In Episode 2 of our amputee recovery series, sit down with prosthetist Cary Frounfelter to discuss life after amputation and the realities of prosthetic care. Cary shares his experience working with amputees, explains common misconceptions about prosthetics, and discusses the challenges and opportunities patients face throughout their recovery journey. Whether you are an amputee, a family member, a healthcare professional, or simply interested in learning more about prosthetic care, this conversation provides valuable insight into the rehabilitation process and the importance of individualized treatment plans. Topics Discussed: • Life after amputation • Resources after receiving a prosthetic • Common myths about prosthetics • How prosthetic devices are selected and customized • Challenges amputees face during rehabilitation • The importance of a strong support team • Improving mobility and quality of life • Cary's mission in Jamaica
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Speak to Dr. Vigna for a consultation:
817-809-9023
Greg Vigna, JD, MD | Vigna Law Group
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Suite 102
Los Angeles, CA, 90045
817-809-9023 | vignalawgroup.com
C: Hi, my name is Cary Frounfelter. I started in this field in September of 1989, so I've been in the field for 37 years, enjoy practicing the field of prosthetics and orthotics. So at our office, we normally get anywhere from 10 to 15 new patients a day. And our offices we have two. We have one here and one in Brooksville.
C: This office is located in Largo, Florida, in the heart of Pinellas County, and we have about 70 to 80 patients a day that we normally see. The reason that I started in the field of prosthetics was in 1987, I was in an accident. I was at an accident that had about 20 parked cars at it, and I went out to unhook a chain between two vehicles.
C: And at the time of me unhooking the chain, somebody hit the car in front of me at 75 miles an hour. That pinned me between the two cars, resulting in me to lose my leg right side above the knee. I'm very fortunate that I did not lose both legs. I weighed about 280 pounds at that time. Three months later, when I left the hospital after my amputation, I weighed 115, so I lost 165 pounds in the hospital.
C: I was having such a tremendous problem getting a prosthesis that would allow me to do what I wanted to do that from 1987, in March, when I had my amputation until September of 89, I was at the prosthetic office all the time, carrying my prosthesis back to the gentleman in a box broken, and he would tell me, well, you're just too rough on it.
C: You're demanding too much. And I felt like, so I could still do what I wanted to do, but your prosthesis couldn't. I just needed a better prosthesis. I felt that patients were getting inferior service and care because a person's not being evaluated for what their desires and what they're really capable of. So if a person is capable of reaching certain goals, the prosthesis shouldn't be the specific thing that's holding them back from that.
C: So when I'm evaluating a patient, I speak to the patients, like, what were you doing a month before the amputation? What were you doing six months before the amputation? I really like to get a history of the specific patient so that when I'm designing their prosthesis, it's going to meet their needs. An example would be I had a patient that was taking care of his own lawn two months before he lost his leg.
C: He got a blood clot. Well, I just provided him with this prosthesis. He says he's an above the knee amputee, 74 years old. I delivered his leg on Wednesday. When I went back to his house on Monday, he met me at the front door with a cane. Normally that's a month, month and a half of therapy, but that patient was doing that walking around two months ago before he lost his leg.
C: It's not like that patient was sitting in a wheelchair for a year, getting weaker and not having the strength. It's a very strong man. I like to make sure that we're making the prosthetics that are going to allow the patients to do what they want. The thing is that for me is that I just love trying to help people get back to living their life the way they want to.
C: So everything's not about money. You know? I enjoy helping other people. I mean, I'm sure there's lots of things that I could have done to create the same income or lifestyle that I desire. But I love doing prosthetics because I get instant gratification. Somebody loses a limb, and then a week later I've got them up standing on the prosthesis. To see that look on their face.
C: We had one boy, he was five years old. He goes, I just want to walk one time. And we fit him with his prosthesis. He was running.
G: You know, you raised money for your your charity. So tell us when that started for you and what was your motivation? Obviously, you know.
C: This company called Mind, Body and Soul, or organization called Mind, Body and Soul, and it's run by Hilary Morgan. And Hilary was born and raised in Jamaica. She's a nurse practitioner that went to Morton Plant, and she and I were working together about 16 years ago, the labor and delivery clinic where she was born, they were going to close it, and it's an hour up the mountain.
C: Well, it was not just it was labor, it was labor, delivery and emergency room. So if they closed it, you're an hour from the next hospital.
G: So the components you're, you're trying to raise money.
C: Yeah, for feet, knees and the components.
G: Do you spend 4 to 6 weeks a year there, or?
C: What I do is I go in on a Thursday, I get set up and my clinics are Friday and Saturday, and I'll see 40 patients a day, and I'll get there at 7:00 in the morning and usually leave at 9:00 at night and it looks like a conveyor belt because they're already at the hospital when I get there and they're wrapped around the hospital because they know, because they do it on Jamaica TV live, that I'm coming.
C: And then so if I go in and everybody I cast this time, when I come back in, in 3 or 4 months, I deliver them, I deliver their leg, and then I recast new patients. You recast, deliver, you recast and deliver, you recast and deliver. The only people that can afford prosthetics in Jamaica, and there is a little prosthetic company in Kingston.
C: Their prices are astronomical. They're not licensed prosthetists. They've never been to school. They're terrible. They're paying 15 or $20,000. Jamaica is a third world country.
G: Correct. If there's anyone with discretionary money, donate it to Cary’s amputee clinic. Because, I mean, adults need to walk. Kids need to walk. And fortunately, in this country, Cary might have to fight insurances to get people the prosthetic that they need. But in Jamaica they're basically crutch walking.
C: Yes. It's amazing. I fit so many children there and you’ll watch it change their lives. Or so many adults. I'll meet people down there. I’ll say, well when did you lose your leg? I lost my leg ten years ago.
G: And never had prosthesis.
C: But there's no prosthesis, I can't have one. And they'll come to my clinic and we get them a leg and it's amazing. You know how much therapy we do? You're a physiatrist, you see how much therapy we do on patients. In Jamaica, every below the knee amputee I fit walks out of clinic.
G. Everyone.
C: Everyone. With a cane, not a crutch or walker. With a cane. Every one of my above the knee amputees walk out of clinic the day they get it with crutches. In the United States, that may be about the therapy. No, the day they get it. And then the other thing they do is, I get there at seven in the morning.
C: They all stay the whole day. They all stay and cheer the other ones on.
G: Wow, that sounds like a video. Like a moment.
C: There's lots, if you look on Mind, Body and Soul, you'll see it. Yeah, pretty, pretty amazing. We bring patients in here to be evaluated for whatever the diagnosis is coming from the referring physician. And then we follow the procedures trying to meet the patient and the referring physicians. So we take care of a lot of patients that have lost limbs due to multiple reasons.
C: Some of the patients have lost their limbs due to blood circulation, PVD, some of us can be contributed to diabetes, smoking. Could be hereditary, but still the circulation becomes the issue that leads to wounds and then eventually to infections that leads patients to the amputations. That's the majority of our amputations. We do still have trauma, whether the person's either in a vehicle or in a some type of work accident, as well as it could be military.
C: We do take care of this office, Bay Pines, and James Haley, which is two VA's. So we do get a lot of veterans here at this particular practice.
G: My goal as a lawyer is simply to maximize recovery, and all I can do is work to get the best financial outcome. But part of that is always to ensure that my client has choice, and that choice involves seeing the best doctors, having the means to to get the the legs and arms that they deserve.
C: Exactly.