The new evaluation unit of the Veterans Administration's Rehabilitation Research and Development Service.

Technology has much to offer the physically or sensorially impaired veteran in overcoming the handicaps that disabilities and environmental barriers may cause . But successful technology applications require both creative research and deve!opmmnt and effective production and distribution . To discuss evaluation, it is necessary to consider itaro!nina!! phases of this complex process. The basic function of the VA Rehab R&D Evaluation Unit is to assist the VA Rehab R&D Service in its prime role of making effective devices and techniques available to veterans -each of whom is unique in the nature of his disability and personal desires . The unit will concentrate on evaluation as one of the major elements in the research, development, production, and distribution process . Its activities and relationships are analyzed in the schematic diagram (Fig . 'What accompanies this writing, Autheendof1984approached, tkeVeterans Adminio' 1ration'anewRehabR&DEvuiuetionUnithada!readyotarteU to mobilize personnel, assets, and resources for the evaluation of nine devices and an animal aide concept . In some of the projects involving devices, prototypes were already in production in quantities required for clinical field testing. Table 1 lists the year-end lineup and status of the Evaluation Unit's work. The role of the new VA Rehab R&D Evaluation Unit in the evaluation process is well illustrated by the case of the VA Seattle Foot . This new prosthetic foot was de*eloped by Dr. Ernest Burgess, Director of the Prosthetic Research Study at the &4Medical Center inSeattle, VVaah' inA1on.xviththemnsin!anoeofanengineerwhoiofamihar with contemporary advances in materials technology . The result of their collaboration is a prosthetic foot that employs a plastic keel (really a kind of leaf spring) embedded in a cosmetic foam foot . The keel deflects with the foot under load, storing the amputee's stance energy, and then returns that energy when the amputee steps off his foot, giving himanot!ueab!e^puoh^ TheaoUoniaeomevvhat!ike1hat of the intact Achilles Tendon . Amputees report improved and quicker gait and increased agility in sport activities. The VA-Seattle Foot evaluation is the farthest along of the Evaluation Unit's current projects, and the highlights of this evaluation (summarized below) provide some insight into the creativeness and complexity that are involved in orchestrating such a program on the scale necessary for even a relatively simple device.