Speaker: A weekend of hope for millions of disabled Canadians and older adult is taking shape at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. It's a one of a kind research facility called iDAPT where physicians, social scientists, engineers and industrial designers will work together to improve the quality of life for people recovering from and living with disabling injuries and age related conditions. Dr. Geoff Fernie is Vice President of Research at Toronto Rehab.
Dr. Geoff Fernie: People want to be able to live in their own homes, they want to be independent, they want to be able to move around, they want to be able to play all the games and continue to work.
Speaker: iDAPT is going to be an amazing place with people from every discipline working together to solve common problems.
Speaker: iDAPT stands for Intelligent Design for Adaptation, Participation and Technology. A $36 million multi-site cluster, new and renovated laboratories, workshops and a state of the art, motion simulator, where technologies ranging from wheel chairs to footwear can be tested in Canadian winter conditions. 3.6 million Canadians live with a disability including John Shepherd.
John Shepherd: From experience I have learned that since there is more than maybe an inch, an inch and a half of snow. I simply can't go outside. So I can't get groceries, I can't go to the pharmacy, I can't do the most basic things.
Speaker: iDAPT scientists and engineers already are working on devices that include electrical stimulation for limbs damaged by stroke and spinal cord injury. Intelligent washrooms that help Alzheimers patients continue to live independently and a pivoting wheel chair designed for cramped homes.
Dr. Geoff Fernie: Some of the technologies that we develop, better walking aids, better wheel chairs, better devices around the home, safer handrail on stairs, safer designs for streets and things.
Speaker: These advances give hope to patients such as Leslee Booth (ph) who suffered a brain injury.
Leslee Booth: iDAPT in my opinion is long overdue, because it is focusing on removing barriers where there are so many for people with disabilities across Canada, like me.
Speaker: Now at the heart of iDAPT is the Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory or CEAL, a subterranean laboratory scheduled to open in 2011, when Toronto Rehab's University Center redevelopment is expected to be complete. CEAL will be one of the world's most advanced facilities for testing new treatments and assistive devices that will be needed in the coming decades when more than one quarter of all Canadians will be over 65.
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