WHMC unveils Wally the Walker

COLFAX - WSU senior engineering students presented their finished model of Wally the Walker to Dusty farmer Daniel Moore outside the Whitman Hospital and Medical Center (WHMC) Therapy Services offices Tuesday, May 2.

The project, which Moore stated they'd been working on all year, started with a book he had started writing for his daughter when she was five or six from picking up balloons that would get stuck in fence posts outside their farm. He would put the story away for 25 years before his daughter had her son JP.

"JP was born with Malan syndrome," Moore said, explaining that it made it where he can't walk or talk well.

Moore had been babysitting one day, and the neighbor came over. JP put his hand to the window, so Moore's first book, "Billy the Balloon," came to his mind, JP, the main character.

Moore's other two stories would follow right after, which he stated he ended up writing within two weeks of each other.

The story of "Wally the Walker" mapped out a farmer's journey to discover where a balloon came from that had blown onto the character's farm and his search to help a little boy walk.

One night, a storm pointed the farmer toward a shop that a couple who were occupational therapists had bought the balloon from, with a daughter who needed help walking too.

The farmer and couple create a walker for little kids from donated walkers and old golf handbag carts to help their children.

"This next stage, it all became real," Moore said, explaining that a group of people collaborated to make the real-life Wally the Walker happen.

Council on Aging, Director Paige Collins, Director of Therapy Services, Whitman Hospital and Medical Center, Krista Jones, and Moore set out to work with WSU Center for Civic Engagement and a group of senior engineering students who would take the project on and make Wally the Walker come to life.

It's not a project that is seen every day, Engineering student Cooper Ward stated.

Ward added that other students get to work on projects with big companies like Boeing, but they're run-of-the-mill aerospace projects.

"You never see what they're designing," he said, "this you have a member of the community that will be able to use it, and it will make a difference in their life."

Engineering student Max Cheeseman was also pleased to work on such a cool project he said..

"I'm glad we got to work on a big project in the community, especially since Colfax is so close; we feel that it's kind of close to home," Cheeseman said.

Cooper stated that being able to work with the WHMC therapy staff helped them think about design more than they usually would since they had to make it for someone to use.

"It's a lot more hands-on than a lot of other projects we could have gotten," said Engineering student Edgar Rodriguez.

Jones stated that the students adapted a different braking system to the walker.

"They are coming at it from an engineering perspective," she said, noting that it's interesting to apply to human beings when they move and use the equipment.

She also explained they used 3D printing and aluminum as well.

"I think they were creative," she added.

"You can see the impact of what you're doing," Engineering student Austin Miller said, noting that usually, they're just building a lot of technical parts.

"This one, you got to see the impact it's having on people directly," he added.

Moore explained that the model is larger now, but they plan to develop a Junior Wally the Walker for children. JP also has an app they plan to build more used to map his steps around his school and his emotions with emojis his teacher can input.

Moore is representing the Community Action Center, and as sponsors, they have identified a recipient with ties to the community that will receive the first of many Wally, the Walkers.