Scheck & Siress, headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, recently completed a five-day humanitarian mission in Zacapa, Guatemala. The five-member team of prosthetists and technicians met and evaluated amputees for new prostheses. "In five short days we were able to work with dozens of Guatemalans and successfully fit nine amputees with prostheses," said David Krupa, CP, who works in Scheck & Siress' Schererville, Indiana, office. Krupa, a transtibial amputee, organized the recent mission to Zacapa. "Amputees in Zacapa, as in many non-industrialized countries, do not have the financial means to travel to medical centers nor have local access to practitioners trained in prosthetics and orthotics," Krupa explained. "As an amputee, I understand the pivotal role a proper-fitting prosthesis plays in my everyday life, and I want to do what I can to provide others with the same life-changing opportunity."In his role as co-founder of Range of Motion Project (ROMP), a nonprofit organization that provides free orthotics and prosthetics to those in need, Krupa met with the American Red Cross while in Zacapa. "The Red Cross has a new low-cost, field-tested system for building durable prostheses that has recently been donated to ROMP," Krupa said. "The donation will enable ROMP to provide nearly 100 upper- and lower-extremity prostheses to amputees in remote areas with no other access to medical assistance or care." Krupa, ROMP, and Scheck & Siress professionals are now in the planning stages for a return trip to Zacapa to provide additional medical care to the Guatemalan people. Part of the agenda for the next trip will include orthotic and prosthetic training to locals to facilitate ongoing care in the region, according to Scheck & Siress.