Yearly Archives: 2016

The prosthetic center in Bolivia has moved

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Our partner in Bolivia has finally found a new location for their prosthetic center  Moving from a tiny, cramped 1000-sq-foot house, which was barely adequate, they have moved into a place that’s twice as large.  The new location is a classic 80-year-old registered landmark house with wooden floors and 15-foot high ceilings. The new building has a spacious area for physical therapy activities, as well as additional dedicated rooms for fabrication. The new building also has a larger office so that volunteers will no longer be falling all over each other to get their work done. The new location offers cheaper rent and a MUCH better location in town – near one of the main squares. After a lot of painting, repairs and hard work, the move took place ten days ago. We are excited to start serving patients when the doors open on January 9, 2017!

Employee Spotlight for January: Bismark Sandoval

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We are excited to announce that Bismark Sandoval has joined the team at FUNPROBO as an assistant prosthetist!  Bismark is Bolivian, and he is now the second prosthetist which means that FUNPROBO can start handling even more patients per month.  Bismark is young, eager, bright and passionate about this great cause. The chief prosthetist, Florencio Calle, has been working hard to train Bismark and help him ramp up his skills quickly so that he soon can take on his own patient load.  We hope that this is the beginning of a new era for FUNPROBO—training local specialists from Bolivia, to serve their own citizens—rather than relying on a single prosthetist, and the efforts of volunteers from other nations.  

You may also recall in our June newsletter that the internationally-known prosthetist, Jon Batzdorff, started Bismark’s training.  We hope to further Bismark’s education by supporting his tuition expenses when he enrolls in one of the few Latin American prosthetic schools, Don Bosco University in Guatemala, which is famous all over Latin America. After completing his education, Bismark will be one of the few fully accredited prosthetists in Bolivia. To this end, we are starting a special fundraising effort to collect $13,500 to send Bismark to Don Bosco University.

If you want your donations to go to a sustainable purpose, please consider donating to Bismark’s education fund.

 

 

Clinic keeps expenses rock bottom

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One reason we are happy to support the work at the Bolivian prosthetic clinic is that we know that, besides doing great work, they also stretch every dollar as far as possible. Hence, your donation will have maximum impact. The cost of a prosthetic limb is largely driven by labor costs, as well as the prosthetic components that go into a leg. In Bolivia, labor is a major factor in the overall expenses. It is a travesty that the main prosthetic technician, like many workers in Bolivia, only earn a few dollars per hour. And yet in Bolivia, that is actually not too bad.  But even a few dollars per hour adds up in this labor intensive process.

In order to keep the second largest cost (components) down, virtually all components are made in-house in the tiny workshop at the clinic.  There are occasional imports of a limited number of components, but they are always sent as donations.

ABOVE-THE-KNEE LIMB (AK)
The most critical part of an above-the-knee (AK) prosthetic limb is the knee itself. In 2011, Matthew Pepe, our founder, convinced an international organization, LIMBS Intl, to provide the design and training to our partner FUNPROBO, in how to make the amazing polycentric knee.

 

This knee:

• Is far more advanced than any other knee made currently in Bolivia.
• Provides the patient a very realistic feeling.
• Resembles a normal walking gait (especially compared to the traditional Bolivian single axis, or fixed knee, leg).

Last month, two more dedicated BWD volunteers at FUNPROBO, cranked out 20 more knees for the next AK patients.

• A polycentric knee, when purchased in the US, costs between $700 and $7000, depending on many variables.
• FUNPROBO’S ‘in-house’ knees can be made for less than $100.

 

FEET
Feet are another problematic component do to the high load and stress they must sustain day-after-day, and year-after-year. Again, it was our founder who introduced the “Shape and Roll” foot design invented at Northwestern University in Chicago.

• FUNPROBO has now made 100s of these feet since 2011.
• Instead of spending $50-$250 on an imported foot, these feet can be made for about $10.

 

CONNECTORS
A third critical and expensive component is called a connector which attaches the prosthetic foot to the lower prosthetic leg.

• The clinic invented its own connector, which saves $1500/year.
• These durable in-house connectors cost less $4 to make.
• These components are made from durable engineering plastics and stainless steel nuts and bolts.

The above measures show the attention to costs that the Bolivian clinic exercises to ensure that all donated funds stretch as far as possible. Your donation will be efficiently used.

POST – PPAM Aid – Patients practice walking early

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We are happy to share news about our physical therapy training aid, which allows amputees to start walking before his/her leg is ready. This project was made possible in the physical therapy department of our partner organization, FUNPROBO.  One of the clinic’s volunteers, Amy Souster, (sent by BWD) bought a new physical therapy aid which allows amputees to stand up and practice balance and exercise before their prosthetic limb has been attached.

The aid is basically an inflatable bag contained within a metal frame. The patient inserts his/her residual limb into the bag and the entire system is supported by a shoulder harness.  This device gives the patients a great boost of confidence that they can walk again.   This device is called a PPAM Aid, which stands for “Pneumatic Post-Amputation Mobility Aid“. Although it is not not well known in the US, nor Latin America, it should be. Now every amputee can practice walking before his or her limb is ready, and therefore, greatly ease the transition to using their new prosthetic limb(s).  The patients also adapt to their final prosthesis much faster if they have first practiced in the PPAM Aid.  

Since that time, Amy has also done her own fundraising, and along with the efforts of Mr. Michael Higginbottom and family, they purchased and donated an additional PPAM Aid system. In addition, they donated the expensive, but necessary, pump system which can maintain the bag at the exact pressure so as not to injure the patient.

If you would like to support purchases of future physical therapy equipment, then you can donate here