Ortho Charity Expands, Adds Three Programs

A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO), a New York-based nonprofit providing free orthopedic care to children around the globe, has announced three new program partners in 2019. Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) in Laos, GetBak in Ahmedabad, India and Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda (CoRSU).

Beth Ann Hemming, director of Operations, told OTW, “All three new partners have proven track records of providing high-quality care and will be well suited to help identify new patients who are in need of care but are unable to afford it themselves. ALTSO will begin each partnership by delivering a shipment of Joshi prosthetic limbs in the coming weeks to being treatments right away.”

ALTSO new partners on behalf of children around the world are:

• Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services in Uganda:
  • CoRSU is the largest non-profit, non-governmental orthopedic organization providing a wide range of free orthopedic and rehabilitative services.
  • Their capacity to reach patients in need is unmatched due in large to a network of satellite clinics spread across rural areas throughout Uganda.
  • They turned to ALTSO to help them provide a high-quality modular prosthetic lower limb kit that could be provided free of charge to patients in need under the age 22.
  • ALTSO is also supporting CoRSU with the provision of high-quality homopolymer polypropylene for their production of prosthetic and orthotic devices.
• Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise:
• COPE is Laos non-profit leader in mine/UXO-reduction and victim assistance—including prosthetic limbs, orthotic devices and various rehabilitation services.
• In partnership with the Centre for Medical Rehabilitation, nationwide satellite centers were established to identify and provide rehabilitation services, including a mobile clinic teams to reach the most remote areas.
• COPE was approached by ALTSO to offer more prosthetic choices by providing its Joshi modular prosthetic limb kits. Currently, COPE only has access to conventional lower limb systems.
• ALTSO is also supporting COPE with the provision of high-quality homopolymer polypropylene for their production of prosthetic and orthotic devices.
• GetBak:
• Established in the Spring of 2019, GetBak is a private for-profit prosthetic and cosmetic restoration clinic in Ahmedabad, India.
• With a strong CSR program and a desire to give back, ALTSO approached GetBak to provide prosthetic services (Joshi modular limbs) free of charge to patients in need under the age of 22 in Ahmedabad.
• ALTSO is also supporting GetBak with the provision of high-quality homopolymer polypropylene for their production of prosthetic devices.

Hemming added, “ALTSO is always striving to make sure that we understand the need of our patients and where that need in the developing world is the greatest and the most underserved. In the same way the limb disabilities are not considered life-threatening by most humanitarian aid organizations, and therefore often overlooked, ALTSO is committed to finding the countries where other organizations are less likely to partner, in order to make sure that the neediest populations are getting the free, high-quality care they deserve.”