boe4fun - 4-5-2013 at 10:56 AM
Hola Everyone, We concluded our clinic with the La Balandra Rotary Club
of La Paz, BCS on March 22nd. We had fabricated over 20 new prostheses
and orthoses, along with repairing several others. All of the
prosthetic systems were legs, except for one below elbow prosthesis
which was made for a little boy living near Ensenada. Jesus was helping
his father clean up their property when he came across an unexploded
hand grenade which unfortunately exploded when he first moved it. This
caused him to lose his left hand and wrist. He's only about 14 or 15
years old, and as it is, is left handed. We met with Jesus and his
family (along with Sarah, a "gringa" who runs an orphanage north of
Ensenada) at a local OXXO/Pemex station and took a mold and the
necessary measurements. We made his prosthesis at our workshop in La
Paz and he will be seen at our Flying Samaritan's clinic at the Los
Pinos Ranch near San Quintin. We will be seeing Jesus the second
Saturday of April for delivery of his prosthesis on our return trip to
the USA.
Dr. Bob Haining ran some numbers on his computer while at the clinic and
came up with these stats: during the last 5 clinics we have delivered
100 new prostheses (most all legs) and 40 different types of bracing
systems - everything from full leg braces for polio victims to plastic
body jackets for kids with scoliosis. These numbers do not include
repairs and patch jobs to some of the patients who did not need new
sockets, just adjustments to their current legs or braces. The clinic
is now in it's ninth year and we don't have the numbers from the earlier
clinics, but I think it's safe to say that we have delivered well over
300 prostheses and about 200 bracing systems of different types.
With the downturn in the global economy over the last few years, the La
Balandra Rotary Club of La Paz is having increasing difficulty funding
it's various humanitarian efforts in BCS, including our clinic. We
recycle all of the parts that we use, but certain materials and supplies
must be regularly purchased. This costs about $6000 USD each year (we
hold 2 week long clinics - 1 in the spring and 1 in the fall). If
anyone is able to assist financially, one of our volunteers (Louise
Farrow) has set up a "Limb Restoration Fund" at her Methodist Church in
Alamo, CA. The address is:
Attn: Limb Restoration Fund
San Ramon United Methodist Church
902 Danville Blvd, Alamo, CA
The church will provide you with a receipt for tax purposes.
Thanks in advance for your consideration. Paul Boe
woody with a view - 4-5-2013 at 11:26 AM
good job, Paul!
boe4fun - 4-8-2013 at 12:38 AM
Bump - the La Balandra Rotary Club really needs our help.
shari - 4-8-2013 at 07:41 AM
Paul...you, your wife and team mates do an amazing job making the lives of so many unfortunate victims more comfortable. You are a dedicated, selfless
gentleman who'm I greatly admire...how about setting up a paypal account for this most worthy clinic making it easier to donate...lets see...over
8,000 members...if everyone gave a dollar...or half of us gave $2.00....you do the math!
[Edited on 4-8-2013 by shari]