Blesma News
Latest news from Blesma, The Limbless Veterans
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The company Open Bionics is about to change the world of prosthetics forever
5 September 2016
A small team of dynamic, young engineers are about to change the world of prosthetics forever. Meet the brains behind Open Bionics. If you were given some Lego and a couple of basic motors could you design and build a makeshift floor cleaner? Joel Gibbard could. When he was seven years old! Impressive though the rudimentary machine was, it was merely Joel’s first step on a journey that, 18 years later, has brought him to the brink of manufacturing a bionic hand that can be 3-D printed in a fraction of the time – and at a fraction of the cost – of current prosthetic device
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MOD News: Mefloquine Single Point of Contact
1 September 2016
On 5th September the Ministry of Defence will launch the Mefloquine Single Point of Contact for current and former Service personnel who have concerns about their experience of Mefloquine (commercially known as Lariam). The MOD takes the health and well-being of its personnel seriously and acknowledges its duty of care to provide the best possible support to them. This service provides information and signposting to a range of services to address their concerns. Calls to the line are confidential and no personal details are retained. Lines are open between 9-5
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Wounded veterans to compete at the Armed Forces Parachute Championships
16 August 2016
Four wounded veterans are to represent BLESMA whilst taking to the sky to compete at the Armed Forces Parachute Championships 2016. The team will consist of Ed Appleby, Alex Slegg, Ryan Goodman and Stuart Sneddon. They will be competing at 4-Way Formation Skydiving against able bodied teams from the Armed Forces. All members taking part have been injured during or after service and between them share only two working legs – Ed Appleby is a single amputee from Exeter Devon, Stuart Sneddon is a single amputee from Falkirk, Ryan Goodman is a double amputee from West Midlands and
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Lieutenant-Colonel Jerome Church Obituary
10 August 2016
Jerome Church became chief executive of Blesma, the Limbless Veterans’ association, on the eve of two wars in which the loss of limbs became a concern almost comparable to that for fatal casualties. The insurgencies that followed the initial military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan featured widespread use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), imposing an insidious threat inhibiting deployment under fire and travel on and off roads. Church had lost a leg to an IED in Northern Ireland but found the determination and humour to live an almost normal life. This inspired him to help sh
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