Wheelchairs, Wheelchairs and More Wheelchairs

Latter-day Saint Charities gives out wheelchairs in Nepal. Five percent of those who need wheelchairs receive wheelchairs in Nepal, and LDSC gives 80% of them.  This year along with the wheelchairs Kim and Gaye Brown, physical therapists, came to Nepal to teach government physical therapists how to properly fit a patient for a wheelchair.  We held 2 trainings - one in Kathmandu and one in Pokhara.  The last day of each training was a clinical where people of all ages who need wheelchairs but can't afford wheelchairs came to test our newly trained assessors.  Our Hong Kong supervisors also attended the training so they would be more knowledgeable when wheelchair projects came across their desks.  It was quite the two weeks ending with an American Thanksgiving dinner and Elder Valentine getting hauled off by airport guards when they suspected he had broken into a donation box.  Oh the stories we will have to tell when we return home.

There was a lecture portion to the training, but much of the training was hands on.  Students took turns learning how to move patients. Besides fitting wheelchairs, assessors have to know how to teach wheelchair-patient skills.  Everyone had to take their turn.

Praatziek is on the left and Nitika is on the left.  They were our Nepali physical therapist trainers whose job it was to translate for Kim and Gaye and then teach their own sections.  They were fabulous!!!  

Students were handed a newly uncrated wheelchair and together they learned to put it together.  

Students practiced how to handle wheelchairs on hills. 

Elder Valentine took part of the class out to the dirt roads.  Most Nepali roads are dirt and some wheelchairs are difficult to move on the dirt.  The chairs that work best on the roads are also harder to get on public transportation.  So it is a trade off and assessors need to have a hands on knowledge to be able to counsel their patients.

Stairs are everywhere, so to the stairs the students went.  

Kim and Gaye Brown have been handling all of LDSC wheelchair projects and trainings in the Asia area for the last 5 years.  They really care about the disabled and work hard to make sure LDSC gives out quality wheelchairs and physical therapists know how to assess patients.  Nick Shrestha, a branch member, was our assistant.  He did everything from translating documents to communicating with students to role playing a patent.  This was a perfect threesome.