NEW!
photos of children sponsored by Hope for Children (Hong Kong)
WHEELCHAIR PROJECT 2004
by Eunice Shen, Project Director
Dec 6, 2004
Contents:
* 120 wheelchairs distributed, and where they went
* Mob scene in Jiulong
* Follow-up on some of our past wheelchair recipients
* Construction boom increases local need for wheelchairs
* Failure of institutions to address disabled children's needs
This year, we were able to raise funds to purchase 120 wheelchairs made from the
Shanghai Wheelchair Factory, based in Chengdu. Support came from fundraising
efforts of this year?s team members as well as from Hope for Children in Hong
Kong and an anonymous donor.
In addition to giving away wheelchairs, our second focus was helping with
physical therapy services and teachers? training at the Holy Love School for the
Handicapped in Chengdu. Holy Love has been a partner with Kham Aid Foundation (KAF)
for the past five years. They have been our home base in Chengdu for all of
Kham Aid's work in the eastern Tibetan plateau.
This year our wheelchair distribution area included Kangding, Juilong, Yajiang,
and Litang counties. We gave out 13 wheelchairs in Kangding, 76 wheelchairs in
Juilong, 4 in Yajiang, and 17 wheelchairs in Litang. We gave 10 wheelchairs to
the Holy Love School for the Handicapped in Chengdu.
Kangding county's Federation for Disabled People asked for 13 wheelchairs this
year. In the past years, they have requested up to 10 wheelchairs annually. The
officials distribute the wheelchairs to needy individuals as requests come to
their office during the course of the year.
Our largest distribution was in Juilong county. The county government was well
organized and had prepared a list of disabled patients. These patients and
their families were notified by the government of the dates of the wheelchair
distribution. Juilong is a full day?s drive from Kangding. We stayed three
days in this area. We had the opportunity to visit a few patients at the
government hospital.
The government had our team work outdoors for the first day of our wheelchair
clinic. Among government officials, there seems to be a lack of understanding
about privacy and confidentiality of care with patients. Even though we had
requested some rooms in a building for our clinics, we were faced with an open
town square to work in. We used our two cargo trucks, van, and wheelchair cargo
boxes to create clinic spaces and boundaries for our physicians and physical
therapists to work in. We were mobbed by patients initially and could not
function due to the lack of order. We had to ask the officials to help with
crowd control. Throughout the day, onlookers constantly surrounded us.
Our work started at 9 AM and did not end until 5:30 PM when a sudden strong
windy storm caused us to stop our workday. We were thankful that it was sunny
and dry for most of our working hours. Our physicians saw over 100 patients.
The physical therapists saw close to 80 patients. We were grateful that we
brought more than enough medications with us this year to give out to those who
needed them.
For the second workday, we were given two rooms in the hotel where we were
staying to work. More patients showed up than expected and we were only able to
see half of the crowd waiting outside the hotel. The officials were able to
control the crowds better by locking the hotel entrances and only letting a few
patients enter at a time. We saw over three dozen patients in each room. These
patients were seen for longer visits. We also saw some patients for physical
therapy; home education programs were given to help them.
In Yajiang, we did two home visits to former patients. I saw two of the
patients from four years ago. One was Pa-Chu, who had received a refurbished
US-made wheelchair provided by Wheels for Humanity. The wheelchair was worn, and
the front wheels were completely gone and not fixable. Pa-Chu was overjoyed to
receive a brand new wheelchair from us. A US made cushion was also given to
provide better support since he had contractures in his lower extremities and
hip subluxation secondary to Cerebral Palsy.
The other patient we saw was a spinal-cord patient. Tupten continues to battle
with decubitis (bed sores) from prolonged sitting and positioning when he is
lying down. Tupten, his mother, and sister had been instructed in wound care
and positioning four years ago. I last saw them two years ago. His mother and
sister have done a wonderful job in providing wound care whenever decubitis
occurs. We gave additional medications and wound care supplies to the family.
A brand new wheelchair cushion made from the US and specially carried from
California was given to Tupten to replace the worn wheelchair cushion he has
been using. Tupten has a lightweight US-made wheelchair given him four years
ago when he was initially seen by our team. This chair is wearing out. He is
requesting another lightweight one, as this kind is good for maneuvering in the
mountainous terrain where he lives. He does fatigue when wheeling himself, and
requires family members to help push his wheelchair so that he can get around.
The PT team evaluated Tupten and is considering the possibility of having him
learn to maneuver a hand-driven power wheelchair/tricycle. This would give him
increased independence in his village, which is located in a mountainous
terrain.
In Yajiang and Litang there are new government officials in charge at the Civil
Affairs Bureau, which governs the affairs of disabled people in the counties.
The Yajiang official asked for Kham Aid to come to their region next year. Due
to all the road construction and building of bridges, and the growth in the
town, there has been an increase of injuries resulting in many of the workers
becoming disabled. The county does not have wheelchairs to give to
non-ambulatory patients.
Our team could not give the Yajiang officials the number of wheelchairs they
wanted because we had promised so many to Litang. We have this problem every
year: too many requests, not enough chairs. We were able to leave them three
wheelchairs. Forms were given to the head official to fill out with the
recipient?s information; instructions were given to return forms to the Kangding
office.
Litang was our last destination. We made two home visits there. One of the home
visits was to a 9 year old child who had cerebral palsy. He had grown since we
saw him last. Our team grew and adjusted his wheelchair, a US-made
tilt-in-space model, to accommodate his growth. The other visit was to a
post-polio adult woman patient. She is ambulatory in the home and front yard,
but uses her wheelchair outside and as a back-up.
Funds donated by the Hope for Children in Hong Kong, a major sponsor this year,
were earmarked for pediatric size wheelchairs. The smallest size made by the
factory in Chengdu is 14 inches in width, suitable for an adolescent. The
directors of the factory said that due to supply and demand as well as cost
considerations, the management does not make wheelchairs smaller than 14" size.
(the size refers to the width of the seat). They did not believe that there was
a large demand for pediatric size wheelchairs because, in China, there are
apparently few programs for special needs children. Children can be carried
around by their parents, and so their need for wheelchairs is not as acute as
adults'.
In addition to the size being larger than we would have liked, some dimensions
of the 14" wheelchairs, such as chair height and arm rests, were not in the
correct proportion. We had to make a lot of adjustments and on-the-spot
alterations to the chairs to make them comfortable for younger patients. After
we returned to Chengdu, our team visited the factory in Chengdu and talked to
the directors. By showing the directors our pictures of this year?s patients,
they were able to see our concerns about the poor proportions of their pediatric
wheelchairs.
At the Holy Love School in Chengdu, we gave instruction to their new teachers
and also some others who had come from northern China for three months of
Special Ed training. Our volunteers covered the following areas: 1) handling
techniques, therapeutic exercises, and activities with the cerebral palsy
children, 2) serial casting techniques and protocols, 3) wheelchair
modifications and repairs, and 4) utilization of educational toys and play
during treatment sessions.
Overall, we had a safe and good trip. This year's trip was considerably easier
than last year?s journey to Dege and Baiyu. Improvements on the road to
Kangding have cut the travel time in half compared to two years ago. Our
vehicles - two trucks and a bus - did not encounter problems that we have had in
the past such as flat tires, busted fuel lines, brakes going out, and busted
water pumps. Our team also stayed healthier overall. The weather was good,
and we had many sunny days.
In future, we plan to continue to work with local government, training them in
wheelchair assessment, repairs, and follow-up. We'd also like to work with
government and local health care workers in developing a pediatric early
intervention program. The prefecture has requested that we distribute
wheelchairs in some counties we have not yet reached such as Batang and Serthar.
And Yajiang has requested that we come back with 200 more chairs.
Thanks to the SPONSORS who made this work possible, and the VOLUNTEERS who made
it a success!
The team:
Jerry Wada, MD, Internal Medicine
Ada D. Hayes, MD, Pediatrician, Physical Medicine
Donna Muollo, PT, PCS, Physical Therapist (PT), Board Certified, Pediatric
Clinical Specialist
Lisa Carroll, PT, Pediatric PT, Rehab Care
Lora Lockett, PT, Adult, Acute and Rehab Care
Michael Shen, Engineer, Translator
Wu Bangfu, Kham Aid Field Director, Translator