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Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. Most young children who have mobility challenges don't want to roll around in a big, scary-looking wheelchair. They don't want to wheel around in a thing that has stigma attached to it. No, they want to cruise around in a race car. Today on the show, you'll meet a young local entrepreneur who has turned his love of engineering into a nonprofit that makes cool and fun-looking devices for kids who need some extra help. Think converting a clunky wheelchair into a sleek fire truck or jet plane. And this local inventor is still in college at OSU. Then at the end of the show, we talk with the Surfrider Foundation about toxic levels of pollution they continue to find at Nye Beach. Matthew Pickerell, the co-founder of Pacific Northwest Technology, Matthew, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for coming into the studio.
Matthew Pickerell: It's great to be here. Thank you for having me.
Dunne: Tell us a little bit about yourself. You grew up in Eugene. Talk about where you went to school. That sort of a thing.
Pickerell: Yeah. So I went to school right here in Eugene at South Eugene High School. I have loved living here my entire life. It's been an honor to be part of this community the entire time.
Dunne: And when did you graduate from South?
Pickerell: I graduated from South during COVID, so it was a little blurry.
Dunne: Okay, I remember it well. I remember it well. So, you know, as I understand it, you had some early interest in robotics. Talk about that.
Pickerell: Yeah. So my early interest in robotics started in middle school, actually, with Eric Schiff's program at Cal Young Middle School. He had a very robust design and 3D printing class series there, and it just ignited a fire in me. From there, I went to South Eugene High School and immediately joined the South Eugene Robotics Team, or SERT, and have just torn down this path of trying to figure out ways to improve my life and others around me with as many weird little robots as I can.
Dunne: Well, from there, take us through those early moments to when you decided that this was going to be kind of a pursuit for you, and sort of how you looked at robotics and said, I think that technology, that sort of path, can help kids.
Pickerell: Yeah. So this this whole project was born on the South Eugene Robotics team. You know, I I was a member of the team as it got started, but like it, it wasn't me. It was a huge group of other students and mentors on that team, and it very quickly turned into a massive community effort where we would teach middle schoolers during the summer in in camps how to make these modified ride-on cars to basically be pseudo wheelchairs, and from there it turned into a class series at South Eugene High School, and now it is even more like devices and assistive tech items like modified toys for kids over there. During COVID, I started working on these cars myself in my garage because there was a lot of need, and I was wanting to help out when I had a lot of extra time. Really, you know, this this was this was my version of sourdough bread, and from there, we decided that we could really you know make a difference, and we feel that there's real opportunity to have like a sustainable organization that can continually produce these devices, continually make more devices and more versions, and to really get into the nitty gritty of highly customized adaptive tech for children with disabilities, which is really an area that it's not really profitable to do. That a lot of companies make tech for kids with disabilities, but it's the one size fits all method with you know a lot of ways for devices so that kids can use them and so that they are adaptable to a kid's needs, but they don't really fit exactly what every kid needs because you don't go into the physical therapist's office and go, "Hey, so what does your child need?" And that's part of what we get to do.
Dunne: Okay, well then, sort of paint a picture, a verbal picture for us of what Pacific Northwest Assistive Technologies is what you do there, and kind of you know I understand like you said, started in your basement or your garage. Talk about sort of you know making a real thing now, an actual nonprofit, an actual organization.
Pickerell: Yeah. So yeah, this this started in my mom's garage. I traded her garage for a carport that I built her. But really, we we've been able to take that and a bunch of other friends' garages and create kind of a collective of people who are both engineering students and you know just out of engineering school to create these devices and I basically am able to call up one of you know 10 or 15 engineers and say hey do you have time over the next three weeks to design this part do you have time to help us modify one of our ride on cars for you know a kid that has a deformity that makes it harder for them to control a joystick. Yeah, things like that.
Dunne: The adaptive technology. I think it's called the Wayfinder. Explain to folks what it is. I know this is this is not a visual medium, but do your best to kind of explain how you design these things, especially as you said, very customizable to the individual child.
Pickerell: Absolutely. So, we take a ride-on toy car. One of the brand names is a Power Wheels car. Okay. And we modify it so that it has significant safety upgrades, and so that it is controlled by a joystick. This allows it to be really easy to control and really maneuverable. It's really low to the ground. It helps to reduce a lot of the ostracizing effects of a massive, large, scary, intimidating, clunky wheelchair. You know those wheelchairs. They're not just ostracizing for the patient using them. You know they're intimidating to their friends, and we want to eliminate that as much as possible. And a great way to do that is to give a kid a little race car or a jeep or a fire truck, and so we're able to modify these, and the standard modifications allow it so that it takes 10 to 15 grams of pressure for a kid to start driving in one direction, and from there we're able to customize padding and harnesses for a kid's anatomy to make sure that they're as safe as possible in the device. We're able to add remote controls so that you know, if a kid is still kind of in the mischievous young phase, they're able, you know, their parents are able to make sure that they don't drive off and we're able to add speed adjustments so that like a parent can over time increase the you know the speed at which a kid wants to drive at because you know one of the things that we've noticed is that the first thing a kid does when we get one of these is they drive off the path you know they want to explore the world sure and that's one of the difficulties when you are disabled as a little kid is you don't get the ability to explore the world and the education and the learning that comes from exploring the world around you, and kids tear off the path and they go off road immediately. And it's a bit safer to do that at a slower speed, especially right when they're getting stuck.
Dunne: Somebody my age or even younger might have not understood how intimidating a wheelchair might look like and might act amongst the populace. You're a young man. Do you think that that's part of it? You bring these this sort of fresh eyes to a child's mobility problem.
Pickerell: I think that's definitely part of it. It's a lot of fun to try to come up with ways to make something intimidating and scary feel fun. Like I am slightly disabled myself. I walk with a cane, and the first three months of having to walk with a cane, it was difficult for me to go outside. It's it there's a mental aspect, a mental block. Like, I was on crutches before that, and that feels so much more temporary. And having to go to something like a cane, it feels a lot more permanent. And in my case, it is a lot more permanent. Okay. And if you can make it so that a kid just feels like a kid. Like they, they get to go out and just be in a toy. It looks like a toy. There are definitely modifications to it, but it looks like a toy. They get to go have fun, and that's what being kid is all about. And if I can help more kids in this world, just go experience fun, go play at a park, get around their house. I want to do that.
Dunne: What's more, both challenging but also fun for you, the engineering of these devices or the artistic creativity of them, or is it both?
Pickerell: That's a tough question. I think it is absolutely both. My mom is so into art and the art scene here in Eugene, and I've grown up immersed in in the art culture here. I you know I go to Passion Flower, I go to New Zone all of the time. It's part of the many things I love about this community, and that's definitely something I love to get to work on to help these kids. Is you know to help them express themselves and in a very fun and creative way. I love the engineering side of this as well, and I'm very fortunate to have found a way to do really awesome, fun engineering that doesn't put me in the military-industrial complex. And that's really my life goal. I want to help people as much as I can.
Dunne: If you could, maybe share what parents or kids have said to you about these new toys that also help them live a very fun and fulfilling young life.
Pickerell: Yeah, I mean, the best things that I've ever gotten to see in my life is getting to see both a kid light up as they're able to like move under their own power under their own brain for you know one of the first times in their life, along with watching their parent getting to watch that at the same time, it is the most heartwarming thing. I am fortunate enough to have gotten to see this several times, and I kept close to crying about it, just talking about it.
Dunne; Sure, I imagine so. I imagine so. You've been recognized. You know this the coolest things made in Oregon competition. You guys placed pretty high. That must have been fulfilling, or at least kind of showcasing that, yeah, this idea has come to fruition.
Pickerell: Yeah, I mean, I've been working on this project, you know, either with the South Eugene Robotics team back in high school, or in my garage, or now with P and W Assistive Technology, our nonprofit, for around a little over eight years now, and I always knew that this was a very cool thing. But between that and then the whirlwind that the Invent Oregon competition was this past summer that that we also won, it is so incredible to see so many people in the community reach out to us and be like, "This is incredible what you're doing," because it kind of becomes normalized after a certain point. And I kind of appreciate that it's normalized. I want to just help people. I don't need accolades for it, but it is it's really incredible for myself and all of my team to see so many people coming out and saying, "You are doing the right thing in this world. Please keep it up, and we want to support you." And that that feels so incredible.
Dunne: I bet, I bet. Two last questions. The first of which is: so, you know, what do you what do you think this ultimately can be what's your if you have one a kind of a vision for your company and where it might go?
Pickerell: I think that my ultimate goal is to be able to support as many kids as possible with these devices and if that means. That we support all kids that have disabilities in Lane County. That's incredible. That means all of Oregon even better, and it only grows further from there. You know, and I would just I would love to be able to do that, and that is our number one goal. We also, you know, this is our main project right now these Wayfinder ride on cars that's the main thing we're working on but we're trying to also expand into adaptive appliances and adaptive toys so that it's not just about getting around but it's about helping kids to explore every aspect of their world as they grow, and we see that there's a huge opportunity to help in this area, especially to help reduce the cost because most of these items are labeled as medical equipment and subsequently come with the cost of that. I've seen buttons that have a standard headphone jack on them that cost $65, and I can remake that in my garage for three bucks, and I want to give it away.
Dunne: Well, and so my last question to that point is if there are engineers or aspiring engineers listening right now, or folks that that maybe want to help, what can they do?
Pickerell: Absolutely. So, the first thing I would say is go to our website pnwssistivetechnology.org. You can learn more about us, see photos of kids in some of our equipment, and you can also donate there and email us if you have ideas for how you can help. If you have an engineering background, if you have a friend who might want to donate, send us an email. You can email us at discover@pnwtech.org or pnwssistivetechnology@gmail.com. Either of those will work great fine.
Dunne: Fantastic, Matthew Pickerell, who is the co-founder of Pacific Northwest Assistive Technologies. Matthew, it's great to meet you. Thanks so much for coming in.
Pickerell: Anytime. Thank you so much for having me.
Dunne: Now let's finish out the show talking about how Nye Beach in Newport is having a toxic waste problem. Charlie Plybon, the Surfrider Foundation's senior Oregon policy manager. Charlie, thanks so much for coming on and talking with us.
Charlie Plybon: Thanks so much for having me here, Michael.
Dunne: Yeah, I know you're headquartered there, or you work out of Newport. Talk about what you and your team do along the Oregon coast.
Plybon: Sure, you know we have two staff here based in Oregon that is focused on our volunteer chapter network across the state of Oregon. Myself here housed on the central coast in the Newport area, and then we have a field staff that works up on the North Coast, and we work with all of our chapters. We have a Portland chapter, North Coast chapter, Newport chapter, Coos Bay chapter. So, these are all volunteer-led chapters, focusing primarily on water quality issues, beach access, and plastic pollution issues, and just in general, trying to do good, strong stewardship of their coast, their beaches, and run campaigns sometimes to help better those areas.
Dunne: Okay, why don't you talk about the issues, the specific issues you and your team have found at Nye Beach?
Plybon: Sure. Well, our Newport chapter of Surfrider Foundation has a program called our Blue Water Task Force program, and that program specifically tests for the water quality at popular recreational beaches. That program is looking at a bacteria called Enterococcus, and sometimes we look at E. coli as well. These are both indicators of whether or not the water is safe to get in, or potentially you may be compromised with health issues. So, surfers and recreational users that frequent our beaches, you know, often love the little creeks and outfalls that stream out as much as they love the ocean, but sometimes we see some contamination in these issues in these areas. So, at times that can be non-point source pollution, everything from stuff that runs off our streets and in our backyards to at times even being concerned about potentially some sewer or other types of infrastructure challenges with wastewater treatment.
Dunne: And is that what you're seeing at Nye Beach? What is kind of your testing? What is what is it shown there?
Plybon: Sure. So, the Newport chapter's Blue Water Task Force volunteers have tested here for a little over 20 years. I believe they first started sampling in the early 2000s, and they consistently find high readings of Enterococcus bacteria in and around the Nye Beach area. A lot of that comes right out of the creek and the stormwater outfall. There's a popular little turnaround and parking space there that tourists and visitors frequent. And right there, where that creek mouth pops out onto the beach, we commonly and regularly see exceedances well beyond the health limit. This summer we saw some exceedances up in the 10,000 range, which is almost 50, 6070 times what the health limit is. And so, we've had some concerns with some of those high bacteria readings.
Dunne: Talk about you know kind of where this bacteria might be coming from, and sort of your organization's interactions and talks with the city of Newport, and sort of where you know there might be some responsibility there with regard to runoff and sewer leaks and that sort of a thing.
Plybon: We have evidence that there has been human waste associated with some of the bacteria that we found, we've been concerned that you know some of these things are the responsibility of our city and our sewer treatment system, or the containment system. Frankly, the moving it from one place to the other, which is not as easy as it may seem. I think a lot of folks flush their toilet, and they are thankful that that just goes away. But here in the city of Newport, we have miles and miles and miles of pipes that are underground that need constant maintenance, management, and inspection to make sure that they're not leaking into other surface waters like Nye Creek.
Dunne: He is Charlie Plybon, he is the Surfrider Foundation's senior Oregon policy manager. Charlie, thank you so much for coming on and talking to us.
Plybon: Yeah, thanks so much for having me, Michael.
Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at klcc.org. The midterms are just around the corner, and tomorrow on the show we talk with a professor of politics at the U of O to get a sense of what results might mean for Oregon and the rest of the nation. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record. Thanks for listening.
