The week in review

We've been at it for a week with our full crew – myself, Erica Webster and Kevin Harrington, two other Hanger practitioners. We followed up with Schneily and everything went very well. He grew an inch so his socket was very loose. After lengthening and tightening the fit, we kicked the soccer ball in the alley and rode his bike. This kid is full of energy and endless smiles. The only thing that went wrong was I grabbed what I thought was my metric and standard set of Allen wrenches but upon arrival, I realized I had two standard sets. Unfortunately, the standard set wouldn’t work for the adjustments I needed to make on Schneily’s prosthetic leg. Luckily, I planned for my misfortunes on the road and I brought my Dremel tool; I found a power source off of a generator and sized down the standard set to metric. I was able to successfully make a 3mm out of the standard. The adjustments went on and everything worked out.

Last week we also observed the one-year anniversary of the earthquake; a beautiful day shining the light of the Haitian people on hope and perseverance.
We have had really busy days at the Clinic; patients are coming in from everywhere seeking our assistance. I don't have exact numbers, but I believe last week we did about 37 adjustments, fit 6 new limbs, and did 7 socket remakes due to the many adjustments and changes of the residual limbs over time. Wow, we have a standard prosthetic shop just like home! It is great to see the patients keeping appointments and coming in on their own for help. Things are working just as we planned.

The patient living quarters have improved as well. Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) has been working on a new housing development called Kay (house) 52. It is great; it has running water three times a day, working private plumbing, and electricity. It also has two long cover porches that will be great for gait training. Most of the patients walked to the clinic this morning. This is great practice for ambulating in our natural environment. The streets of Haiti are not a smooth floor like our clinic.

On a personal note, Sunday I attended a local church service. Rony Bern, an employee of our Clinic is also a local pastor. He has been helping to start a church in a village outside of Deschapelles. Myself, my family, Hanger employees in Baton Rouge, and my church back home, donated funds to start the roof of the church. My mom also sent musical instruments last year. It was really nice to listen to the children play them and sing. So far away, but still close to home.