Seventeen-year-old Brantford girl invents device to help Parkinson’s patients

A Brantford teen is one of 15 others who will will be representing Canada in an international science fair. That is, after she invented a device that will help Parkinson’s patients do simple daily routines, like getting dressed, eating, and writing.

Parkinson’s is a progressive disease of the nervous system, it causes uncontrollable tremors and affects more than 6 million people around the world, including Anne Jing’s late grandfather.

The 17 year old from Brantford has come up with a device to make life a little easier for Parkinson’s patients.

She got the idea from King George the 6th, who suffered from a speech impediment, he was the focus of the award winning movie A King’s Speech. Music helped take the king’s mind off of his stammering.

Project Attis is a wristband with cell phone buzzers connected to a battery and control module.

She tested her device on three patients, simple things like writing, and holding a cup and saucer.

The grade 12 student at Assumption College School in Brantford won second place in the Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair in Hamilton last month, and is now going to represent Canada at an international science fair in Arizona in May, competing against roughly 1800 of the brightest high school students from around the world.

There are other devices to help Parkinson’s patients function, like motorized spoons, but Anne Jing says her’s is the only one that can help with multiple tasks.