VA Innovation bringing life changing health devices to Veterans

AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- Thursday, the Charlie Norwood Uptown VA hosted its inaugural “VA Augusta Innovation Summit.’ The event showcased veteran health care inventions and collaborations.

These glasses are called “Xander Glasses.” They allow people with severe hearing loss to understand speech in real time. It’s just one invention featured at the Summit that will help local veterans.

“The glasses have built in microphones. They have speech to text. And so everything you’re telling me, I can see as captions, sort of floating in space right near you, so that I can have a conversation like any normal person could without hearing challenges,” explained Alex Westner, CEO and co-founder of Xander.

Westner and his wife Marilyn developed the Xander Glasses in 2019. They do not require WIFI to work and can transcribe 26 languages. They’re also tailor made to the needs of each patient.

“Many of our customers have prescription needs. And the nice thing is that we can get custom prescription lenses made to accommodate your prescription. They just the lenses just snap in behind the glasses,” said Westner.

Several other inventions created by local VA medical professionals were featured at the Summit. They include a chat bot designed to help men get more involved in pregnancy planning.

And you may remember our reports on the DEB device, developed by local physical therapy assistant, Ebony Dillard, which helps physical therapy patients walk without tripping.

There is good news about the product.

“A company out of Ohio has been in touch with the VA and is interested and has licensed the technology. So the technology is going into refinement and working with the FDA,” said Kelsey Shull, Innovation Specialist with the VA.

Shull explained that by bringing health care professionals and industry experts together to showcase the newest technology, local veteran patients benefit.

“Collaborations with private industry. That is all what we are here to do to truly create a revolutionary new future for our veterans and their health.”

New products like DEB and the Xander Glasses can be expensive- the glasses cost $5,000 right now. But local veterans who need them have some help.

“We are honored to be the very first V.A. in the country to find a way to get these revolutionary communication devices to our veterans at no cost to the veteran,” smiled Shull.

There is currently a waiting list for the Xander Glasses. You can find out more about them and get on the list by going to the website.

Read more about the DED Device here:

• VA employee invents new device to help keep patients from falling
• Patent pending for new physical therapy walking device invented by Augusta woman

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