2/26/11
For years LDS Charities has been providing wheelchairs in at least 90 countries throughout the world. In the Philippines shipments of as many as 2,000 chairs at a time have been turned over to government organizations. Usually large publicized ceremonies were held, even in shopping 
malls, where needy handicapped individuals would be brought up to the stage and put into a wheelchair. The organizations including LDSC would publically be thanked profusely. The individual would be plopped into a chair and sent on their way with no consideration to size or type. Aside from providing a chair the purpose seemed to be to glorify the giver at the expense of receiver. Fortunately that is all changing. LDSC is 
realizing that putting an individual in an ill fitting chair can actually be harmful. An example is a woman we know who cannot straighten up and sits permanently bent over far to one side. We asked her why and she explained she was born with spinal bifida and as a child her family could not afford a wheelchair. She was “awarded” one by a well meaning organization. All chairs were one size appropriate for an adult. As a result she could not support herself with the arm rests but slumped to one side. She developed scoliosis because her spine grew crooked and her rib cage sort of protruded out her back leaving a large hump.
In keeping with this new policy we have just finished training seminars in four venues located in far flung but strategic locations in the Philippines. Each three day session covers assessment, fitting, and methods for teaching the handicapped individual how to care for and live in a wheelchair. On the final day we had potential recipients come and each trainee fits, and instructs at least two handicapped individuals. The recipient goes home with an appropriate wheelchair.
With us we had four trainers from the United States: two experienced physical therapists, a nurse and a wheelchair technician. We trained key individuals in our partner organizations that serve the handicapped. They in turn are eligible to train additional people in their organizations. In keeping with the new goal of,”Do no Harm” we will no longer provide wheelchairs unless the individual has been assessed and fitted by a certified and trained individual. 
This program has been so successful. The people who go through the program are very enthusiastic and even feel so bad for the previous practices.
Dennis and I were in charge of logistics: arranging travel, hotel, venues, catering the meals for participants, printing materials, assembling tool kits, acquiring and shipping in all the appropriate wheelchairs, etc. Remarkably it all went as planned; the only exception a catered lunch that gave the whole bunch (thirty) of us food poisoning. The pictures are: a happy family after Dad receives a new chair, one of the groups trainned, new trainee doing an assessment, a young amputee in his new chair, training how to manveuver a curb.
malls, where needy handicapped individuals would be brought up to the stage and put into a wheelchair. The organizations including LDSC would publically be thanked profusely. The individual would be plopped into a chair and sent on their way with no consideration to size or type. Aside from providing a chair the purpose seemed to be to glorify the giver at the expense of receiver. Fortunately that is all changing. LDSC is 
realizing that putting an individual in an ill fitting chair can actually be harmful. An example is a woman we know who cannot straighten up and sits permanently bent over far to one side. We asked her why and she explained she was born with spinal bifida and as a child her family could not afford a wheelchair. She was “awarded” one by a well meaning organization. All chairs were one size appropriate for an adult. As a result she could not support herself with the arm rests but slumped to one side. She developed scoliosis because her spine grew crooked and her rib cage sort of protruded out her back leaving a large hump.In keeping with this new policy we have just finished training seminars in four venues located in far flung but strategic locations in the Philippines. Each three day session covers assessment, fitting, and methods for teaching the handicapped individual how to care for and live in a wheelchair. On the final day we had potential recipients come and each trainee fits, and instructs at least two handicapped individuals. The recipient goes home with an appropriate wheelchair.
With us we had four trainers from the United States: two experienced physical therapists, a nurse and a wheelchair technician. We trained key individuals in our partner organizations that serve the handicapped. They in turn are eligible to train additional people in their organizations. In keeping with the new goal of,”Do no Harm” we will no longer provide wheelchairs unless the individual has been assessed and fitted by a certified and trained individual. 
This program has been so successful. The people who go through the program are very enthusiastic and even feel so bad for the previous practices.Dennis and I were in charge of logistics: arranging travel, hotel, venues, catering the meals for participants, printing materials, assembling tool kits, acquiring and shipping in all the appropriate wheelchairs, etc. Remarkably it all went as planned; the only exception a catered lunch that gave the whole bunch (thirty) of us food poisoning. The pictures are: a happy family after Dad receives a new chair, one of the groups trainned, new trainee doing an assessment, a young amputee in his new chair, training how to manveuver a curb.
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