V-LINC INC

A more inclusive world with opportunities for all to succeed and to enjoy life. We aim to serve people with disabilities of any type and all ages who reside in central Maryland and need a custom device or modification to overcome a barrier to independence. To help people who live with disabilities to become more included in their communities. Our work with children and youth who live with disabilities has demonstrated to V-LINC that every family member who becomes more independent improves life for the family as a whole.

V-LINC employs technology, specifically engineering skills, to meet needs when commercial solutions are not available. We recruit volunteers who are engineers through companies like Northrop Grumman, and med8cal professionals by visiting clinics where occupational and physical therapists work. We pair a medical professional with an engineer to visit anyone making a request to assess the situation (safety concerns, products already available? etc.) If the requested project is safe and doable by our volunteers and student engineering teams we approve it and match the adult of family with a volunteer team. The project's progress is reviewed periodically by V-LINC's Project Review & Approval Committee (PRAC) and is delivered for testing and then acceptance by the client after PRAC approves it. V-LINC also runs a summer day camp that is inclusive. Camp provides learning opportunities as well as fun and opportunities to improve social skills.

V-LINC recruits volunteer medical professionals and engineers to screen and satisfy requests for custom solutions from those with disabilities. We typically have 60 to 80 volunteers who are active with our organization. They meet, assess, design and create a unique solution for each person who needs our help. We also have a fund that provides a small budget to the volunteers and secondary school teams who work with us to create unique solutions. Almost all of our volunteers are either trained professionals, students in engineering classes or other professionals in medical fields. We also use some volunteers who can do carpentry, sewing or other useful skills. Our staff is small but we dedicate one full time position to managing our volunteer services and handling requests for our help. We also employ an executive director and part-time clerical assistant. All client services are provided by the volunteers. V-LINC also has an active board of directors and good relations with other organizations that serve people with disabilities in our area.

Over the past 35 years, Volunteers for Medical Engineering, now V-LINC, has accepted requests from people with disabilities and has created hundreds of solutions. Unfortunately, old records are not all available to quantify the total number. One hundred and fifty-five projects have been completed since 2007 and we expect to complete at least 37 in 2017.All of these have been visited by volunteers (OTs, engineers etc) to assess safety issues and the specific needs of the client. Those accepted were assigned to a volunteer engineer or a high school or college engineering class for a custom design. Each was monitored by a review board of volunteer engineers including at least one medical professional.The Mary Salkever Summer Camp begun by LINC (Learning Independence Through Computers) now V-LINC, in 1992 as the first Maryland inclusive camp, has continued to provide a high-quality day camp experience for children with any disability. The camp operates for two weeks each summer and now serves 7 to 14-year-olds during one week and youth from 15 to 21 years old during the second week. An average of 20 campers participate in the camp's supportive learning environment and participate at their highest level. They visit museums and work on a movie related to the theme of the week which might be the Maryland crab or dinosaurs. The older group of youth includes a focus on Transitioning to adulthood and employment for those who are ready to participate. Parents and campers evaluate this camp highly and contribute suggestions for subsequent years. Many have been with us for several years of camp, becoming junior counselors later.