Haitians Need Prosthetics

Monday, February 8, 2010
By Chris Meagher (Contact)

Outside St. Damien’s Children Hospital, an older man was struggling to push a woman in a wheelchair who had her legs amputated. Without a sidewalk to walk on, the skinny man was battling foot and vehicle traffic, rocks and stones piled high, and giant potholes filled with grey, smelly water deep enough to make car tires disappear.

Since the earthquake, officials estimate doctors have performed 2,000 amputations of major bones (not fingers or toes) and treated tens of thousands major bone fractures. Half of those amputations were performed on people less than 20 years old.

Visit The Santa Barbara Independent for the whole story.