Empowering Ecuadorian Prosthetists

Shane Pope, CTPO, lab manager at Kenney Orthopedics, Lexington, Kentucky, and adjunct professor for the Bluegrass Community and Technical College O&P program, served as the project’s lead technician, overseeing fabrication and hands-on teaching.

“Volunteering with ROMP and the Click Medical team in Ecuador was an amazing and rewarding experience,” he said. “Working alongside local clinicians opened my eyes to how universal O&P care can be. Experiencing the local terrain firsthand showed me that the amputees of Ecuador really do have an ‘uphill’ battle from the second they leave their homes,” said Pope, who also has an amputation.

Additional members of the team selected by Click Medical—a proponent of greater opportunities for women in O&P—included Kylee Olubadejo, a second-year prosthetic resident in Hamilton, Ontario, and Elizabeth Flow, MSPO, CO, who practices in Joplin, Missouri.

During their March visit, the volunteers were teamed with local practitioners, a translator, and nine pre-selected patients who were casted and fitted with RevoFit-equipped sockets. Five transtibial and four transfemoral sockets were delivered to patients from ages 12 to 49, who will continue to receive follow-up support.

Remotely situated patients can use RevoFit’s dial device to adjust the fit and comfort of their prosthesis throughout its lifetime, allowing for continued mobility between visits to their prosthetists. It is anticipated that through word of mouth, social posts, and future fittings by ROMP program prosthetists, more than 60 future patients may be reached and referred for care within the next 12 months as a result of this volunteer effort.

Click Medical hopes to repeat a similar volunteer teaching project each year.