Category: News

Meet Valerie Hirschfield – Our new Ambassador

Who are you?
I’m a “French-South African” lady, married with children. I was born in Toulon (France) in 1964 and still an infant when my father decides he would like to emigrate and the whole family went off to South Africa. I grew up in a suburb of Johannesburg and studied, worked and had 2 of my 3 children there. The youngest was born in France as we moved back to Toulon in 1993.

What is your story?
In 2004 I suffered 3rd degree burns to my leg, which led to many surgeries and during one of these I caught an infection. Finally, I didn’t really have a choice but to amputate as septicaemia set in and that was a life-threatening condition.
I’ve been an amputee for 15 years now. After the amputation I just wanted to get straight back to my family as my kids were young and needed to have their mom back in their lives. So, I decided that I would finish off the summer holidays with them and when their school year was about to start, I would then go to rehab and learn how to walk using a prosthetic leg. By then I was so used to walking on crutches and without a prosthetic leg that the situation lasted 10 years. I finally got a prosthetic when in 2015 I came across a stand-up paddling race which takes place in Holland. The event is the “11 city SUP Tour”, a 220km race, going through 11 beautiful historical villages and over a five-day period. This was a real boost for me and since then I windsurf, snowboard, surf, play stand up tennis and of course walk in everyday life. Nowadays with prosthetics instead of crutches.

What does ”Xtend your life” mean to you?
I’m a person who likes to challenge myself and being out of my comfort zone triggers me. Of course, an amputation is a life changing situation in many ways,but I’m lucky enough to have a good prosthetic leg and foot. The motto “Xtend your Life”, doesn’t mean I will have extra years ahead of me, but will enable me to live life to its fullest in a comfortable and easier way. I like that motto and I could easily make it mine. I try to live my life in a healthy way, even if I tend to push my body to its limits. I just want to carry on with what I do for as long as I possibly can as that is very important both mentally and physically. Some say we should never look back, but I don’t agree. Looking ahead and moving on is great but one must look back to see just how much they have done and where they have come from.

Follow Valerie at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/valerie.hirschfield and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/val_hirschfield/

Proudly presenting QP – The Prong Adapter


As customers have been asking for an Xtend Connect component that fits with a prong interface, we are now welcoming QP to the Xtend Connect family.
It works exactly as smooth as the other Xtend Connect components, and like them it comes as default with a black locking wheel.

Read more about Xtend Connect – the multifunctional adapter here

Customer service North America – at your service

We are proud to present our team-member Sandy Martinez. In her role as Customer Service North America, Sandy will be taking good care of you as a customer, assuring prompt and swift answers. Sandy is based in our US-headquarter in Naperville, outside of Chicago.

Welcome to the team Sandy!

You can reach Customer service here

First man on the ground – North America

We are proud to present our newest team-member Russell Cannon. Russell has considerable experience in the O&P Industry, just recently as Territory Manager North East at Cascade Orthopedic Supply and brings a wealth of knowledge and a valuable network of contacts to our company.
Russell is taking the role as Director of Sales, North America and will play a vital role in taking our Lindhe Xtend products to the market. Russell will, together with the Customer Service team in Naperville (IL), be the core foundation of the newly established US-subsidiary, Lindhe Xtend Inc.

A warm welcome to Russell, we are excited to have you on the team!

You can reach Russell here

Winners of ”Double Challenge” with Dagens Industri

What a fantastic surprise it was to learn that we were appointed winners of Dagens Industri’s competition ”Double Challenge”. We will now get the opportunity to get equipped and coached through the ski-race ”Stafettvasan” in March as well as the running race ”Vasakvartetten” in August. Our team will have the obvious team-name ”Xtend Your Life” and team leader is of course Christoffer.

Wish us luck and stay tuned in our social channels!

To the article in Dagens Industri (in swedish) https://www.di.se/nyheter/de-antar-tuffa-utmaningen-blandning-av-fortjusning-och-skrack/

 

University thesis investigating quick change adapters

We aim to make life easier for amputees and therefore we find it very interesting that Karl Wilsborn and Kenneth Heggdal, prosthetist students at School of Health and Welfare, University of Jönköping, have made a study focusing on the need of quick change adapters. The study was qualitative and made through interviewing 6 users, half of them transtibial amputees and half of them transfemoral amputees.

The results of the study shows that the need of quick change adapters are highly subjective, and depends more on the individuals life style than general factors. The need seems to be depending on activity level, number of components, personal attitude and other subjective factors.
Today there are only two quick change adapters on the market, and these are the two used in the study. One of these are our product Xtend Connect and we are very happy that it was percieved to be slim, easy to use and durable.

Read the full thesis in swedish (summary in english available) 

Presenting Lindhe Xtend Inc

We have the pleasure to announce our new addition to the Lindhe Xtend family. Our subsidiary Lindhe Xtend Inc has now been established and our initial base for our US-expansion will be in Naperville, outside of the metropolitan area of Chicago, IL.
Recruitment for a sales and customer service team is ongoing and our operations will be fully up and running by the end of the year.

We are really excited to start our journey in the USA!

Should you have any questions, please direct them to President/CEO of Lindhe Xtend: Jessika Broström, info@lindheusa.com

Chief Marketing Officer – Susanna Rosander

We are proud to present our newest team-member Susanna Rosander. In order to assure the international expansion of our company, continue to build a strong brand and support the launch of our products in new countries, Susanna will be a great contribution to the team and in scaling up our marketing efforts. Susanna has held leading marketing positions in international companies like Getinge and Gerdmans and has an extensive knowledge in building strong presence in social and digital media. Susanna started her position in March and will share her time between Lindhe Xtend AB in Sweden and the newly established US-entity, Lindhe Xtend Inc.