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Thousands of Prosthetic Limbs Being Fitted on Haitian Citizens
Author: | Thursday June 17, 2010
With plans for a rehab hospital and providing prostheses for thousands, project looks to the future. Bob Gailey, Jr. Ph.D., P.T. is rehabilitation coordinator.
Providing Amputees with New Limbs
And Providing Ongoing Rehab Focus of Project Medishare's Haiti Program
By Ray Brasted
Technology and tent hospitals are part of the landscape in what is quite likely one of the most comprehensive physical rehabilitation efforts in history. As you are reading these words, hundreds of volunteers are working in Haiti to help amputees learn to walk and return to their lives in the quake devastated regions around Port-au-Prince.
A rehabilitation facility recently opened where amputees are being fitted with prostheses and, just as importantly, are being taught how to use them. Bob Gailey Jr., PhD, PT is the Rehabilitation Coordinator of Project Medishare. Gailey is an associate professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami.
Project Medishare for Haiti, Inc., was founded in 1994 by the University of Miami School of Medicine's Barth Greene, M.D. and Arthur Fournier, M.D. Their mission was to explore ways to help improve the health conditions of the people in Haiti.
"In those days practitioners went into the hills and set up some of the first clinics. They learned about the people and the culture. It was only natural that they would respond immediately to the needs of the Haitian people following the earthquake," Gailey told the Voice.
A month after the earthquake, Project Medishare began to transition relief efforts from critical care to rehabilitation with the purchase of artificial limbs for amputee patients. Because artificial limbs cannot be used by new amputees until after the healing process caused by the trauma of limb loss has been completed, there has been some time to prepare. But the challenge is ongoing and massive.
It is estimated that between 2,000 and 4,000 Haitians lost their limbs. This is in a society where limb lost has a stigma to it that is linked to voodoo beliefs; that somehow the individual was punished for wrong doing. "It is a tough situation, there are no two ways about it," Gailey said. "We have sought out and found Haitian role models to provide support to amputees, and we have already seen some amazing outcomes," he added.
The rehabilitation and medical teams are also seeking out Haitians to learn to work in the rehabilitation field, including orthotics and prosthetics. "We are teaching locals independently and providing salaries that are in keeping with the local economy," Gaily pointed out.
He sees a future where trained technicians could earn much more income and help to change the local economy for the better. "If we teach the Haitian people to care for themselves, they will become a much more independent nation."
This is where individuals come in. Volunteers have made it possible to reach the level of success that has improved the lives of thousands and made national news, but the effort is ongoing. "We are seeking volunteers with a medical background who can commit one to two weeks," Gaily said. Volunteers needed include physical therapists, physicians, nurses, orthopedic surgeons, pharmacists, orthopedic technicians and general surgeons.
Financial donations are also needed on an ongoing basis. "We are extremely effective in the use of the money we receive, with a much lower administrative cost than most large organizations," Gaily emphasized.
In response to a question by the Voice, Gailey said that a $300 donation can purchase a prosthetic leg for an amputee and will allow them to go back to work, but the actual total cost to provide a prosthesis and rehabilitation for an amputee in Haiti is in the range of $2,500 to $3,000.
"A big part of our expense is keeping the generators operating and to meet other operation expenses including communications."
Thanks to the development of technology that incorporates what is called a BioSculptor system, a portable scanner is used to transmit 3-D images of residual limbs to a Hialeah, Florida facility where custom-fit sockets are made. BioSculptor was the brainchild of prosthetist Alan Finnieston and the company is run today by his son, Adam Finnieston, CPO, LPO, the third generation of Arthur Finnieston Prosthetics and Orthotics.
It takes a team to build a village. "The physical therapy needs will go on for years," said Teresa Glynn, M.S.P.T., associate chair of clinical services at the Miller School of Medicine. "Our work is really dedicated to helping people overcome their physical challenges and to live fulfilling lives."
With oil pumping into our oceans from a drilling catastrophe, ash spewing into the air from a volcano in Iceland and the world economy in constant turbulence, the fate of the people of a small island country might have been pushed off of the front page of newspapers in the United States, but not out of the hearts of dedicated health care providers from the U.S. and from around the world.
How You Can Learn More
www.projectmedshare.org
You can also write to haitiamputeerehab@med.miami.edu.
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