Giving dad a helping hand

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 22:41

Of course I fully appreciated your intention, but society being what it is, life does not work out like that. In defence of all doctors and surgeons the reason they ask for a high salary is very simple. This is what happened in Britain when it offered FREE social services to the majority of the population. The family doctor was being called on home visits,for as one of them said, " For the Doctor to tie their shoelaces" Because of this high demand on the doctor's free services, the doctor was driving around all day in his comfortable fast car! Eventually one doctor realised that he was working much too hard for the salary he was given, so he bought himself a horse and cart and made his home visits with it. His slow pace covered some patients and the others had to wait.The salary was thus related to the work covered. The same with fruit growers, if they lower the price,by increasing production, they would have to work harder for the same gains.If anEngineer had to produce cheap prosthetics,I assure you that there will be a thousand people knocking on his doorstep, with him having no more sleep!.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 18:04

Mr Zammit, please understand that I am not getting upset with doctors , lawyers and others. I am only conscious of the fact that if one operates in the field of pain, death, prison, and finances, and one works very close to people suffering from ailments close to these isssue, then one seems to grow bigger in size than what one really is. It is a characteristics of society, it is society that is the market. It is unfair market forces. It is society which is ignorant of those who work so hard in the background of society, designing and producing wares for their comfort and convenience. I personally blame the EDUCATORS and those who think that education only exists in bookwork and most teachers prefer to teach subjects which they can teach in private on the dining room table. There are headteachers and principals of colleges who never cared much for technology and engineering including science physics and mathematics.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 13:43

Mr Borg. The problem is not theUniversity nor theGovernment Authorities, but the EDUCATORS.There are guidance teachers, guiding students who have no Idea what makes an engineer, where by my own daughter who is an engineer/teacher, was often told by guidance teachers, "I never knew that Engineers also follow mathematics in their course!" Also this new word "technology" is being used by unqualified people who replace the word "technique" by "technology". Many claim to be technologists and can teach many technology subjects without ever following formal university courses,in hard core technology. Even Directors of education accept advice from people who call themselves technologsits when in fact they are not. Many heads of schools/ colleges inMalta, hate anything to do with workshops and laboratories and all the teaching is found in Libraries/books memorising the past, creating nothingexcept theChristmas Pantomine! When on occassions I mentioned the introduction of hardcore engineering subjects, there were those who said" Sorry it is not my cup of tea!" And what about this, in Malta since the Phoenicians came, there was Never a formal Teacher Training Course anywhere to form such Teachers. I was the one who started it, and stopped it, ten years laterdue to, Unqualified Interference!!!

martin calleja

Dec 29th 2010, 20:05

Hello Mr. Bezzina, I thank you for your comment. To start with, I posted a small clip on YouTube about the electric claw so that I show to my friends, that the claw that Luke made me, really works. After a good respose, I had to add another clip, 'The Birth of the Electric Claw' to explain better what it was about and to let Luke take the credit for the job. Personally I am still getting a grip on myself, after I had the accident, I need another shoulder operation, coping financially and have to deal with a court case, which I find a waste of time and it is exhausting me mentally. What I mean is, that we never started all this for any personal gain, but it was a nice gesture on your part to offer us parts. On the other hand, I would be very glad to help others to create something similar for their personal use, if need be. I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you a prosperous new year.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 14:22

I believe that if one claw is larger in area than the other as in the case of a real hand, the gripping of the item would be more secure. In other words, the claw would now contain what is effectively a thumb while the larger area outer claw would represent the palm of the hand, on which friction pads could be introduced. Nature is a wonderful engineer and we should emulate it as much as possible. So many movements may be introduces as Twist, lift, lateral motion, grip with multiple joints, all these multiple degrees of freedom can be introduced, with the use of conventional workshop tools. If only our schools would introduce such ingenuities, I assure all teachers that we get a better reap of students as most students who want to leave school at an early age only want to do so because they are fed up of sitting in class listening to monotonous teachers! Many students are DOERS and adventurers from an early age and implimentation of the ideas in their minds is what they want and not the conventional book work normally preferred by most teachers.The naughty students are normally the doers, the others, followers!

martin calleja

Dec 29th 2010, 21:25

Hello Mr. Pule, I thank you for your suggestions and expertise. Since I lost my right, dominant arm , I came to realise that our body is a marvelous piece of engineering and which is very difficult to replace. What really amaze me is that my 17 year old son has realised this and did not try and recreate my arm but has created a simple claw that it does the job, with very limited resorces, easy and cheap to build, lightweight and besides all, a piece which we can repair ourselves. Rome was not built in a day and that is why we are now on version 1C. If you look closely, you notice that Luke has incorporated a slipping clutch and could do without the limit switches, which I think is a great idea. We know that by time, things will go wrong and it is not the best solution but I can tell you that I had cars costing thousands of Euros in my garage which came for repair! Unfortunately, up to now, I only have my son's hand on the job, with all due respect to everyone.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 30th 2010, 16:40

Mr Calleja,your son Luke has a quality that most teachers do not appreciate.He sees a problem and in his mind he processes and sequence what is before him at the time.He observes a few"observations" and then he links them mentally to achieve a dynamic function. His mentallity is trained to process rather than remember read facts. Many students and teachers cannot do this, and they rely on what they remember. May I suggest that you, as an expert in Cars, your son saw your decision making in deciding what invisible problem ails a car. You yourself go through a complex proces of diagnosing, and then act accordingly. This teaching process does not take place in a class, and most teachers use the read and remember education. Using my own experience in teaching, I can see that your son Luke has a wonderful processing mind. As you said Rome was not built in a day. Luke can work on his own without supervision, he can learn on his own without teachers, though he should head what teachers tell him. The Intelligence that Luke has, is not catered for in Maltese education, and all the praise goes to Luke, father and mother.Prosit

Pule' Carmel

Dec 27th 2010, 20:38

And why should it always have to be a NON PROFIT making organisation when Engineers assist others with their useful/helpful products? Kidney machines have to be bought by non profit making groups and so it goes, while medical consultants always have the higher salaries. 42 years ago when I came to Malta, I worked as a lecturer at the old MCAST. I used to teach the Engineering students taking a BSc at The Univesity of Malta and the Rector Professor Edwin Borg Costanzi NEVER GAVE ME AN ADDITIONAL penny except for £2 for each examination paper that I set. Yet a Medical consultant working at St Luke Hospital, used to go over to the same University to teach the Medical Students, the medical courses and The same RectorProfessor Edwin Borg Costanzi used to give him an additional retainer fee for teaching medical students while I got nothing additional, for my teaching, engineering. Now I would like someone to check the duration of education required to educate a top medical consultant and a top engineering consultant and then check difference in salaries.Is it fair?There is a limit on how much public expects engineers to help others without being recompensated as others.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:28

Cont1.Associated with the pain, death, prison, loss of finances, there are powerful human emotions which enable some professions as, doctors, religious institutions, lawyers, courts of law, accountants, etc, make an above normal healthy profit( to become rich) due to increasing the potent recipe of these emotions, rather than what they actually do to help their “patients”. It is interesting to study the final destination of the finances which is collected from a few thousand good charitable people during li-strina and distributed by the Community Chest fund. It definitely does not go into the patient’s or his/her family’s pockets. It will go into buying medicine, where we know there is a lot of profit in that. If the patient is required to go overseas, then he and his family needs expensive accommodation, and we all know that landlords and landladies normally provide that at a profit otherwise they would not cope with the rates and maintenance. Then there are surgeons and doctors overseas and recently one Maltesepatient claimed paying £25,000 for an operation. Surely there is profit in this, when one considers that a surgeon only cuts, or cuts and transfers parts of our body, he does not create it!

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:30

Cont2.Let us now consider that philosophy of all this social effect. If the patient needs an amputation, as the medical team cannot save the part concerned, then they would refer to that as a SUCCESSFUL operation and they get paid for it much more than the average worker in the demolition industry cutting off bits and pieces. On the other hand if it a transplant, they have to cut it off from another person and transfer by attachment. If on the other hand the part is created, then it requires the intelligence of an engineer as in, hip joints, heart valves, and prosthetics. It is the engineer who creates the part while the medical team attaches it in the right position. I shall not go into the services given by a religious/law team during a pain, death, prison operation but both these professions always asked for a substantial compensation, including land, in the old days. For this traditional lucrative compensation,our hospitals were always supplied with doctors and if the local ones were not happy, they blackmailed, or foreign ones were brought over at a very high salary, or agreement with foreign hospital made at a high profit.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:31

Cont3.Now lets speak from anEngineering point of view.Since the traditional salaries for engineers are always lower than those of medical teams, these vacancies are filled by technicians whose working conditions and compensation are far lower than the medical team and normally maintain a hospital and not create new devices.Engineers if respected, and treated, and compensated as medical teams and top consultants, usually can deliver so many modernhelpful gadgets to replace what surgeons normally, gave up on, and cut off. An amputated hand can easily be replaced by having a number of electrical actuators to replace fingers and a couple of sensors to set their position and grip. Speech synthesis can be used where by, a“CLOSE” spoken sound by the amputee would, would be recognised and would cause the actuators to close and grip an entity, till the pressure sensors decide on the forces to be used.On picking and placing the entity concerned in the required position an“OPEN” sound command would release it.Other sensors may be used.It is interesting that there are sensors which measure sheer, and the forces applied by actuators are just enough to stop slipping.This is the what real fingers do,it is the skin which measures sheer.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:33

Cont4. When I was treated at East Grinstead hospital, after a motorcycle incident, where I broke my jaw and was unconscious for four days, the surgeon who fixed my broken jaw, unfortunately pulled too much on the wires holding an upper plate and a lower plate till my jaw bone “naturally” solidified back. Unfortunately this unequal pulling on one side of the jaw caused my jaw to be slightly skewed. When I told the surgeon about it, he said that it was so difficult to be so accurate in surgery. I told him,“If you had placed a wedge shape plate between the upper and lower plate, then irrespective of the angle of the plate, the upper and lower jaw would have bitten on the plate and there would be no skewing whatsoever!” The top surgeon at East Grinstead looked at me in amazement and uttered softly, “ Now Mr Pule’,that is a bloody good idea”.On seeing the doctor repetitively inserting a heavy “lumbar puncture” needle into the groin of a patient, to extract quantities of fluid, I advised the doctor to put a non return valve and pump it out rather than doing what he was doing.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:34

Cont5. When my brother broke his hip socket,the inner side of the socket caved in and the surgeon informed us that,an operation would play havoc with the urine bladder and other issues placed in the lower groin.There was a possibility that the socket opened fissures at the back would close upnaturally,if one relieved the stresses by pulling the hip ball out. The hospital did it by traction method, through pulling the foot away from the hip. When I saw this,I was not happy as the hip ball was not being pulled at the right vector in both direction and force.The surgeon was respectful enough to give me the go ahead and to do what anEngineer can do.I set up an aluminium frame on Joe’s hospital bed, bought a couple of pulleys and multiple fairleads and tie posts which we used on sailing boats and placed these in multiplicity on the aluminium frame such that, the ankle, foot, knee, and the thigh,could be swung out and down such that the hip ball was pulled out of it hip socket in any direction, releasing all stress from the socket which reformed nicely where Joe could walk out of hospital.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:36

Cont6.Coming back on my East Grinstead motorcycle incident, after a week of the jaw operation, I tried to walk , but I could not, as I collapsed. The medical team quickly took me for investigations and informed me that I had sheared off a couple of control chords in my spine and I have to face the fact that I would never walk again. I cried my eyes out, all alone in East Grinstead where no one knew me. After crying for a whole day, I thought about it and I decided to think as an Engineer and instead of diagnosing the worse scenario I went for what could be a little simpler diagnosis. I thought to myself. “ Could it be that my the heavy collision incident on my motorcycle, not only broke my jaw, not only left me unconscious for four days, not only erased all memory of the incident, but also affected my memory of knowing how to walk. I decided that my brain was not coordinating my lower limbs and so I decided to “reteach” my self how to walk. I politely called the nurse and asked for two different sized balls.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:37

Cont7. Instead of bringing the ballsI asked for,she brought over a psychiatrist whose questioning indicated that he was thinking that I was off my rocker in wanting to learn how to walk.“And what do you want the balls for?” he kept asking me, to which I always replied,“You see I think the doctor is wrong about my backbone, and I think all I need to do is to learn how to walk!!” Eventually he agreed that the balls would be given to me and that I would be taken to the workshop whenever I ask to construct whatever I want to help me walk.As I could not walk,I stayed in bed for three weeks and placing the different sized balls between my feet. I tried to feel them with my toes. And at first,I just could not.As I was Captain and centre half of the Chatham Dockyard football team, I felt so down/low, but I kept trying to feel that blessed bigtoe down there! After four weeks, and a little prayer, I FELT MY TOE, THEN ANOTHER AND AN OTHER TILL I FELT ALL OF THEM ON BOTH FEET. Boy I cried.Engineering won the day, and I walked eversince!

Pule' Carmel

Dec 28th 2010, 05:38

Cont8.As an engineer I assisted many local hospitals on the quiet for 30 years on a “charitable salary” basis, but now let us come down to brass tacks. A few weeks ago, the Times of Malta published the fact that 117 people in Malta earnt more than the President of Malta, These include Air Malta pilots and some Hospital Medical Consultants and CEO of Enemalta and Malta council of Science and Technology,etc. I claim that my period of education and period of experience is a diversity of engineering is much longer than a medical consultant and some of the others, but society being what it is approves such salaries to these people but not to engineers, who build devises for these high salaried personnel. May I now ask the readers to value the salary that is owed to an Engineer!. And if he works in a hospital, what do patients gain out of my engineering services, and how much are they worth, compared to an airline pilot or a hospital medical consultant, who cuts off bits and we replace them by engineering ingenuities?

martin calleja

Dec 29th 2010, 20:49

Sur Micallef, siehbi, lil Luke qalahhielu 't-tifel li bikka lil nohs Malta' izda jkolli nistqar li inti wkoll irnexxielek tohrogli ftit dmugh minn ghajnejja. Luke hu dan li ghid int, meta cemplulna tat- 'Times' u qalulna li jixtiequ jigu u jikelmuna d-dar, ma ghogbitu xejn il-bicca. Izda meta fiehmtu li nistghu naghmlu gid u kuracc lil haddiehor, hemm accetta. Jien naqbel mieghek, li hawn ohrajn li ghamlu gid kbir u ma jissemhawx. Dawn huma nies eccezzjonali u ezemplari, jzda sfurtunatament hadd jew il ftit, jaghtuhom dak li haqqhom. Sfortunatament, meta l-hajja tkun tajba ghalina, nxamru xi ftit imneherna w xi kultant nitilfu xi ftit il-rispet lejn l-ohrajn wkoll, izda ta minn, wiehed ghandu jieqaf u jahseb naqra fuq is-sitwazzjoni u jirrejalizza li l-hajja hija qasira w fl-ahhar minn l-ahhar nidru quddiem Alla sidna bhala ugwali! L-iskop tieghi, f' din il-bicca hu, li nuri li kellu jkun ibni, bla finanzi w rizorsi, li holoqli oggett li tajjibli hajti mmens. Hafna drabi, l-aqwa habib ikun hdejna w ma nindunawx bieh l-ahwa.

martin calleja

Dec 29th 2010, 21:36

Mr. Bartolo, inti veru tah il-valuri tal-hajja. Nirrirgrazzjawk tal-kliem zbieh u tifhir ghax dawn lili jtellawni l-Genna w jaghmluli kuracc kbir. Nikkonsidra lili nnifsi furtunat hafna u jekk ikolli naghzel bejn idi u l-familja w l-hbieb, naghzel kif qieghed issa. Grazzi.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 21:59

Thank you Mr. Borg for the comment you know what it takes. Regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:52

Dear Mr. Cammileri, it is nice of you to comment and your good advise. I am so sorry to hear that you lost your dad at a very young age. I can tell that you loved your dad very much and that you miss him. Hold on to those special times you had together. Just remember that there are others, less fortunate and do not even know their dad. Good luck with your life and best regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:11

I thank everybody for the nice comments as they are very encouraging and for all the help I am given all the time. I am sending you, Mrs. Lupi a special thanks as you helped save my life and I can now spend more precious time with my family and friends. I am always grateful and may God bless you.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:31

Hi Oliver, I thank you for your nice thoughts and for being a friend. As you know, my electric claw which Luke built for me, has given me great possibilities and I wish that Luke and myself with be contacted by others who could and would help to take this further for the benefit to all those in need. It would give me great pleasure to see others using something similar to help improve their their lives and make them happy.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:35

Hi Mr. Zammit, I thank you for commenting, it shows you care. You seem quite technical in the electronic field. I would really appreciate it if you can contact us to help us improve the electric claw. Regards.

Kevin Zammit

Dec 27th 2010, 09:17

Unfortunately I am not an engineer and certain there are people much more capable than I with this stuff but have an interest in small devices and a programmer especially the low level type.

I cannot help with the actual hardware itself although you seem to do very well with that yourself.

The times of malta can forward you my email, if not then post a message here and I'll sort it out. I bought the kit once to start playing with the ATMEL chips but unfortunately its stil there over a year later still in its packaging due to lack of time.

I think the difficulty would be to write a sophisticated program enough that can detect unwanted twitches on the switches.

Like I said I am mostly a developer but "bil kappell l'ghandhi nsellimlek" feel free to contact me and I'll do my best to be of help.

Kevin Zammit

Dec 27th 2010, 09:23

on second thought here's my email: [email protected]

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:39

Hello Mr. Farrugia, We are glad that we touched your heart in a good way. Unfortunately, we are new to prosthetics but I promise that we will consider your order for a new knee! All the very best.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:43

Mr. Galea, I am very proud of Luke and I am always greatful for having him as my son. I would also like to point out that I have a 20 year old daughter, Rachel that has a special place in my heart and that I love very much too. Regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:55

Hello Mr. Muscat, thanks for your comment. I am glad to share my experience a to help bring a lovely feeling to you fellow readers. God bless.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 19:59

Hello Sarah and thank you. All the very best.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:00

Hello Kunjata, thanks for your kind words and all the support you constantly give us all. Regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:39

Hello Daniel, we all thank you for your nice comment. I am personally pleased to have met you and that we are now friends. I am sure that your parents are proud of you too. All the very best to you and your family.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:54

Dear Mr. Koludrovic, I thank you personally, for your nice comment. I would also like to thank you on behave of my son Luke. He is dyslexic and finds it difficult to write personally to you all. On the other hand, I feel obliged to reply to as many of you as possible as I am touched by the warm thoughts of everyone writting. I have to agree with you that 'carity should begin at home' but I am sure that the money is going for a better cause. It would be nice thought if one could come up with an idea to help us with our current financial situation. As things are at the moment, we are struggling to make a living. Regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 21:09

Sur Galea, grazzi tal-kumment tieghek. Ghandna vera biex inkunu kburin ahna l-Maltin ghaliex hawn hafna nies kapaci, kif ghid inti stess. Sfurtunatament, hafna drabi npoggu lilna nfusna f' sitwazzjoni inferjuri u nkunu kuntenti bi prodotti jew kapacitajiet barranin. Hawn hekk naqbel mieghek u hija haga tal-biki u li wiehed ghandu jahseb tajjeb fuqha. Hafna minn shabna stess qed ibaghatu hafna habba din is-sitwazzjoni u mentalita hazina. Dan kien wiehed mill-iskop ghal pubblikazzjoni ta dan l-artiklu, biex nuru li ahna l-Maltin kapaci naghmlu affarijiet tajbin bhal hadiehor jekk mhux aqwa wkoll!

Ryan Azzopardi

Dec 26th 2010, 13:20

A very very big well done luke I only remember you much younger than you are..... you've grown up to be a great man :).... keep up the good work

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:12

Hello Amy, we have met and I have to say that you gave me great courage back then. I was amazed to see you so happy when you had lost so much. I was ashamed of myself for being unhappy with my less severe losses that I suffered compared to yours. I have always remembered you and the others in my prayers as you are still an inspiration to myself. May God grant you what you desire in life. I hope that we can work together in the future to help others. Many thanks from Luke and myself.

Pule' Carmel

Dec 27th 2010, 17:36

Amy I spent nearly 30 years repairing delicate and complex surgical equipment for St Luke Hospital and also, wheelchairs and other walk supporting gadgets, the latter on the quiet. There is great need for prosthetic work in any hospital. I can make an arrangement with the local hospital Amy. Tell the authorities to treat me like, and no less than any top consultant in the hospita,l and I shall transfer my long engineering experience fromthe University to the hospital prostethic unit. But Amy, you know me well, I do not want to be treated and paid as a technician, but as a very qualified engineer who worked as much as any top medical consultant to get my qualifications and experience., and please Amy, tell them not to place my office in the basement near the boiler room, and the dity conditions and stupid salaries that they normally offered engineers at local hospitals. You should have seen how hospital authorites kept their Emergency Generators at St Luke hospital. Amy I know all this from first hand experience. Also you should see the emergency strategy they had in local hospitals.Please do not let me start on this for I will never finish!

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:28

Many thanks for your comment Charles and my thanks for all your help we always receive from you. You are a true and good friend. Regards.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:15

Hello John, thanks for your support. Family and friends has helped a lot and I am thankful to all. Regards.

Eric Camilleri

Dec 26th 2010, 12:24

Well said.
Prosit to Luke and the gentlemanly figure I can see in Mr Martin Calleja. Father and son should take this a lot further.....much further in fact ! Both have the skills, abilities and knowhow to specialize in this field together with the prosthetic specialists and financial help from those who can assist them set up shop (so to say).

To all able bodied persons I make a suggestion. Tie your strong hand behind your backs and try out the frustration for just half a day. Pray you don't need to go to the toilet in that time.
It is incredible how many things we take for granted in life.

Martin Calleja

Dec 26th 2010, 20:25

Thanks Dr. Fenech for your thoughts.
Mr. Camilleri, I could not have put it any better when you suggested how others could be in my shoes for half a day and see what it is like. I have had a lot of help and again, I thank everybody but with a small effort from others, my life could be much easier and I am sure others like myself, too. Please people, try and think more deeply and not take anything for granted in life as these can be taken away from use instantly. God bless.