Ruth waves with her prosthetic hand.
By: Bill Dunn
Member, District Prosthetics Team, RC of Yarmouth
Exciting News! The District’s group working on prosthetics is planning its next mission to the Dominican Republic (DR) in January 2023 with a new design for prosthetic hands. The group is enthusiastic about the new design, which will be custom fitted to patients who will walk away with an electric-powered hand in just a couple of hours!
This process used to take many visits by the individual receiving the prosthetic hand, and multiple trips by team members.
An example of someone who was helped a couple of years ago is Ruth. She lost all the fingers on her right hand and part of her thumb due to sepsis. She received a fingers-only device where the fingers close when she bends her wrist. The sepsis took her lower left arm as well. She was fitted with a more traditional below-the-elbow manual prosthesis and the fingers close when she bends her elbow. This reflects the last generation of manually operated prosthetics. Bill Dunn of the team remarked “I don’t think we could do anything to improve the fingers-only prosthesis on Ruth’s right hand. For the manual below-the-elbow prosthesis, we would consider replacing it with a new electric one, but since it operates with something like a key fob, we would have to check Ruth’s ability to operate the fob with the fingers-only prosthesis. A retrofit may not be necessary for Ruth, but there are many others who will benefit.”
The goal for January’s trip is to take 45-50 prosthetic hands. With the parts for each hand costing about $100, the group is looking to raise $5,000. If your club would like a presentation on this exciting project, or would just like to make a contribution, please contact either Bill Dunn of the Yarmouth Club (wdunn@sunsetpoint.biz or 207-847-9345) or Asheesh Lanba of the Portland Club (asheesh.lanba@maine.edu or 207-780-5582). There would also be opportunities to travel with and support the team in the DR. They will also need help at home assembling the hands. Clubs in the district will want to be part of this very interesting project that will help so many people.
If you missed the more detailed article in the June Newsletter, click here.