Jay Tew recently returned to Haiti for a fourth rotation as lead clinician at Klinik Hanger. The next several blog posts are reflections from Jay about his most recent trip.
June 5 – 7, 2012
There has been steady work in the Klinik, mostly fabrication and a few walk-ins these couple of days. Josef has left for Port-au-Prince. He is needed there to help with organization of a second prosthetic relief center. My German friend, I will miss you. I wish I had a little more time to work with him. It is a great thing to share your clinical and personal time with people from all over the world. You can learn so much from others whether it’s technical ideas or philosophical. Other than the purest form of giving and helping others who can’t help themselves, one of the most rewarding experiences is working over the past three years with all the Hanger and other volunteers here in Haiti. Getting to learn and take a little bit of each of them to make me into a better prosthetist and I believe, person as well, is priceless. I know I am not the same person who arrived in Haiti that Feb. 2010. I have been taken out of my bubble where my mind has expanded greatly and I’m a better person today. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world!
About Jay Tew, CP
- Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation
- Deschapelles, Haiti
- Jaw Tew is a Hanger Clinic practice manager and recipient of the Hanger Excellence Award for Clinical Leadership. Additionally, Tew was awarded the Louisiana Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Louisiana National Guard’s highest civilian Medal of Honor for his service to wounded soldiers returning from the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jay volunteered to serve a three-month term at HAS as lead prosthetist for the Coalition's patient care delivery. He arrived February 22, 2010 and lead the team that fit 350+ amputees with prosthetic limbs and orthotic braces before his rotation ended May 31, 2010. He has since served several other terms as lead prosthetist at the clinic in Haiti.
