Orthotics are Fun to Do

There are two members of Project Perfect World’s team who we don’t see very often, but we know are

indispensible. Brian is a certified orthotist and Jamie is a orthotist/prostetist. They also happen to be brothers.

Together Brian and Jamie see 120 patients in clinic of which they treat 90. They asses and treat the physical and functional limitations of children resulting from illnesses and disabilities. In other words, they create and modify braces to address very specific mobility, function, and correction needs.

A usual day for Brain and Jamie starts at the hospital around 8 am and ends when they take the last bus back to the hotel at 11 pm or midnight. The hospital provides them with a shop where the can work and see patients. Their shop was once a shed behind the hospital, but they have really moved up in the world. They now have an air-conditioned room INSIDE. They are kind of spoiled.

Jamie and Brian have worked with a young lady they affectionately call “Stubby” for a couple of years. When Stubby was 1 year old, she had surgery and suffered an allergic reaction to the anesthesia. She developed a systemic infection, and her body responded by shutting down circulation to her extremities. Eventually her limbs began to die. Both her legs and most her fingers had to be amputated.

Stubby’s parents brought her to Brian and Jamie’s clinic to see if there was anything that could be done to her with mobility.

After some trial and error, Brian and Jamie found a solution they thought would work. From a cast of her legs, they built her a prosthesis made of lightweight foam and copoly plastic. The battle was not won just yet.

Stubby’s skin is very sensitive. Her legs are a mass of scar tissue; she could barely tolerate being touched, let alone the contact of a prosthesis. Brian and Jamie delivered the prosthesis to Stubby’s parents and instructed them to help her build up a tolerance for it. She should wear it for as long as she could – increasing the time as much as possible.

When Brian and Jamie saw Stubby in clinic this year, she was wearing the prosthesis. Ok. She was not only wearing the prosthesis, she was also walking and running!

With the help of Brian, Jamie, and her parents, Stubby is now a mobile, happy, beautiful little girl.

As part of Project Perfect World’s education efforts in Ecuador, two of our physicians spoke to a crowded auditorium of local doctors. We learned more about scoliosis and spinal cord injuries. Their talks were translated by the ever present, kind, and tenacious Cesar.

Quote of the day: When beginning his talk on scoliosis, Dr. Riely asked the crowd to: “Raise your hand if scoliosis is your favorite thing!” No one did. Tough crowd.