Team teaches disability care

 

 

A member of the Group Study Exchange team from District 7300 (Pennsylvania, USA) meets with a lymphatic filariasis patient in Accra, Ghana. Photo courtesy of Mary Jo Geyer

More than a billion people are at risk of lymphatic filariasis, a parasitic disease that affects the lymphatic system and can impair mobility.

Millions more are physically disabled by conditions such as diabetes and leprosy. Rotarians from District 7300 (Pennsylvania, USA) are working to educate health care workers on preventing these illnesses and treating the complications they cause.

A District Designated Fund allocation of US$46,340 funded a May meeting in Accra, Ghana. A team of eight health care professionals from around the world visited clinics, met with patients, attended a conference, and outlined a standardized training manual on the proper treatment of limbs – in particular, legs and feet – that are vulnerable because of chronic sores, poor circulation, or swelling.

“The number of people with diabetes is growing exponentially, especially in the developing world,” says Mary Jo Geyer, a specialist in wound care and lymphedema treatment at the University of Pittsburgh.

She notes that when people migrate to cities to find work, their diet changes, often for the worse, as they’re exposed to cheap junk food for the first time.

“Many don’t have the money to go for a screening, so diabetes is not caught until very late.”

In addition to focusing on prevention, the team worked on the problem of fabricating and distributing therapeutic footwear for those with disabilities, with the aim of setting up a system to manufacture or modify inexpensive sandals according to individual patients’ needs.

Georgia Petropoulos Muir, a member of the Rotary Club of Oakland (Pittsburgh) who accompanied the health workers, says it’s important to alleviate symptoms for people who are already living with diabetes, leprosy, and other diseases.

The weeklong visit shows what a vocational training team might look like under The Rotary Foundation’s Future Vision Plan. Team members adapted the Group Study Exchange model into an experience that allowed them to do hands-on work, and they drafted a manual that will be used to train local health workers.

“It’s important to teach people how to take care of themselves,” Geyer says.