It was a great honor to initiate twelve of the next greatest Orthotics and Prosthetics clinicians by awarding them their white coats. The white coat is a symbol of the care provided to patients and deserves to be respected and revered. Our first semester students will begin their training in direct patient care starting in the Spring, and when they graduate in December of 2021, they will be prepared to provide the highest level of patient care and make IIOP proud.

We had an esteemed guest join us, Rachel Friddle-Johnson, CPO and President of ABC’s Board of Directors, who happily addressed our future clinicians about their upcoming journey towards their chosen career. Motivating the students, she highlighted the recent changes to the board exams, education levels of clinicians, and the myriad of technological advancements that future clinicians will soon embrace. She spoke from a wealth of experience and history in the profession and graciously welcomed the students to South Carolina if they ever wanted to tour the Friddle’s Orthopedic Appliances facility.

The audience looked a little sparce, but not for lack of interest. COVID-19 prevented us from inviting friends and family from attending in person, but they didn’t miss out entirely. IIOP used the ever-popular Zoom to live-stream the ceremony to dozens of guests. Also present were the faculty and staff, excited to support this impressive group of students. Presenting the ceremony was Francesca Cicchetti, who had many words of wisdom while she and her classmates are preparing to graduate in a few short weeks. The “senior” class as we call them helped don the coats, and pinned their lapel, or as Francesca would say “help put on their new superhero capes.”

IIOP’s blog is now proudly being represented with the top 30 prosthetic blogs in Feedspot’s “Top 30 Prosthetics Blogs and Websites To Follow in 2020”. Other entities featured on the ranking include ISPO International, Amputee Coalition, and partial finger prostheses manufacturer Naked Prosthetics. IIOP is thrilled to have our news and students featured on this platform, and hope that our mission reaches curious minds from around the globe. Please check out the full list of blogs at https://blog.feedspot.com/prosthetics_blogs/ and be sure to keep up with IIOP’s blog as our student’s are hard at work at their clinical rotations.

IIOP students had the opportunity to feel what it’s like to use the C-Brace microprocessor-controlled stance control KAFO by Otto Bock this morning. Being able to understand how the device functions and patient requirements are crucial to have positive patient outcomes. A special thanks to Gerry Stark, who Zoomed in and presented the C-Brace technology to the class, while Carl brought the KAFO tester to fit each of the students and feel the real thing! The students enjoyed being able to adjust the resistances of the orthosis and will enter the field with first-hand knowledge on this very up-and-coming technology.

IIOP was thrilled to welcome the team from Blatchford to tour the facility and meet with the students this week. Blatchford is one of the foremost prosthetic and orthotic manufacturers with a focus on research and education, as well as patient success. They caught up with the students while they were fitting their custom knee-ankle-foot orthoses and were even willing to break social distancing for a moment to take a group photo. Blatchford will be returning to expose the students to their line of prosthetic knees and feet for their transfemoral prosthetics projects in the coming months. We appreciate their support and welcome them back always.