Physical Health Bolivia Project #26656

Prosthetic Limbs for 50 Poor Bolivian Amputees

by Bolivians Without Disabilities

Project Report | May 1, 2017
National conference to improve prosthetic access

By Matthew Pepe | President

Last week we were invited to attend a Bolivian government initiated meeting to discuss the state of prosthetics and orthotics in the country. Or rather, to discuss the lack of P&O capability. The national Ministry of health had the largest delegation, but also in attendance were representatives from the Ministry of the Vice President. International organizations represented were Handicap International, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Of all the groups, FUNPROBO, our partner and the reciever of these donations, was the only organization which actually produces prosthetic limbs and almost all of the government representatives were very surprised to know that FUNPROBO even existed. We found this quite shocking since FUNPROBO provides more prosthetic limbs then any other governmental, or non-governmental organization in the country. The plan is to meet monthly to strategize and plan how to improve the ability to provide more and better prosthetic limbs at a national level. We hope that this meeting will be the linchpin to get more local support for FUNPROBO, as well as possibly some international help.

letter of invitation

meeting hall

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Apr 4, 2017
March 2017 Fundraising results

By Matthew Pepe | President

waiting room full of patients

Our March campaign is now over and your generosity has launched us way over our first goal of getting more then 40 donors. We also closed out the campaign with a little over $5500 which will allow us to provide limbs to one additional patient then the eight that we had initially targeted.

In case you’re curious how we apply these funds, here is a quick peek into a typical day at the clinic:

Last week we had a crazy busy day in the clinic. It felt like more and more patients just kept coming, and I wondered how we were going to handle all six patients.

Two of the patients have been coming in for the past few weeks to do physical therapy and prepare for their new prosthetic legs. Christian, our volunteer physical therapist from Germany, has been working hard with these two patients. Their physical abilities have improved dramatically.
One of these patients, who had been wheelchair-bound up until this point, finally strapped on her prosthetic leg and walked for 10 minutes. This was the first time this patient has walked since she lost her leg. She was ecstatic!
We also had two other previous patients back for repairs. Minor weight gain (or loss) can render their sockets very uncomfortable, and we have to make adjustments. No prosthetic leg lasts forever; a major part of our job is to maintain all previous 325 patients.
We also served a new patient today. He was from a city in the Amazon basin, and he was having a very difficult time with the altitude here in La Paz at 13,000 feet. The patient had to return to his hotel to rest, and he will return tomorrow.
The last patient was missing his right arm below the elbow. Pieter, our volunteer 3D printer engineer from Belgium, eagerly measured the patient for a prosthetic arm.
Costis, our other volunteer engineer, has been working hard to master 3D printed hands. Costis was busy today trying to invent a new mechanism to allow the hand to flex in a more useful manner.
Last, but not least, our newest volunteer, Jacob (USA) joined us in the clinic today. Jacob's specialty is photography, and he is working on producing a new video of the center’s work. I will report back on the video project, as soon as it is completed.

I hope this helps you to understand how critical your donations are to our work. We are so grateful for your support!

Thank you,

Matthew Pepe

Founder and President of Bolivians Without disAbilities

Angela walking for the first time

Angela smiling

Miguel standing tall

Miguel laughing

Brigida walking outside

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