For Immediate Release
Charity Provides Limbs to Over 40 Haitian and Dominican Amputees
Several amputees from Haiti and the Dominican Republic can walk again following a recent mission trip by the Limbs for Life Foundation. Representatives of the foundation provided new prosthetic limbs to 47 amputees at a prosthetic clinic in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, May 10-14.
Limbs for Life traveled to the clinic, operated by the Dominican Rehabilitation Association, to help amputees from the Dominican, amputees affected by the January earthquake in Haiti and provide training to local prosthetists and technicians.
“This was a successful trip,” said, Limbs for Life’s executive director. “Our goal was to see 50 patients and we saw 65, with the remaining 18 prosthetics to be completed by the local prosthetists this week. This showed our commitment to the DRA to provide them with the training and materials necessary to allow them to help local amputees year-round.”
The trip was the second by Limbs for Life in as many months that assisted Haitian amputees. Limbs for Life went to Haiti with producers from ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” in April to provide two Haitian children with prosthetics donated by a young girl from Texas. The foundation has been involved with the DRA to help Dominican amputees for the past three years.
Limbs for Life director said there were many people to thank for their help, including Sheikh, a prosthetist from Chicago, and Jones, a prosthetist from Norman, Okla.
“They really helped make this trip possible,” he said. “Amir and Donavan put their lives on hold for a whole week to help the less fortunate without being compensated. Because of their efforts, a countless number of amputees in the Dominican and Haiti are going to be able to walk again, not just the 47 we fit on this trip.”
Limbs for Life is located in Oklahoma City. The foundation provides financial assistance to hundreds of amputees each year in the United States. It also collects used limbs for distribution in developing nations such as the Dominican Republic, Turkey and countries in Africa. For more information, visit us at limbsforlife.org.
