Association News
February 15, 2010
Kevin Hosea, a 25-year-old, two-time Paralympic trials participant living with spina bifida is trying to find a way to get the 2010 Paralympic Games televised in the United States — a feat that has never before been accomplished.
Through a petition on petitiononline.com, Hosea has so far collected 3,257 signatures to send onto the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) before the Paralympic Games begin.
“The Paralympic Games are an international level sporting event that was created to parallel the Olympic Games and let people with physical disability showcase their athletic abilities,” the petition reads. “Not only are the Paralympics just as competitive as the Olympics but they would also be very educational for the general public because people would see just how much people with physical disabilities can achieve despite their disabilities.”
It’s a cause Hosea is passionate about and not just because he is a two-time Paralympic trials participant in swimming and track, but also because he has friends who share that passion and will compete at the Games.
“I know tons of people who have been to the Paralympics … I have a lot invested,” he told O&P Business News. “My life has pretty much been sports so the fact that the sports that I’ve [participated in] are not getting anywhere near equal coverage is kind of annoying to me.”
Hosea started the petition at the end of January and during the first few days it only received about 300 signatures. With the help of Facebook, it caught steam.
“It’s amazing how much it grew in one day,” he said. “I’m probably going to keep it open for another week or so. But then I need to close it off so I can send it off to USOC.”
Here is the petitiion :
http://www.petitiononline.com/USOCTV/petition.html
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
'I had to learn to run again'
By MAJA KAZAZIC
Special to TBO.com
Published: February 23, 2010
Goal: My goal at first was simple: Walk more than two steps without pain. Once I was able to reach that goal, I set my sights on walking a 5K, which I did in 2009. I have to raise the bar again, so my new goal is to run the 5K at today's Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic
Click on link for the whole story ---
Help for Haitians - by Zain Shauk
A local specialist is hoping to help a growing number of Haitian amputees by sending prostheses to the nation, which was devastated by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake last month.
Spencer Doty, president of New Mexico-based Active Life, which was founded in Glendale, was spurred on by reports about Haitian amputees.
Doty’s collection efforts will end Friday as he hopes to send a shipment of used prosthetics equipment to the shaken nation, he said.
Check out link for the whole story ----
57 Ways To Cure A Headache
With tax time starting all over, the economy, and personal problems piling up, it isn’t unusual to feel a headache coming on. With everyone from your mother to that know-it-all coworker telling you what to do, how do you know what’s right for you?
With the help of these 57 ways to cure a headache, you can learn more about dozens of ways to help your problem before trying them out. With several entries in categories ranging from traditional to alternative, you are likely to find several ways to cure a headache.
Click on link for the 57 ways to cure a headache
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Healing Hands for Haiti International
Healing Hands for Haiti International
It has been more than two weeks since the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and our medical, rehabilitation and prosthetic fabrication facilities in Port-au-Prince. We are very relieved to report that all of our 45 local staff have been accounted for, although many lost family members and most lost their homes. Healing Hands for Haiti International has established an emergency relief fund to support them. It has been confirmed that our facilities are 80% destroyed or damaged. Only the guesthouse, which needs structural repairs, remains as a hopeful starting point for a temporary headquarters. Our plans to build Haiti’s first Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute have been accelerated.
The Handicap International emergency response team which includes members of Healing Hands for Haiti International and Team Canada Healing Hands, arrived within the first week and has since worked tirelessly with that organization assessing and treating victims at hospitals throughout the city, even transporting spinal chord injured to hospitals in the US. Several of our Haitian Board members who are orthopaedic surgeons operate continuously from their hospitals. Our organization is integrating with a larger consortium to provide acute rehabilitation facilities and services at the major hospital initiative near the airport.
By the end of week two, we had landed a second group of 12 senior Healing Hands for Haiti medical volunteers in Port-au-Prince. They are part of a group of 130 medical and construction personnel and a plane load of equipment, organized and donated by the Salt Lake City Utah Hospital Task Force. A make-shift clinic with power and water was immediately set up on our property and opened to the public the next day. Our team will continue to expand the staffing and services of this clinic while the main group help clean up, ensure site safety and start guesthouse repairs.
Your generous donations, offers to volunteer and to give materials towards the herculean rebuilding task mirror the response of the global community - absolutely overwhelming. On behalf of Haitians and our hard working staff and volunteers, we sincerely thank you for your continued support.
Click here for more images.
For more information or to arrange an interview:
Eric Doubt, Executive Director/ Directeur général
USA Tel: 801.349.2865 Can. Tel: 905.702.9964
It has been more than two weeks since the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and our medical, rehabilitation and prosthetic fabrication facilities in Port-au-Prince. We are very relieved to report that all of our 45 local staff have been accounted for, although many lost family members and most lost their homes. Healing Hands for Haiti International has established an emergency relief fund to support them. It has been confirmed that our facilities are 80% destroyed or damaged. Only the guesthouse, which needs structural repairs, remains as a hopeful starting point for a temporary headquarters. Our plans to build Haiti’s first Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute have been accelerated.
The Handicap International emergency response team which includes members of Healing Hands for Haiti International and Team Canada Healing Hands, arrived within the first week and has since worked tirelessly with that organization assessing and treating victims at hospitals throughout the city, even transporting spinal chord injured to hospitals in the US. Several of our Haitian Board members who are orthopaedic surgeons operate continuously from their hospitals. Our organization is integrating with a larger consortium to provide acute rehabilitation facilities and services at the major hospital initiative near the airport.
By the end of week two, we had landed a second group of 12 senior Healing Hands for Haiti medical volunteers in Port-au-Prince. They are part of a group of 130 medical and construction personnel and a plane load of equipment, organized and donated by the Salt Lake City Utah Hospital Task Force. A make-shift clinic with power and water was immediately set up on our property and opened to the public the next day. Our team will continue to expand the staffing and services of this clinic while the main group help clean up, ensure site safety and start guesthouse repairs.
Your generous donations, offers to volunteer and to give materials towards the herculean rebuilding task mirror the response of the global community - absolutely overwhelming. On behalf of Haitians and our hard working staff and volunteers, we sincerely thank you for your continued support.
Click here for more images.
For more information or to arrange an interview:
Eric Doubt, Executive Director/ Directeur général
USA Tel: 801.349.2865 Can. Tel: 905.702.9964
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.
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.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Direct Relief Commits $1.2 Million in Cash for Disability Programs in Haiti
3 Feb 2010 20:15:00 GMT
Source: Direct Relief International (DRI) - USA
Website: http://www.DirectRelief.org
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Direct Relief International today announced that it is committing $1.2 million - approximately one-third of the cash support it has received for recovery efforts in Haiti - to support the establishment of prosthetics and orthotics services and the provision of needed assistive devices and rehabilitation to enable long-term response efforts for the people affected by the recent earthquake.
Direct Relief Emergency Preparedness and Response Director Brett Williams, who is in Haiti overseeing the organization's relief efforts, made this announcement today following consultation yesterday with other Haitian and international organizations who have formed a working group to coordinate assistance in the area of care for people who have sustained disabling conditions.
"We know this is a long-term need, and we want help start services that will be here five years from now for Haitians, and run by Haitians," said Williams.
"An additional $2 million likely will be needed, which we will work on, but we think it is important to carve out resources and begin focusing on this critical area now for the long haul," said Williams. "The funds we have received are for Haiti and Haitians, and they'll be invested in Haiti to build local capacity to sustain ongoing efforts."
Williams led Direct Relief's effort in Pakistan following the massive 2005 earthquake to help the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences (PIPOS) expand five-fold its services - including the fitting and local fabrication of prosthetics and orthotics - to serve thousands of people who had been left with disabilities. The expanded service centers continue to provide essential services with locally trained staff five years later, with ongoing support from Direct Relief.
PIPOS Medical Director Dr. Bakht Sarwar is a world leader in prosthetics and orthotics services and was among the first to offer assistance to Direct Relief and its partners in Haiti after the quake.
Direct Relief has supported local health efforts in Haiti since 1964 by providing essential medicines, supplies, and equipment to dozens of partner facilities. Since the January 12 quake, Direct Relief has sped medical aid to Haitian partner facilities struggling to meet the tremendous surge of injured patients.
Meeting Immediate Needs: The organization yesterday also delivered six tons of essential medicines and medical supplies to St. Damien Hospital in Port-au-Prince, the nation's only free pediatric hospital, to help them treat injured patients.
Including yesterday's delivery to St. Damien, Direct Relief has delivered to its partners more than $5.7 million in essential medical supplies, which have been donated by dozens of healthcare company partners. An additional $18.5 million in medical material requested by partner facilities is en route and will be delivered in the next several days, which will be followed by additional infusions in the months and years ahead.
In spite of the widely reported bottlenecks of humanitarian aid, Direct Relief's assistance has reached the local healthcare facilities with which it is working, mainly because of pre-existing relations, specific targeting of aid to specific facilities that have requested them, and distribution channels to the facilities.
To ensure coordination with other aid inflows and compliance with accepted practices in emergency situations, Williams and his Direct Relief colleagues also are meeting daily with other groups in the U.N.-led health and logistics clusters to share information and plans.
With specific regard to donations of pharmaceutical products, which require specialized handling and tracking, Direct Relief is providing the World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization onsite event managers with detailed lists of all incoming medical material and the recipient facilities.
About Direct Relief International
Founded in 1948, Direct Relief is a Santa Barbara, California-based nonprofit organization focused on improving quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief has provided more than $1 billion in privately funded humanitarian aid since 2000, including more than $150 million in assistance in the United States. It has earned a fundraising efficiency score of 99 percent or better from Forbes for the past eight years, and is ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California's largest international nonprofit organization based on private support. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.
Source: Direct Relief International (DRI) - USA
Website: http://www.DirectRelief.org
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Direct Relief International today announced that it is committing $1.2 million - approximately one-third of the cash support it has received for recovery efforts in Haiti - to support the establishment of prosthetics and orthotics services and the provision of needed assistive devices and rehabilitation to enable long-term response efforts for the people affected by the recent earthquake.
Direct Relief Emergency Preparedness and Response Director Brett Williams, who is in Haiti overseeing the organization's relief efforts, made this announcement today following consultation yesterday with other Haitian and international organizations who have formed a working group to coordinate assistance in the area of care for people who have sustained disabling conditions.
"We know this is a long-term need, and we want help start services that will be here five years from now for Haitians, and run by Haitians," said Williams.
"An additional $2 million likely will be needed, which we will work on, but we think it is important to carve out resources and begin focusing on this critical area now for the long haul," said Williams. "The funds we have received are for Haiti and Haitians, and they'll be invested in Haiti to build local capacity to sustain ongoing efforts."
Williams led Direct Relief's effort in Pakistan following the massive 2005 earthquake to help the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences (PIPOS) expand five-fold its services - including the fitting and local fabrication of prosthetics and orthotics - to serve thousands of people who had been left with disabilities. The expanded service centers continue to provide essential services with locally trained staff five years later, with ongoing support from Direct Relief.
PIPOS Medical Director Dr. Bakht Sarwar is a world leader in prosthetics and orthotics services and was among the first to offer assistance to Direct Relief and its partners in Haiti after the quake.
Direct Relief has supported local health efforts in Haiti since 1964 by providing essential medicines, supplies, and equipment to dozens of partner facilities. Since the January 12 quake, Direct Relief has sped medical aid to Haitian partner facilities struggling to meet the tremendous surge of injured patients.
Meeting Immediate Needs: The organization yesterday also delivered six tons of essential medicines and medical supplies to St. Damien Hospital in Port-au-Prince, the nation's only free pediatric hospital, to help them treat injured patients.
Including yesterday's delivery to St. Damien, Direct Relief has delivered to its partners more than $5.7 million in essential medical supplies, which have been donated by dozens of healthcare company partners. An additional $18.5 million in medical material requested by partner facilities is en route and will be delivered in the next several days, which will be followed by additional infusions in the months and years ahead.
In spite of the widely reported bottlenecks of humanitarian aid, Direct Relief's assistance has reached the local healthcare facilities with which it is working, mainly because of pre-existing relations, specific targeting of aid to specific facilities that have requested them, and distribution channels to the facilities.
To ensure coordination with other aid inflows and compliance with accepted practices in emergency situations, Williams and his Direct Relief colleagues also are meeting daily with other groups in the U.N.-led health and logistics clusters to share information and plans.
With specific regard to donations of pharmaceutical products, which require specialized handling and tracking, Direct Relief is providing the World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization onsite event managers with detailed lists of all incoming medical material and the recipient facilities.
About Direct Relief International
Founded in 1948, Direct Relief is a Santa Barbara, California-based nonprofit organization focused on improving quality of life by bringing critically needed medicines and supplies to local healthcare providers worldwide. Direct Relief has provided more than $1 billion in privately funded humanitarian aid since 2000, including more than $150 million in assistance in the United States. It has earned a fundraising efficiency score of 99 percent or better from Forbes for the past eight years, and is ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as California's largest international nonprofit organization based on private support. For more information, please visit www.DirectRelief.org.
Direct Relief takes long-term view on Haiti aid effort By ERIC LINDBERG — Feb. 5, 2010
Approximately one third of the donations made to local medical aid organization Direct Relief International to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti will be used to establish long-term prosthetics and orthotics services.
Direct Relief officials said the organization is committing $1.2 million to provide assistive devices and rehabilitation to those who suffered disabling injuries during the mid-January quake.
“We know this is a long-term need, and we want to help start services that will be here five years from now for Haitians and run by Haitians,” Brett Williams, the nonprofit’s emergency preparedness and response director, said in a news release. “An additional $2 million like will be needed, which we will work on, but we think it is important to carve out resources and begin focusing on this critical area now for the long haul.”
In Haiti to oversee Direct Relief’s aid efforts, Williams said a working group has been formed with other Haitian and international organizations to collaborate on the long-term recovery process.
He has experience in dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake, having spent time in Pakistan following a severe earthquake in 2005. During that time, Williams helped the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences expand its services to serve thousands of victims who needed to be fitted with prosthetics and orthotics.
Direct Relief has also continued addressing immediate medical needs in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, and recently delivered six tons of essential medical supplies to St. Damien Hospital.
An additional $18.5 million in medications and supplies will be delivered in the next few days, and will be supplemented in the coming months and years, Direct Relief officials said.
“In spite of the widely reported bottlenecks of humanitarian aid, Direct Relief’s assistance has reached the local healthcare facilities with which it is working, mainly because of pre-existing relations, specific targeting of aid to specific facilities that have requested them, and distribution channels to the facilities,” according to a news release from the nonprofit.
Direct Relief officials said the organization is committing $1.2 million to provide assistive devices and rehabilitation to those who suffered disabling injuries during the mid-January quake.
“We know this is a long-term need, and we want to help start services that will be here five years from now for Haitians and run by Haitians,” Brett Williams, the nonprofit’s emergency preparedness and response director, said in a news release. “An additional $2 million like will be needed, which we will work on, but we think it is important to carve out resources and begin focusing on this critical area now for the long haul.”
In Haiti to oversee Direct Relief’s aid efforts, Williams said a working group has been formed with other Haitian and international organizations to collaborate on the long-term recovery process.
He has experience in dealing with the aftermath of an earthquake, having spent time in Pakistan following a severe earthquake in 2005. During that time, Williams helped the Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic and Orthotic Sciences expand its services to serve thousands of victims who needed to be fitted with prosthetics and orthotics.
Direct Relief has also continued addressing immediate medical needs in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, and recently delivered six tons of essential medical supplies to St. Damien Hospital.
An additional $18.5 million in medications and supplies will be delivered in the next few days, and will be supplemented in the coming months and years, Direct Relief officials said.
“In spite of the widely reported bottlenecks of humanitarian aid, Direct Relief’s assistance has reached the local healthcare facilities with which it is working, mainly because of pre-existing relations, specific targeting of aid to specific facilities that have requested them, and distribution channels to the facilities,” according to a news release from the nonprofit.
The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) is seeking contributions of time, talent, materials and cash to support Haitian Amputee Relief e
The members of both the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (AAOP) and the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) have joined together to provide support for the Haitian people. The members of the Orthotic and Prosthetic field are a generous people and they have committed their time, expertise, equipment and money to help the Haitian people recover their lives and their country.
This Web page will list the work that members of the O&P community are doing, and be the place where you can volunteer your time and resources and be connected with the groups who can make the most of your desire to help.
This Web page will list the work that members of the O&P community are doing, and be the place where you can volunteer your time and resources and be connected with the groups who can make the most of your desire to help.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Life & Limb Ministries
Come let us express our deepest appreciation for your assistance in making our 2009 missions trip a possibility.
Come see what you helped to acheive.
Interested?
Have questions?Come let us share our stories over some light refreshments.
Come let us express our deepest appreciation for your assistance in making our 2009 missions trip a possibility.
Come see what you helped to acheive.
Interested?
Have questions?Come let us share our stories over some light refreshments.
We will be sharing our plans for Haiti!!
This is not a fund raiser.
It is an awareness raiser!
Look forward to seeinig you.
Date: Friday, February 12, 2010 Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: 3435 Box Hill Corporate Ctr Dr., Suite D. Abingdon, MD 21009
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: 3435 Box Hill Corporate Ctr Dr., Suite D. Abingdon, MD 21009
Hospital Pain Management Transformed by University of Illinois NCSA
U. Illinois- A study conducted over a five-year period at an Illinois hospital created a pain management algorithm. The algorithm is being used to reduce the number of injuries and deaths related to errors in how pain management drugs are administered to patients in the hospital.
“A prescription is a treatment plan. And that treatment plan is, in its most general sense, an algorithm.” says Ian Brooks, head of the health sciences research group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois.
He further explains that the processes used in developing a computer science program can further be applied to the process of prescribing medication. The definition of an algorithm is a precise set of rules for solving a problem. The study looked at prescriptions as a medical algorithm. Brooks helped create and debug the algorithm, which was tested at the OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
The researchers, which included nurses, doctors, pharmacists, clinical pharmacologists, quality assurance specialists and statisticians, worked with adult orthopedic surgery patients. Once anesthesia and surgical pain medications were out of the patients system, non-opioid analgesics such as acetaminophen were given. The patients were administered these non-analgesic drugs on a fixed round-the-clock schedule. This tactic cut the patients opioid medication requirements in half.
The opioid fentanyl was then given through subcutaneous catheter. The drugs were
provided via a patient controlled pump, which allowed the patients to have more control over their own pain management.
Patients reported the severity of their pain on a pain scale. The pain scale allows a patient to slide a marker to indicate the level of pain that they are experiencing. The scale went from a range of no pain on the far left, to extreme pain on the far right. Nurses would flip the scale over to see the number that corresponded to the marker placement, then follow the protocols for that pain number. The protocols also included orders to handle common post-surgical complaints such as
nausea and constipation. The algorithm has detailed protocols for responding to severe adverse reactions associated with opioid drugs.
The results of the study were very promising. During the beginning of the study there were seven severe or fatal adverse drug events (ADEs) in one month. Once the protocol was introduced and was consistently followed, the number decreased until reaching the point of zero deaths from ADEs for the final six months of the study. These results were published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Once the study was concluded, the protocols went hospital-wide. Since the implementation of these protocols more than six years ago, the hospital has not experienced a single adverse drug event relating to opioid-based pain medication.
“The ward nurses loved it,” Brooks says. The nurses were able to easily convert pain measurements into direct action through patient care, and, more importantly, the protocol empowered them to take action.
The protocol also opened up the around the clock use of non-prescription over the counter (OTC) analgesics to reduce the patient’s need for opioids. Maintaining the dose of these OTC analgesics managed pain in patients, reducing the use of stronger drugs.
With the leaps being made in electronic medical records and expansion of the use of computers in hospital wards, the researchers believe the time is right to pursue digital prescription protocols and expand their use.
Researchers involved in the study were from NCSA, the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, and Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Chicago.
NCSA news: http://www.hospital.com/www.ncsa.illinois.edu/News/Stories/Painmgt/Thursday 14 January 2010
PLEASE VISIT http://www.hospital.com/ which are a new link on The Amputee Network Blog
Haiti amputees face dire quest for prosthetics
Prosthetics groups promise help in a land where disability can mean death
By JoNel Aleccia
Health writer
msnbc.com
updated 8:30 a.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 28, 2010
By the time 4-year-old Schneily Similien’s parents got him to a doctor, it was too late to save his left leg.
The Haitian boy was hurt in the Jan. 12 magnitude-7 earthquake that killed at least 200,000 people and injured at least that many more. As the ground shook his family’s Port-au-Prince home, pieces of concrete ceiling came down on Schneily and his mother, Darline Similien, a 37-year-old kindergarten teacher. One large chunk crushed the child’s leg.
But after five days of searching in vain for medical care, the family had to travel to Good Samaritan Hospital in Jimani, about 45 miles away in the Dominican Republic. There, doctors had to choose between preserving the boy’s limb — or saving his life.
Please visit link above for the3 whole story.
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