Class is in session

This past week has brought Haiti into the news again with the outbreak of cholera in the Artibonite Valley. The Albert Schweitzer Hospital here in Deschapelles has been at the center of providing care for the cholera patients. They have done a great job of coordinating care and providing education to the surrounding community about ways to prevent contracting the disease.

The outbreak has also affected the inflow of patients from Port-au-Prince to the Klinik Hanger. Since the outbreak was in our area, we didn’t want to unnecessarily expose amputees and possibly spread the disease to new areas. We are utilizing this time to provide additional clinical prosthetic training for our Haitian technicians. I am fortunate to have Paul Armstrong, lower extremity clinical instructor from the Newington Certificate Program in Orthotics & Prosthetics here this rotation. We have been able to cover basic anatomy, socket design, patient evaluations, casting and cast modification. Later this week, as we have time, we will continue with socket fitting and troubleshooting. It has been exciting to see the technicians’ enthusiasm as they absorb all of this information. They have been learning all along from observing the many practitioners that have worked with them, but they seem eager and ready to learn the theory and apply it for themselves. It’s great to see how much they have learned over a short eight month time span.

We hear from the hospital that new admits with cholera have slowed down and we are hopeful that the worst is over, but it is too early to know for sure. At Klinik Hanger we are taking an unfortunate experience with the cholera outbreak and turning it into a great learning opportunity for the technicians.

Daily inspiration

Get to know some of the patients I had the pleasure of working with this week.

Charles Nobel is a 36-year-old transfemoral amputee who was injured at his home during the earthquake. He was unable to get immediate medical care because of the damage to hospitals in Port-au-Prince, but his family was eventually able to get him seen in Port-de-Paix. 15 days after his injuries he had to have his leg removed due to infection. He was fit this week with a prosthetic leg and took off walking without any assistive devices. It’s a privilege to work with such motivated amputees.
Emmanuel Valcin is a 44-year-old congenital quadrilateral amputee who has an extremely short transfemoral on the right side and short transfemoral on the left. He is also missing both hands above his wrists. He is in terrific shape and walks using custom crutches. His old prostheses were approximately 15 years old and the exoskeletal design made them very heavy. We’re able to fit him with lighter prostheses and crutches and he was delighted. He has perfected the use of his upper limbs and can put the prostheses on including tightening the straps. His attitude, work ethic, determination, and friendly disposition made him a joy to work with. He truly lived up to his name, “Emmanuel”. Here is a picture of three of the other patients I had the pleasure of fitting and working with this week. Their smiles and friendships are the reward.