Prosthestics

I know that I've talked about ADR in the past. The Dominican Association of Rehabilitation (its ADR when written in Spanish) is an organization we are working with to create an Early Intervention program, starting in the spring of 2011 for children 0-6.

It is an awesome organization that has been around for 47 years and is the leader in services for persons with disabilities and children with special needs in the country. They have 22 centers in the Dominican Republic. For more information see http://www.adr.org.do/

As part of the group 2 weeks ago, Rita Hook, a member of Rotary International, and her husband Harvey who is the director of The Gathering in Columbus, OH came to deliver prosthetic hands to ADR. These simple devices cost $50 to make, but are provided free to users, are non-electronic, extremely durable and the recipient can be trained to use them within 5 minutes. For more information, check out http://www.ln-4.org/

Harvey and Rita with a LN-4 hand

Rita and Harvey were able to meet with Dr. Zometa from ADR as well as the local Santo Domingo Rotary Club (of which Dr. Zometa is a part) to talk about a partnership for continuing to provide the prosthetic hands to the DR.

Rita with Dr. Zometa and a representative of Rotary Santo Domingo

The meetings went better than can be imagined and I believe that a long-lasting partnership has been launched. Thanks to Rita, Harvey and Rotary for investing in a country with a large need.

Blessings,

Anna