The George Brown College Prosthetic & Orthotic programs has supplied personnel for the Prosthetic and Orthotic profession for over thirty years. It has the only full-time technical training program in Canada and one of three in North America. Throughout the seventies the program had an optional third year that was clinically based. After the inception of the two year Clinical Methods in Orthotics and Prosthetcs program in 1979, the optional third year was discontinued.
The first class was selected in the Spring of 1970 and the Prosthetic-Orthotic Technician Program began the following September. At that time, the program was based out of the Casa Loma Campus at George Brown College. Due to the lack of available space at the Casa Loma Campus and the lack of proximity to a patient care facility, both of the College's Prosthetic & Orthotic programs moved to West Park Hospital (Weston) in the summer of 1981. In the summer of 1995 the programs moved to the Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and are currently located in the Sunnybrook Centre for Independent Living (SCIL). Over 8,000 square feet of space was renovated and allocated solely for the programs use. The programs are now located in one of the best facilities for Prosthetic & Orthotic education in the world.
The George Brown College Prosthetic-Orthotic Technician Program is the only technical training program in Prosthetics and Orthotics in Canada. It is a two year diploma program which accepts twenty-five students each year. All students entering the program have at least the equivalent of an Ontario High School Graduation Diploma. Many also have varying degress of work related experience or have completed a previous University or College program.
The Clinical Methods in Orthotics and Prosthetics Program evolved out of the current two year Prosthetic-Orthotic Technician Program. Due to the natural progression of the profession and the demand for higher skilled clinical professionals, a strong movement formed to initiate a new program solely dedicated to the development of clinical skills necessary to enter the Prosthetic and Orthotic profession. In the late 1970's, the following group of individuals were instrumental in the creation of the program:
Dr. Geoff Fernie, Ph.D., P.Eng.,
Karl Ruder, C.P.O., F.C.B.C.,
Jack Bradbury, C.P.O., F.C.B.C.
Dieter Bochmann, C.P.O., F.C.B.C,
Guy Martel, C.P.O., F.C.B.C.
The program's first class was selected in the Spring of 1979 and the program began the following September. The program's first two years were based out of the Casa Loma Campus at George Brown College with clinical sites at West Park Hospital, and the Ontario Crippled Children Centre (now the Bloorview MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre) in the Toronto region, and Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals in Hamilton.
History of the Programs
