Kyra Velett's Blog https://www.360oandp.com/kyra-veletts-blog.aspx Copyright 2009 360 O&P 120 info@nospam360oandp.com mojoPortal Blog Module V 1.0 Haiti http://www.360oandp.com/KyraVelettsBlog-1938-haiti.aspx Mon, 03 May 2010 19:18:20 GMT http://www.360oandp.com/KyraVelettsBlog-1938-haiti.aspx http://www.360oandp.com/KyraVelettsBlog-1938-haiti.aspx I found something interesting while sitting at home in front of the TV last night, Sunday night. Extreme Home Make-over filmed an episode about a family who adopted amputee children from Kazakhstan. The kids were absolutely adorable. There was even a part of the episode that showed how one of the little girls, a tri-lateral, meaning no legs and one arm, donated her previous prosthetic legs to children in Haiti. The little girl was so overwhelmed with emotion  to see that her old feet were now going to be put to good use in a country terrorized by earthquakes and extreme misfortune. Of course, I cried.

 Living in Florida, I have received various phone calls from practitioners in hopes that my company can supply them with feet, knees and whatever other prosthetic componentry that they could have for free to use to fit Haitians who are now amputees due to the earthquake.

 A few weeks ago a CPO in South Florida called me. He was fitting a man who lost his leg as well as his entire family in the quake. This CPO told me that the Haitian man sat with his wife who was completely covered in debris from a building, holding her hand, waiting for her to die. There was nothing anyone could do to save the woman. The rest of the mans family was killed as well. Now, alone and with nothing, he has been brought to Miami to receive medical attention as well as a prosthetic device. Luckily I was able to send him a foot.



Kyra Velett  ...]]> Freezing in 2010 http://www.360oandp.com/freezing-in-2010.aspx Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:18:18 GMT http://www.360oandp.com/freezing-in-2010.aspx http://www.360oandp.com/freezing-in-2010.aspx After a very relaxing holiday vacation(s) I am starting to get my butt in gear and set out on the road once again. Last week I was in Tallahassee and Southern Georgia. It was 9 degrees in Thomasville Georgia when I awoke on Tuesday morning. The majority of my life has been spent in sunny, warm Florida and I can honestly say that I am just not used to this sort of weather. I am also not used to all the clothing that is required for these temperatures. During in-services when I would go to pull products from my bag they too were freezing from being in the car all night.

I am looking forward to my future travels in this New Year primarily because of two new products we offer that truly enhance the life of the amputee: the Elite Blade and the Echelon. The Echelon foot especially is considered to be game changing in the world of lower extremity prosthetics! The use of a hydraulic ankle ontop of a carbon fiber foot allows for the patient to very easily walk up and down hills, ramps and stairs with much less effort then wearing a fixed ankle conventional foot.

The Elite Blade is a running foot and an everyday foot combined. The reason for this is so that the patient does not have to switch the prosthetisis to go for a run and then switch it back again for normal everyday activities, it's one foot that does it all!

The advancements in prosthetics has been amazing to watch over the last four years of my career in prosthetics. So...make sure you are up to speed on your prosthetic technology for 2010 and learn about these new life changing products. Endolite.com



Kyra Velett  ...]]> It's a small world. http://www.360oandp.com/its-a-small-world.aspx Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:07:53 GMT http://www.360oandp.com/its-a-small-world.aspx http://www.360oandp.com/its-a-small-world.aspx  

From October 9th until October 17th my good friend, Alicia and I went to Italy.
Being that I had never left the country, did not have anything tying me down, like a husband or children, plus the fact that I had a little bit of money saved, I thought, “Ok, maybe now is the time to go.”
 
It was truly an experience that will be impossible to forget. Alicia and I flew into Rome and spent the week seeing all kinds of fantastic things in Rome, Tuscany, Florence, Venice, Verona and Assisi. We started our week in Rome, first heading to the Coliseum, then to the Sistine Chapel and then the Vatican city. We rode in a bus with our tour group north to Venice. During our time in Venice we saw the Murano glass factory, where much of Italy’s glass is made and then took a 45 minute boat ride to the Island of Burano. After Venice, we hoped back into the bus and headed south to Florence and Tuscany and then to Verona, where the famous Romeo and Juliet story originated. Our last stop was the small mountain village of Assisi. We finished the tour in Rome and I arrived back in Tampa at 1:30am Sunday morning after 2 delays and one missed flight.
 
It was very hard for me to wrap my head around the monstrosity of some of these buildings I saw. Pictures and words cannot describe Italy, my experience was refreshing and exhilarating. The music, the wine, the food, the people, the culture is and was truly amazing. For 25 years I’ve grown up knowing only this country I live in, and last week I was dropped into another world, a beautiful world. Even the long bus rides from city to city were enjoyable because of the exquisite views of the countryside.
 
I am already counting down the days until I can go back and explore the other Italian cities in which I did not have time to see. We did not explore Italy by ourselves, but with a tour group of 50 very interesting people. We had some cool people and some not so cool people. We had people of all different shapes, sizes and colors, ages, and personalities.
 
However, we did meet a very nice couple from Australia, Michelle and Joe. Michelle is an elementary school teacher and Joe, a retail manager. After asking about whether or not they have seen any great white sharks, salt water crocs or a number of other things we’d seen on the Discovery channel, we got to talking about prosthetics. Once I had told them that I was a prosthetic sales rep, they began asking me a lot of questions.
 
Their 2 year old cousin had recently become a bilateral amputee. They quickly admitted not knowing too much about prosthetics or amputees. They voiced their concern for their young cousin and described to me how he has been using his upper body and arms to crawl around on the ground. I told them that I had a contact in Australia at a distribution center and I would be happy to email him and possibly find out who in Sydney would be a good CPO for their cousin to go see. I was truly happy knowing that I may be able to help this couple and their family out.
 
Not in a million years would I guess that I would go on vacation in Italy and meet a couple from Australia fearful for their cousin’s future. Now that I have been in the industry for almost 4 years, I can say that I know a little bit that could go along way in the case of this Australian couple. I plan on keeping in contact with them to make sure that their little cousin is properly taken care of.












Kyra Velett  ...]]> Welcome to my blog... http://www.360oandp.com/welcome-to-my-blog.aspx Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:29:49 GMT http://www.360oandp.com/welcome-to-my-blog.aspx http://www.360oandp.com/welcome-to-my-blog.aspx Hello! My name is Kyra, and I am a new 360 O&P blogger. Being that I am the Southeastern prosthetic sales rep for Endolite; you can expect to read mostly about my travels throughout my territory, whats new in prosthetic technology, and everything that I think is worth writing about. I have approximately 400 customers within my region, so I meet many people and see new things on a daily basis. I hope you enjoy my little stories, and I cannot wait to hear your feed back! You can expect my first real blog by the end of the week.



Kyra Velett  ...]]>