Rose-Hulman student before his accident, but he has also been a Hope Haven client since May 2012.

Debbi had the idea of Rose-Hulman helping with brain injury research several years ago, but said she waited until any students who might have known Drew were off campus, as his friends have had a hard time dealing with the injury.

Then a call to professor Renee Rogge got the ball rolling.

"I called and said, 'Are you guys interested in doing a project with us?'" Debbi said. "Dr. Rogge said, 'I'd been wondering when you were going to call.'"

His parents say the work at Hope Haven has done wonders for Drew's physical ability. The first time they had him on a horse, Debbi said, a crew of six people surrounded him, making sure he couldn't fall in any direction.

She and husband Mark even contemplated whether the Hope Haven program was a good idea for Drew after the first session or two.

A year later, however, Drew rides with just one person assisting, and even that helper not touching him much of the time. Debbi said he likes riding the biggest horse they have at the farm because he feels more independent when he's up higher.

The riding helps loosen Drew's hips and improve his core strength, to name two areas of improvement. With the addition of new technology like the iHorse, the hope is that such progress can continue during the winter months when horse riding is not an option.

Drew has made strides away from the horse farm as well. The Christies moved into a new home with much improved accessibility last year. The new arrangements allow Drew to perform many tasks independent of his parents.

Additionally, the family lives near the People Pathways Fillmore trail, where Drew enjoys riding his recumbent tricycle -- another mark of his independence.

Far from dwelling on the negatives of Drew's accident, the Christy family continues to look for what good can come of a bad situation. By focusing on Drew's desire to help others, they seem to be doing so.

"We want everybody to benefit who is a client here," Debbi said. "It doesn't belong to us.

"We're not going to waste this energy and we're not going to waste this injury."

It is an energy (and an injury) that may wind up helping therapeutic riding clients everywhere.

"We are going to help our kids because we're partial," Menke said. "But we want to help the entire therapeutic riding industry."

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