This project comprises 4 components:

1. Orthopedic workplace

2. Homes for physically disabled

3. Field visits

4. Orthopedic consultation in the Andersen Medical Center

 

1. The orthopedic workplace

We have an orthopedic workplace in Kitale (40 km from the Andersen Medical Centre), where all sorts of aids, adjustments and protheses are made for people with a (temporary) handicap. These can vary from simple crutches and wheelchairs to complete limb prothesis.

The orthopedic technician, Stephen Swetaen, has been involved with the project for many years. He carries out his tasks with great knowledge and commitment. There is also a part-time physiotherapist involved in the project, who treats the patients at the workshop, teaching them to use their new devices and muscle strengthening exercises.

Also, patients are selected here for orthopedic surgery. The patients are sent to the mobile clinic of the KijabeZiekenhuis, in Nairobi where they can be operated on, often by American doctors.

2 Homes for handicapped children

Two homes for handicapped children have been established by the catholic church, 15 km north west from the hospital, in Endebess, and 15 km to the East, in Kiminini.

Around 30 children in the age range of 6 - 18 live in each home, both boys and girls. The children have varying degrees of disability, both physical and mental.

The homes are both situated close to government schools so that the children can attend, either in their wheelchairs or using other aids.

Stephen and the physiotherapist visit the homes on a weekly basis to treat the children and see if any adjustments need to be made.  Often, the children need one or more operations to correct their handicap. Stephen ensures that the children are sent to the mobile Kijabe clinic, some 400km away, and accompanies them when they are operated on.

3 Field visits
Stephen often goes on field visits, looking for handicapped children and their parents so they can be informed of the possibilities that are available to assist them.

The main purpose of these visits is to increase the awareness of the local population about disabilities, what can be done about them and how to live with them in a positive way.

4 Orthopedica clinic in the Andersen Medical Centre

Stephen comes to the Andersen Medical Centre twice a month to screen orthopedic patients and patients with schizis (harelip).

Very often he sees babies with clubfeet that can be helped with plastercasts. Also patients with polio, birth defects, burns, paralysis etc., to name but a few are helped by Stephen. Patients are also referred from the clinic to Kijabe for operations.

Stephen is the only active orthopedic technician in an area 200 by 100 km and fulfils a great need for orthopedic help amongst the population.

This projects urgently needs funds for:

1. apparatus and materials for Stephen so that he can make the necessary aids

2. urgent and necessary operations for the poorest patients

3. transport so that Stephen can travel to the different locations

4. improvements and modifications to the homes