EAST HAVEN – David Mahler has worked with orthotics and prosthetics since 1998 but recently decided it was time to open his own business.
Mahler, who said he has always been an owner at heart, took the leap and opened AFI Orthotics and Prothetics at 65 North Frontage Road in East Haven.
AFI stands for advocate, fabricate and inspire, all of which Mahler said he does for his patients. Mahler and his staff advocate for patients with insurance companies, fabricate prosthetics in-house and hope to inspire patients when they get to talk to each other and learn about their experiences, he said.
“Our business really is about customer service,” Mahler said. “They’re going through such a trying time. This gives them a sense of life back. ”
After an amputation, patients are referred to Mahler or others who fabricate prosthetics. Once Mahler evaluates a patient, a plaster mold is taken and then the fit is optimized. The casting process takes four to six hours, he said.
Other businesses that do not fabricate prosthetics in-house delay the process, according to Mahler, who said the process could take three to four weeks.
“I try to give them something to leave with that day,” Mahler said.
This work is done in a room just off the entrance and waiting area of the business. One room over, the work continues.
On a recent tour of the facility, Mahler showed Mayor Joseph Carfora and state Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven, another room where further fabrication is done.
A flat sheet of plastic is put into an oven and, once hot, the plastic is brought down over the form that was already made. A vacuum pulls the plastic down, creating an airtight seal. The plastic is then buffed and smoothed out, with excess plastic being cut away.
“There’s no room for error in fabricating,” Mahler said.
Mahler’s wife, Jessica Ryan Mahler, said her husband carries a red lipstick around and will use it when patients try on a prosthetic. The lipstick will show where the prosthesis is rubbing, which it should not be. Rubbing can cause pain and blisters.
“It’s like a jacket,” she said. “It shouldn’t fit tight. It should fit nicely. ”
And she knows this firsthand – she met her husband 16 years ago after she lost her left foot. The couple just celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.
Jessica Ryan Mahler was riding on a motorcycle when a 19-year-old who was texting while driving clipped her, she said. She rolled 50 feet and wound up with a compound fracture below her knee. She was taken to a hospital in Danbury, which would not touch her before she was brought to Yale, where her amputation occurred.
“I met David that day and was never afraid,” she said.
After the plastic portion of a prosthetic is complete, materials are layered up and resin is poured and worked until it saturates the material. The resin then hardens and the prosthetic can be customized based on the patient’s personality.
AFI has an airbrush artist that can do custom work, but the company also has put items such as the Dallas Cowboys logo, Captain America and for children, Spongebob and Patrick, on prosthetics.
“Why ‘wear it’ when you can ‘show it’?” Mahler said.
Mahler said when he first started working in the field, amputees kept their prosthetics hidden. Now with the paraolympics and inclusion of prosthetics in the media, he has seen a change in patients wanting to show off their prosthetics.
The last stop on the tour of the business was the main room, where patients can walk on various surfaces to test out their prosthetics. Surfaces include stairs, a ramp, a regular wood floor and stones.
“This is an impressive operation,” Cicarella said after the group looked at types of prosthetics, such as feet, hands and feet, on display.
Carfora said he was impressed as well and that if the business owner ever needed anything, he could contact town hall.
“I wish them all the success in the world,” Carfora said. “They did a wonderful job.”
For Mahler, his focus is making sure his patients receive the appropriate care they deserve and know that he cares, adding that his patients inspire him all the time.
“I love a broken prosthesis because it means you’re out living your life,” Mahler said.