Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF)
Seattle, WA
Preventing Lifelong Disability for Children with Clubfoot
Project Location: NW Mountains of Vietnam
$22,500 2008
www.pofsea.org

The mission of Prosthetics Outreach Foundation is to create opportunities for children and adults who live in developing countries and suffer from limb loss and limb deformities to lead more fulfilling lives. 

Since their founding in 1989, POF has restored mobility to over 14,000 children and adults in developing countries, including Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone.  In these countries, POF has established and equipped orthopedic centers staffed by local prosthetists and medical personnel to provide access to orthopedic services, including surgery, physical therapy, the fabrication and fitting of custom-made artificial limbs, and the fitting of orthotic devices.  

ABSF funding provides support for a new POF program which specifically addresses clubfoot - a devastating and highly visible physical disability which gradually robs children of their ability to walk normally, as one or both of their feet turn inward and often backward.  While corrective orthopedic surgery is the only alternative for adults with clubfoot, there is an effective, inexpensive and permanent treatment alternative for children called the Ponseti Method.  The project will train medical personnel and birth attendants to identify clubfoot at birth and then provide referral and support to treat these children at regional hospitals - a process which takes 2-3 months for progressive casting and foot braces applied by Ponseti-trained doctors.