Haiti Relief Fund Grant Recipients
The Barr Foundation is pleased to announce that the following organizations have been approved to receive a Haiti Relief Fund Grant to provide assistance to the victims of the earthquake needing prosthetic care. Congratulations!
Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc.
The organization is operating an Amputee Rehabilitation Program at Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port au Prince with a mission to treat every child amputee with the most skilled and compassionate care, along with the most appropriate and sustainable, yet advanced prosthetic system. From June to November 2010 a total of 120 amputees were served.
The Barr Foundation is please to share these stories on how our Grant impacted the lives of the following children.
Jean is 6 years old. He was playing in his house on January 12th when the earthquake shook. The house collapsed almost instantly. Both of his legs were broken and he was taken to a hospital nearby where the doctor said "I will do everything in my power to save his legs." His mother felt better after hearing this, but after a few days the infection began to worsen in his right leg and they had no choice but to amputate. Jean went back to school with crutches only and no prosthetic.
He was not able to play and it was hard to carry his things while using crutches.
Now with his new leg from The Barr Foundation he can run around and play with his friends. He also is able to carry his school books now although he is a little less excited about that part!
Stephanie is just 6 years old. She was at home on January 12th and when her house collapsed that day, bricks fell and broke her leg. Her dad was able to pick her up from the rubble and take her to a local clinic. At the clinic a doctor was caring for her and had just put in an IV when he received a phone call telling him that his wife had been killed when their home collapsed on her. The doctor left them and never came back. No other doctor could be found for 4 days. When they finally did find another doctor her leg was too infected and had to be amputated. She had just started school and said she will use the prosthetic leg provided to her by The Barr Foundation to go back to school and to play with other kids. She said she is not sure if she would like to try playing soccer but we are encouraging her to consider it!
John came to us as one of our first patients at the airport tent hospital. He was filthy and walked in a unique way placing his amputated leg over the handle of a single crutch. His leg was scanned and his socket was brought down after a few weeks, but when we tried to call him on the phone number he provided, we were unable to reach him. Months passed by as his socket lay in our lab. It seemed as though we would never see him again.
Then, by way of phone and completely out of the blue, a man named Larry called and asked if we could take a look at a street kid that he had found and was trying to assist through this crisis and to get him off the streets. When Larry arrived and presented his patient, our physical therapist was stopped in his tracks and yelled, "I know you!" After questioning, it was indeed John that had been at the tent hospital months previously. So, it was not an assessment that John came to receive that day, but the fitting of the socket that had already been produced for him. After the first 15 minutes of therapy, John was already walking well with his new leg from the Barr Foundation.
Changing Lives from Jay Allen on Vimeo.
Phoenix Rising for Haiti.
This organization is a multidisciplinary rehabilitation team that provides complete care to both adults and children. The main focus is to restore functional mobility by providing comprehensive evaluation and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including prosthetics, orthotics, physical therapy, casting and wound care at the Prosthetic and Rehabilitation Center of St. Louis-du-Nord which was formed in response to the January 12 earthquake.
Advantage Program/Open Hands
This program currently provides prosthetic/orthotic services to children and adolescents. The rehabilitation clinic is located within the Centre de Sante Lumiere Hospital and offers on-site fabrication using sustainable technology since 2001.
Prosthetika
This organization was established in 2005 to provide appropriate and sustainable assistance to disabled people in developing countries. In response to the earthquake in Haiti an entire self-contained fully equipped prosthetic/orthotic workshop was created and shipped from California to Haiti with the intention that the workshop would be self sufficient and run entirely by Haitians. The workshop is located on the premises of Hospital Adventiste. The goals for 2011 are to continue clinical and training operations, staffing and to resupply the workshop with materials and supplies, and components for 500 prostheses and orthoses.
ProsthetiKa Haiti Status Report
Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, ProsthetiKa saw that there were no prosthetic fabrication facilities which survived the disaster in the heavily populated earthquake region of Port au Prince.
ProsthetiKa responded by building a workshop located on the premises of a busy 50 year old hospital. The mission was to fabricate and fit prosthetic and orthotic devices while hiring and training local Haitian technicians to eventually work independently and take over the project.
At this point, half way through its second year, ProsthetiKa has 6 full time employees in Haiti including 1 trained Haitian prosthetist, three Haitian trainees, one trained prosthetist/director from New Zealand, and one certified prosthetist, instructor from Togo, Africa. Numerous experienced volunteer prosthetists, orthotists, and technicians from the US were sent over to help and to train.
Hundreds of limbs and braces have been made and fit using donated components. The Barr Foundation awarded a grant to ProsthetiKa in January 2011 which was used to purchase brown waterproof prosthetic SACH feet to be used on site for making prostheses for the amputees.
As a direct result of the assistance of the Barr Foundation, the Haitian amputees receive feet which are appropriate for the hot wet environment and are correctly pigmented for the population. As a result of the appearance and the durability, the feet can be used with sandals which is the typical useful, affordable, footwear in Haiti.
On behalf of the Haitian earthquake survivors and the Haitian disabled population, we thank the Barr Foundation for its support.
Jon Batzdorff, CPO, FAAOP, President, ProsthetiKa
