War Reparations

June 3, 2016
What is fifty years of suffering worth?  Forget about the millions of gallons of toxic Agent Orange herbicide and the tons of explosives dropped on Vietnam, a tiny country once considered by the World Bank to be one of the poorest in the world.  Forget about the millions of Vietnamese people killed in what Vietnamese call "The American War." Here is the result of one careless and malicious kick by an American soldier fifty years ago:

This is what results from 50 years of walking with a ruptured medial collateral ligament in your left knee--gross deformity of one's body plus excruciating pain in the opposite knee and the arms that are trying to compensate for the load that the injured leg cannot bear.  This poor woman, who is now in her eighties, has dragged herself around for fifty years like this.  She used to walk with crutches, but had to give them up as she kept falling down.  Most recently, she walked supporting much of her weight with her hands pressing down on a plastic stool.  When even that was becoming impossible due to the worsening arthritis in her "good" knee and in her arms, she came to the Traditional Medicine Hospital of Da Nang in a desperate quest for help.  At this point, her entire body appeared twisted from the decades of maladaptive ambulation to which she had been reduced.  There was no quick fix available for her.

And so we did two things:  first we assigned Vu, a young Vietnamese therapist who had recently completed a course in Myofascial Release therapy conducted by Joni and Roger Edmonds at our hospital, to help stretch out her tortured body so that she could sit and stand erect.

Then we asked Mr. Anh, a local orthotic technician, to fabricate a custom brace for her that would stabilize her injured knee so that she could bear weight upon it. 

And now, Vu and Hien, two of the young therapists that I have been training for the past two years, are working with this elderly woman in order to help her regain her ability to walk on two feet, with the support of her new brace and a walking frame.

What was the cost to Steady Footsteps, our organization?  One hundred US dollars for the custom brace and the sandals to go with it.  That works out to two dollars a year for fifty years of suffering.  There's a message in there, somewhere.

Photos From Our New Out-Patient Facility

September 13, 2015

A young Vietnamese banker who has suffered a stroke (CVA) works to regain functional use of his hand and arm under the care of American and Vietnamese therapists at the new out-patient facility of the Traditional Medicine Hospital of Da Nang, located at 342 Phan Chau Trinh Street. In addition to neuro-rehab and treatment of chronic and acute pain, this facility also provides effective and affordable treatment of heroin addiction via acupuncture and other traditional remedies.

 A motorbike taxi driver rejoices in regaining both the use of his right arm and his ability to balance on a two-wheeled vehicle with the help of Thuy, an American-trained Vietnamese physiotherapist. More info on physical therapy in Vietnam here.

 Tea shop at the new out-patient facility of the Traditional Medicine Hopsital of Da Nang, located at 342 Phan Chau Trinh Street features the art work of disabled artist Nguyen Tan Hien.

Recipe for Success

April 14, 2015

I've been a physiotherapist in Vietnam, volunteering in four different hospitals, a school for disabled kids, and out in the community in Da Nang, Hoi An, and rural Quang Nam since 2005. And while my first years here were certainly educational for me and afforded me the opportunity to personally help countless disabled Vietnamese people, I--like every other foreign therapist I have spoken with--was unable to make any significant impact upon the way in which Vietnamese-trained physiotherapists practice physical therapy. As you can see from earlier blog posts, I had in fact given up on trying to change practice here and instead, since 2010, been focused solely on providing hands-on rehab for patients at the Traditional Medicine Hospital of Da Nang, a 140 bed non-acute facility that had an abundance of stroke patients, but not much to offer in terms of physiotherapy.

However, when Dr. Nguyen Van Anh became director of the facility a year ago, everything changed. Not only did he immediately begin renovating the sadly deteriorated hospital and grounds, he also initiated several new projects, including a widely acclaimed drug rehab program. And--of particular interest to me--he brought in a large number of newly graduated Vietnamese therapists on a probationary basis and told them that if they wanted to work in this hospital, they would be required to follow and learn from me. This has made all the difference in the world! Although neuro-rehabilitation is an especially challenging aspect of physical therapy and although their earlier training had left them without the ability to evaluate, plan and implement effective treatment regimes for individual stroke patients, our young therapists have been doing their very best under my guidance. I would not say that they are "world class" therapists at this point, but they are head and shoulders above any other therapists that I've encountered in the ten years I've been volunteering in Vietnam. And they continue to improve with each new patient that they treat. I am so very proud of them!

 
 Remarkably, word of mouth has already brought us an ever increasing number of patients from the city of Da Nang itself and also from Hoi An, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Hue, as well as from the mountainous region to the west and the off-shore islands of Cham and Ly Son. In fact, in the days immediately following the Tet holiday this year, 45 stroke patients were admitted to our service while other nearby rehab facilities received but a few. Our patients now include not only those who had been frustrated by ineffective rehab treatment they had received elsewhere, but also new stroke patients, transfered to us directly following their initial acute stay at the General Hospital of Da Nang.

 Dr. Anh has a new vision, and I'd like to help him achieve that as well. We would like to create an effective Early Intervention program for children with cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Existing child rehab programs in Da Nang attempt to deal piecemeal--with very minimal success--with older children who have already developed contractures and/or maladaptive movement patterns. We want to catch kids early and work together with the child's family to guide them on a developmental path which holds the best potential for their optimal development. Thanks to our open-minded therapists and to our supportive administration, we have a wonderful opportunity to do something great for the disabled children of Da Nang and their families. Now all we need is an experienced foreign paediatric physiotherapist to guide us in our efforts. If you know of anyone who might be interested in such a long-term volunteer opportunity, please send them our way!