May 14, 2015
Organizational Announcement: Closing of Prosthetics/Orthotics Project of
World Rehabilitation Fund/ProsthetiKa at Adventist Hospital, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
WRF/ProsthetiKa partners were informed by the Adventist Hospital’s administration that the hospital is undergoing major financial challenges and is no longer capable of continuing the Prosthetics/Orthotics shop, along with few other services. The unfortunate news prompted the partners to take actions in attempts to sustain the use of the project’s accumulated resources: staff and their knowledge, equipment, materials, supplies, and tools.
The equipment of the project is to be donated to the existing P&O program in Cap Haitien, north of Port-au-Prince, by Mobility Outreach International in partnership with the government-run Justinian University Hospital and the Haiti Project of the University of Miami, Florida. The donated equipment will allow this program to provide improved services to the larger number of people with physical disabilities. The numerous materials and supplies of the project are donated to the P&O program at Ecole St. Vincent, a school for children with disabilities in Port-au-Prince, which hosts a P&O shop that was set up by WRF and is now being run in partnership with Catholic Medical Mission Board. The shop serves on average 50 people with disabilities monthly, and additional components and materials are going to be of a great value to this program.
The WRF’s P&O technicians and assisting personnel have accumulated invaluable knowledge and experience during the life of the program and, equipped with the tools, will be able to continue serving people with mobility impairments and other physical disabilities in Haiti.
Through its lifetime, the program served 1260 people, trained 2 Haitians in senior level P&O techniques and procedures, and 2 staff in assisting P&O professionals. ProsthetiKa and WRF have donated materials, equipment, financial and volunteer resources to make that happen since the project’s launch in post-earthquake Haiti in 2010.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be able to assist so many people in need of our support. You can continue supporting WRF’s other projects on GlobalGiving.com, and please feel free to reach out to us directly if you have any questions about our work. You can read stories of two more people served by the project below. World Rehabilitation Fund plans to continue to stay engaged in assisting Haitians with disabilities. It is our hopes that we will be able to contribute to transforming the lives of people with disabilities in Haiti in the future.