ROMP Plans Humanitarian Work Expansion in 2007

The Range of Motion Project (ROMP) is planning to expand access to care for Guatemalas amputees needing help. David Krupa, CP, a co-founder and CEO of the organization, discussed some of ROMPs plans for 2007.

Jamaica

Eric Neufeld, CPO, co-founder and president, met with Rory Dixon, MD, a surgeon and head of the Kingston Public Hospital Rehabilitation Center, in December 2006 to discuss possible ROMP involvement in Jamaica.

"Over the last ten months Dr. Dixon has gleaned statistical information about people with disabilities on the island." Dixon looked specifically at amputation, exploring the following questions: Why are people having amputations? Are they being treated prosthetically? Why or why not? Where? "This information will hopefully help us, working with the Jamaicans, to develop a plan for improvement of the current O&P infrastructure and delivery of care for the neglected poor population," Krupa said.

Ecuador

ROMP participated in the Prosthetics for Ecuador project and an educational lecture series during December 2006 and January 2007. "This project was created as a partnership between Quito, Ecuador-based nonprofit O&P providers FHM (Fundacion Hermano Miguel), and Dino Cozzarelli, CPO, formerly based in the United States," Krupa explained. "ROMP continues to support this annual effort by finding new volunteer practitioners and by providing material supplies. This is a joint effort that has been supported in the past by various groups and companies including Ossur, Otto Bock, SPS, Becker Orthopedic, The Barr Foundation, and various private facilities. Each year about 50 poor amputees are provided essential prosthetic rehab that they cannot otherwise afford. Follow-up services and support is provided by the staff of prosthetists and technicians at Fundacion Hermano Miguel [FHM]."

Three FHM-affiliated O&P professionalsa prosthetist, a technician, and a volunteerhave been studying an online transtibial prosthetics program designed by the Center for International Rehabilitation (CIR), Chicago, Illinois, Krupa said. "ROMP is one of several NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] using this system to provide badly needed prosthetic education to local staff. I have been teaching this course to the three Ecuadorian students and to our Guatemalan technician, Luis Aragon. ROMP views this as a critical component of local sustainability of any project in which we are involved." In January Krupa traveled to Ecuador to assess the students progress and to help with hands-on education and exam administration.

In addition, Daniela Duran, ROMP representative in Ecuador, medical student, and volunteer prosthetic technician, has scheduled a lecture series for several medical schools and centers within Quito, which will reflect on a years worth of work with the disabled poor in Guatemala and cover prosthetic technology, solutions in regions where resources are scarce, and disability rights and empowerment topics.

Guatemala

In February, ROMP clinic expansion plans will get under way in Zacapa, Guatemala. A Chicago-based real estate development company, 325 Development, has partnered with ROMP to construct a new patient care wing of the current rehabilitation center. "All gait training, casting, and fittings will take place in this new center," Krupa said. "Not only is our goal to provide first-world prosthetic rehabilitation services to the poorest of the poor, we also want to encourage increased volunteer involvement from other rehabilitative medicine fields, includingphysical therapy, occupational therapy, and PMNR [pain management and rehabilitation].

A sketch of the Zacapa, Guatemala, clinic expansion project.

"This new center, named in honor of Jay Loren Mallon, will be such a place to combine a comprehensive rehabilitation approach for all of our patients," Krupa continued. "It is common for our patients to have various complications other than amputation, including illness, stroke, neuromuscular impairment, or mental involvement. It is important that we answer the needs of the people we serve and that ROMP Zacapa develops as an outlet for the humanitarian propensities of any volunteers who want to give of themselves to serve the poor in Guatemala. Whether this includes surgeons, therapists, translators, construction teams and O&P, we encourage people from all walks of life and experience to get involved."

"As well as these major initiatives, we will continue to host volunteer O&P teams almost every two months while maintaining full-time operation of the clinic," Krupa added.

Luis Aragon, ROMP prosthetic student and technician, casts one of Edgar Portillo's legs. Edgar lost both his legs in a train accident three years ago.

"In order for all of this to move forward, we hope for continued support," he said. "A huge number of unused but very useful prosthetic components remain hiddenwasting and collecting dust in the United States and abroad. We need to locate these devices and put them back into action immediately. A simple phone call to ROMP will help us to identify sources of these invaluable resources, which we can ship to Guatemala very efficiently. Through Hearts In Motion and a supportive local government, all of these items will get to our growing number of poor patients who in many cases wait years for the chance to walk again with a prosthesis. The disability of amputation is obviously curable in many instances yet, disgustingly, people with disabilities, especially the poor, remain one of the most neglected and marginalized groups of individuals in the world."

Edgar Portillo stands for the first time in three years.

ROMPs attendance at a regional meeting of Individuals with Disabilities in Zacapa, commemorating the International Disabilty Awareness Day "enlightened us to the disturbing reality," Krupa said. "One of the local groups performed a several month long investigation of people with disabilities in the Department of Zacapa." According to Krupa, more than 95 percent of the individuals interviewed have no employment, depend on their immediate families and friends for support, and identify social attitudes and moresas the biggest barricade to their inclusion in society. "We hope that through positive prosthetic rehabilitation our patients can serve as examples to broader society of the potential of people with disabilities.We continue to look for employment opportunities for our patients, have received local Rotarian support to help us find employment opportunities, and plan on hiring several patients to help us complete the 2007 Jay Loren Mallon expansion project."

For more information about ROMP, visit www.rompglobal.org; for more information about the Hermano Miguel Foundation, visit www.fundacionhermanomiguel.org ; and for more information about Hearts in Motion, visit www.heartsinmotion.org