Hello Everyone,
I am hoping to find someone who can donate a C-leg for a patient from the Dominican Republic.
For the past 15 years, since 2004, I have had a not-for-profit organization in the Dominican Republic, working with the clinic “Innovacion Ortopedica”. Along the way, in about 2008 the LDS Humanitarian Missionaries (from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) got involved and have helped with donating some new equipment, materials, and financial assistance for specific amputees in need, to provide high quality prosthetic limbs.
A few years ago, I was lucky to have received 5 C-legs to take with me to the Dom Rep. I had several healthy, active young above knee amputees who would greatly benefit from these. All of the knees were used on patients there, and were great successes.
One of these patients has been a great friend of mine for several years. He comes to the USA every couple years to visit me here, and I also visit him in the Dom Rep when I am there for work of for vacation. He is a great “kid” (approaching 30 now…)
He is coming next week to visit me and my family, and I am going to make a new socket for him. IF I can find a good used C-leg that someone might have for donation, I would greatly appreciate it.
I know there are several of these knees that end up donated to various organizations, these knees are typically NOT good for donations and for using in 3rd world countries since there is really no way to program them, maintain them, etc. For that reason, many of these knees just end up sitting around in some box in some office, doing no good.
We DO have the ability to program these and maintain them in Santo Domingo, and these knees are very beneficial in this location.
Anyway, back to the real point here, IF anyone has a decent used C-leg that you do not know what to do with it, or any of these foundations that collect components and parts have any sitting around, I would really love to have one to use on this patient.
I am happy to pay for shipping to get it here to my office in Indiana. This patient would be very surprised and happy to have a C-leg again to walk with. He had one for about 4 years before it finally completely died and had to throw it away. He went back to a hydraulic knee and is just happy to walk at all, BUT he really did love the C-leg.
Please email me with any information you have, or call me at 812-345-6145 (my personal cell phone) if you can help with this.
Thank you,
Jim DeWees, CP
Prosthetic Center of Indiana
812-332-5347
