Tough Challenge Gets Tougher For Haitian Amputees

Tough challenge gets tougher for Haitian amputees
By Melissa Gray | CNN

Excerpt: There were about 800,000 Haitians with handicaps and disabilities before the earthquake, Doubt said.

"Handicapped in Haiti have been largely unattended to or abandoned by their governments, and there are very few medical organizations who attend to them or provide a focus on them, so it was a very large job to begin with," he said. "There are going to be many more disabled (now), and among them a large population of newly amputated patients, and that population is going to grow."

Stuart explained that many people with injuries requiring amputation may not have made it yet to hospitals. Others may simply have skin wounds, but if they can't get to a hospital and their wounds become infected, it could necessitate amputation.

Anticipating the need, the group Physicians for Peace has begun to collect prosthetics, crutches, canes, walkers and wheelchairs. Amputees are typically fitted with new limbs after two to four months of healing.

Used prosthetics will be particularly beneficial in Haiti, where manufacturing artificial limbs is likely to be difficult, said Heather Mills, a U.N. Association goodwill ambassador.

"What I'm trying to do is appeal to people to ... contact Physicians for Peace and take back any limbs that they're not using," Mills told CNN's "Larry King Live." "We can reuse the components."

Mills, who was once married to Beatle Paul McCartney, lost part of her left leg in a 1993 vehicle crash. She has since been active in charities to clear land mines and provide artificial limbs to tens of thousands of people.

"I'm fully aware that they're not going to need the limbs for weeks, but it takes weeks to coordinate," Mills said. "It takes weeks for people to donate. It takes weeks to get them packed and shipped."

Handicap International plans to produce between 300 and 400 emergency prostheses in the next six months to cover the need until patients can receive more permanent ones, the group said.

Physicians for Peace plans to set up a prosthesis production facility in Haiti, according to the group's Web site.

"We will work with our partners to identify whether we can use existing structures or somehow build temporary work space and bring in the specialized equipment needed to prepare and fit prosthetic devices: ovens, routers, vacuum pumps, drills, sanders and saws, as well as generators and lights," the Website said.

Refurbished prosthetic limbs and mobility devices collected by the group will also be shipped to Haiti.

Handicap International is also expanding its staff to around 100, and they will train local prosthetic technicians to meet the needs of amputees in the long term, Stuart said.

"Prosthetics need to be fitted -- they're not off the shelf -- so you need technicians there," Stuart said. Prosthetics "need to be changed if the child is growing, if the person gains weight, loses weight." Read entire article.