A former Quad Counties resident says he’s getting closer to sending off a prosthetic arm to Brazil.
Jake Boudreau, founder of Kindness 3D, from Louisdale, says he launched the initiative to make affordable prosthetics with a 3D printer, before sending them worldwide to those who don’t have a certain level of access to health coverage.
The says he got the idea through a TED Talk video; an American-based website hosted by doctors, educators and engineers releases free prosthetic designs to the internet.
Boudreau tells The Hawk the person he has been matched with is looking forward to getting the prosthetic soon.
“She’s super excited because it’s pretty unfortunate- she lost her hand in a workplace accident, I believe back in 2012,” he says. “I don’t believe she’s had any kind of prosthetic to date, so this will be a huge impact on her life.”
Boudreau says he’s looking to spearhead the initiative in our province; the cost to build the prosthetic will be less than $100, not including the cost of the 3D printer.
He says it all started with a GoFundMe campaign in November and he started working on prototypes in January.
Boudreau says he wants the project to be able to expand in our province.
“I’m kind of just looking to see if I can get some innovation grants or people interested in the province to fund this project,” he says. “We can move this forward and see if we can get more people involved.”
Boudreau says if he was able to solely put his focus into the project, it would probably take just under a week to build.
He says he’s sending the prosthetic limb to the recipient Apr. 1.