NY Post Feature - Amputees show off artificial limbs!
Anthony Riaza, 44, still doesn’t remember how the accident on New Year’s Eve 2014 went down. He knows he was at work for the Department of Sanitation when a garbage truck ran over his left arm. He remembers that there was too much damage and doctors couldn’t save his left arm; they amputated it below the elbow.
All healed by July, he got set up with an I-Limb Revolution prosthetic arm from the Hanger Clinic on the Upper East Side, which comes with Bluetooth. Need to change your grip? There’s an app for that.
“It’s like an iPod they give you that comes with this prosthetic,” the Washingtonville resident says. “And you can download different grips, if you want to change them.” It’s got about 24 grips to choose from; he says he only uses about six or seven — combinations of fingers opened/closed, open palm, etc.
Riaza retired from the Department of Sanitation and is finally pursuing his dream of being a full-time abstract artist.
“I would like to be an artist again,” he says, “and I think it’s possible now, with the prosthetic especially, to be able to pursue that dream.” Click the picture to view the full article.