In our annual HealthLeaders 20, we profile individuals who are changing healthcare for the better. Some are longtime industry fixtures; others would clearly be considered outsiders. Some are revered; others would not win many popularity contests. They are making a difference in healthcare. This is the story of Cole Galloway, PT, PhD.
This profile was published in the December, 2014 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.
"If you give a baby even a couple minutes a week of joystick driving, they have better cognition and language development, and they learn to walk and crawl earlier."
Cole Galloway, PT, PhD , a professor of physical therapy at the University of Delaware in Newark, was initially skeptical of rehabilitation robotics, but that all changed when a colleague from mechanical engineering department told him about baby-driven robots. Once Galloway saw that a baby could use a joystick to drive a small, mobile robot, he was hooked, and ultimately developed GoBabyGo, a nonprofit project that helps clinicians, families, and others to create low-cost, customized toy race cars to serve as mobility devices for young children.
"If you give a baby even a couple minutes a week of joystick driving, they have better cognition and language development, and they learn to walk and crawl earlier," Galloway says.
The mobility of an infant or young child affects everything in that child's life, from language development to social skills to balance. "The exploratory drive has to develop," says Galloway. "As soon as a child starts to crawl, things will start to change dramatically. After a kid spends a couple weeks crawling, they never look back."
The earlier in life a child gets a taste of mobility, the more normal his or her development is, says Galloway—but when a child is born with a mobility impairment, he or she faces tough odds from day one.
Insurance won't typically cover the cost of a power wheelchair until the child is 5 years old. The cost of a power chair can be thousands of dollars. Additionally, the chair can weigh about 150 pounds, and families may need to install ramps at home or modify a van to accommodate the child.
While Galloway's professional life took off after he was able to demonstrate that a child's mobility could be greatly improved with the use of baby-driven robots, the accolades brought him little satisfaction.
"I went out and talked about this … at conferences, to families and clinicians. The response was a very predictable yet hard to handle reaction. Audiences were very enthusiastic and lots of people asked, 'Where do I get a robot for my child?'
"I always had to tell them, 'I'm not in that business. I'm just a researcher,' " Galloway recalls, and says the experience was depressing.
"Mobility is a human right, and I was dangling it in front of parents, yet not even attempting to follow though. No one except these families was telling me that there was a broken pipeline. It was too traumatic."
Galloway then realized that he wanted to find a way to help these children and their families in a tangible way. Bringing a research assistant with him, Galloway went to a toy store and bought multiple ride-on toy cars. He began altering them so they could be used as mobility devices for children as young as 18 months.
Realizing that he was on to something big, Galloway patented the alterations—and then began giving the devices away for free. GoBabyGo remains a nonprofit organization that operates in conjunction with the university, where Galloway still works as a researcher and professor.
More than 100 families received their devices directly from Galloway's lab, but there are about 20 different programs around the United States. "We'll do 15 or 20 workshops this year. Usually, those workshops turn into program sites," says Galloway. Approximately 500 families have received ride-on cars through these labs, but because instructions for altering the cars are available on the Internet, it's impossible to know how many families have benefitted from Galloway's work.
These devices are affordable and available on demand, if a family can get to a toy shop and a hardware store. "They're all built by the child's family or a clinician who loves these kids. There's no waiting around for a distributer or a manufacturer," says Galloway. Each of these ride-on cars costs around $200, even with customizations, and they can be transported in the back of a small car.
The most rewarding part of this work, says Galloway, is seeing the expectations families have for the disabled child change after they are able to move around and explore. "When they see their kid trying to stand, trying to walk … their perceptions of what their child can do changes."
Lena J. Weiner is an associate editor at HealthLeaders Media.