A highly publicized center opened in Texas Monday but sometime this spring, UW-Milwaukee hopes to open its own high tech center to help wounded veterans return to their lives.
The two and a half million dollar Mobility Challenged Veterans Center will be the first of its kind in the state and one of the few in the country.
UWM College of Health Sciences Dean, Randall Lambrecht, says the center will use the newest technology to help wounded veterans, many of them in their 20's, adjust to their new arms and legs.
Current technology will make prosthetic devices as comfortable as possible but researchers and technicians will work on new technology that will make the next generation of devices lighter and easier to use with less pain and further injury.
Dean Lambrecht says there's a greater need for centers such as these because the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan are sending more injured home. For every war death there are 12 wounded and severely injured in need of attention. During Korea and Vietnam that number was 3 injured for every fatality.
Dean Lambrecht says southeast Wisconsin is an ideal site for such a center because there are many companies and organizations that can become future partners in developing new ways to help war vets.