Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O) Mobile Outreach Program to expand into Dakrong District, Quang Tri Province.
A community-based rehabilitation training – The trainer instructing the young amputee the proper way of using new above-knee artificial leg which was produced and delivered by the P&O Mobile Outreach Team.
In cooperation with the Prosthetics and Orthotics Department of Quang Tri Province’s Hospital and Dakrong District Health Service, Project RENEW has just completed an assessment in September 2009 for rehabilitation needs among ethnic minority population in 14 communes of Dakrong District. The survey in Dakrong District has examined 133 people with disabilities in which 89 people with disabilities need providing different kinds of assistive devices. This assessment will serve as important foundation for expansion of Project RENEW’s Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O) Mobile Outreach Unit in this mountainous district, which is expected to start in October 2009.
Dakrong is the second remote and poor district on the west of Quang Tri Province where a lot of ethnic minorities are residing. During the war time, the district was heavily affected with the war consequences and is currently still contaminated with explosive remnants of war. According to the BOMICEN LIS report, the contamination level in Dakrong District is confirmed at about 97% of its total land area. Survey results have revealed that all ERW victims, most of them are middle aged men and teenagers, became disabled while searching scrap metal from the war leftover. Ms. Ho Thi Lien, director of Huong Hiep commune health station, said that most local people with disabilities live under poverty line, thus they feel very happy when Project RENEW decided to expand the P&O program in Dakrong.
Initiated in March 2008, this program focused on providing orthopedic devices and rehabilitation services to a majority of ethnic minorities who have been affected by explosive remnants of war in Huong Hoa District. The Norwegian Trauma Care Foundation/Tromsoe Mine Victim Resource Center (TCF/TMC) and U.S Department of State co-funded the program until August 2008. Since September, TCF has been the leading funding agency for this special operation.
To implement the program, a 16-seat brand-new Ford was procured and modified in accordance to the P&O model learned from Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, equipped with orthopedic tools including an electric generator. Project RENEW also provided equipment in order to improve productivity and quality of orthopedic devices of Quang Tri Hospital’s Prosthetic and Orthopedic Workshop. After more than one year operating in all 22 communes of Huong Hoa District, the P&O has provided 189 orthopedic devices to 196 people with disabilities. To help these recipients better use provided devices, Project RENEW coordinated with district health authority to organize community-based rehabilitation (CBR) courses for local health workers and the people with disabilities. During the program period, the P&O revisited its beneficiary groups on a regular basis in order to check the quality of devices and provide repair if needed.
The program is highly appreciated by the local authorities and people with disabilities as this is the first time, Project RENEW has bring this special service to remote and poor areas where people with disabilities do not have opportunities to get access to the Prosthetics and Orthotics Department of Quang Tri Province’s Hospital for assistive devices.
Dang Quang Toan, Program Manager, RENEW