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>> To help Haitian amputees walk again, please click here to make a tax-deductible donation.
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Orthopedic Surgery
Dr. Robert Veith, Medical Director, Prosthetics Outreach Foundation, is performing surgery in the Dominican Republic on Haitian earthquake victims. Together with 25 doctors from around the world, Dr. Veith is working at the Municipal Hospital in Jimani, on the border with Haiti. He traveled to the earthquake zone at his own expense.
Says Dr. Veith, reporting by telephone from Jimani, "We're seeing mostly leg injuries, including many amputations. There are a lot of crush injuries." He reports that patients brought to the hospital are getting surgery the same day. Many patients are transported by United States military helicopters.
Dr. Veith purchased and brought an autoclave with him to help sterilize surgical instruments. Patients requiring the most extensive surgery are transported to the United States Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort.
Working almost around the clock, Dr. Veith is performing 10 to 15 procedures per day. He often sleeps in the operating room.
Dr. Veith expressed regret that he is unable to check on patients after surgery to see how they are doing. "Their homes have been destroyed. They don't know where they're going to stay. So there's just no way to follow up with them once they leave the hospital. We just have to hope for the best."
Rebuilding Prosthetics Capacity
Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF) is pleased to announce a partnership with Healing Hands for Haiti to provide urgently needed prosthetic assistance for amputees in Haiti. POF will provide financial support plus technical assistance as needed to help keep Haiti's amputees walking for a lifetime.
"In Haiti, as elsewhere, our goal is helping to build local prosthetics capacity so developing countries can make, fit, and maintain prosthetic limbs themselves, using local materials, and local personnel," says POF Executive Director Winfried Danke. Prosthetic limbs are like shoes... they wear out with use, and children and adults need new ones as their bodies grow and change. Having the local production and distribution capacity and the ability to provide all-important follow-up services is crucial to ensuring access to lifelong prosthetic care for amputees at a reasonable cost."
>> To help Haitian amputees walk again, please click here to make a tax-deductible donation.
To donate new or used prosthetic components, please click here for a list of organizations which accept components. POF does not accept donations of prosthetic components.
To volunteer services in Haiti, click here. POF does not place volunteers in Haiti.
Thank you for helping amputees in Haiti walk again. |
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