Stroke survivors, other patients benefit from new high-tech rehab in Fraser Health

Robotic tools to help with recovery Getting back to normal after a stroke or another debilitating condition can be gruelling. Fraser Health has new tools to help.

New Westminster, B.C. — Rehab after suffering a stroke or experiencing another debilitating condition can be gruelling, but Fraser Health has two new robotic tools it hopes can improve patient outcomes.

It's all thanks to stroke patient Toan Nguyen, who donated the devices through the Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation after benefitting from their use at other facilities.

For upper body work, as of a few weeks ago, patients are now using the ArmeoPower device, which uses virtual reality to simulate real-life activities, like fishing or grocery shopping.

Guillain-Barre syndrome patient Linda Mesetovic spoke with CTV News at the Queen’s Park Care Centre, where the two devices are now operational, on Wednesday.

She’s been grateful to use the ArmeoPower because it gives her a more active role in her rehab.

“I don’t feel that I’m being tossed and turned and poked and whatnot,” Mesetovic said. “I’m actually doing this myself, yeah. To me that makes a big difference.”

The second device is called the LokoMat.

Stroke patients like Leanne Mork are using it to regain balance and mobility.

Patients climb into an exoskeleton suspended over a treadmill and robotic sensors help move their legs.

“It’s fun,” Mork told CTV News during an interview on Wednesday, fresh off setting a new personal best on the LokoMat in front our camera. “I’m hoping we can keep doing it.”

Given how physically and mentally demanding physical rehab can be, the fact that the two tools incorporate gaming is something staff see as a benefit.

“Some of the games are very real-life based, so things like grocery shopping really get our patients to be more in context, and that really helps with building those neural connections again,” said Melanie Mayede, an occupational therapist at Queen’s Park.

With regard to the LokoMat in particular, the exoskeleton harness is allowing people to participate in certain physical activities earlier than they might otherwise be able to.

“With the robotic device, we are able to see the low-to-moderate level patients, when with the regular harness patients, they’re more moderate to higher level,” said Luke Plesa, clinical practice leader in physiotherapy at Queen’s Park.

And given the devices are expensive and rare, leaders at the facility are grateful for the donation.

“I can safely say if they would not have been donated, it would have been very difficult for us to acquire this technology and have it based at a Fraser Health site,” said Saba Hena, the project leader at Queen’s Park Care Centre.

“We are very grateful to our donor who made this possible.”

While these devices are in use at some private facilities, these two pieces of equipment at Queen’s Park are the only ones of their kind available within the public system in B.C.