North Texas has always been known for being on the cutting edge of fashion. It’s also earned quite a reputation for its development of the latest in medical research and treatments. But thanks to a very unique collaboration bringing together both fields, a program was officially launched this morning after years of working together.
Inside the Scottish Rite For Children Dallas campus’ T. Boone Pickens Training and Conference Center auditorium, Scottish Rite For Children President/CEO Bob Walker welcomed guests in the hall and online for the reveal of the project undertaken by Scottish Rite and By Way of Dallas Founder Hance Taplin.
It may have seemed a bit of an odd pairing. Scottish Rite is world-renowned for its pediatric orthopedic programs. By Way Of Dallas’ mission is “dedicated to diversifying our community and rebranding Dallas through the lens of local collaboration and design.”
But it was Scottish Rite’s prosthetics department that has enabled youngsters “with limb differences” that provided the opportunity for a “first of its kind collaboration with By Way of Dallas.” While custom-made, state-of-the-art and amazing in all aspects of young lives, the prostheses were one-look-fits-all.
But why? Thanks to brainstorming, the Scottish Rite and By Way of Dallas teams realized that prosthetics could be more fashionable while still being functional.
As Hance said, “To inspire the kids who inspire us — that’s our goal. Prostheses are beautiful extensions of individuals, and we hope to remind each kid to live boldly and champion movement with a bit of extra style.”
Still, they decided that the artwork had to be special, so they reached out to area athletes and influencers (Dak Prescott, Jeremiah Jhass, Dude Perfect, Dwight Powell, Jordan Rogers, Kirta Carroll, Nic Mathis, Pierce Simpson, Rachel Lindsay, Sour Grapes, Temi Coker and Tramaine Townsend) to provide the artwork. They not only signed up but excelled in their creative talents.
In launching the fashion meets function program, where children would be able to select from the design gallery, Scottish Rite patient 13-year-old Shaleigh sat on the front row. Over the years she’s been able to play everything from golf to volleyball thanks to the prostheses created for her by prosthetist Dwight Putnam and the Scottish Rite prosthetics team. But today she had a special smile when someone complemented her new prostheses featuring Hance’s artwork.
* Artwork courtesy of Scottish Rite for Children and By Way Of Dallas collaboration
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