Catching up again.
Another glaring impact of war is the number of amputees. You see people with artificial limbs everywhere.
We had an amazing visit with the PROTEZ FOUNDATION in Kyiv, This organization provides prosthetics for lost limbs. We visited the first clinic in Mukachavo two years ago. It is run by two brothers, one in Ukraine and the other, Yakov, in Minnesota. Yakov is a master prosthetist. I visited him in Minnesota several times. He brings complex amputation cases to Minnesota monthly (about 12 per month) to be fitted. Last year they opened another office in Kyiv. Yakov’s daughters work there and gave us an incredible tour.
It is a place of positivity, camaraderie and dignity. There is no official count but we were told there are well over 100,000 amputees, some with one lost limb, some two, some three and some an amputee with blindness. Life will never be normal for these folks but here they are encouraged to be the best they can and taught how to accomplish this. 70% want to even return to military duty.
Arms and hands are the most complex. We tried on “model” arm pinchers that use shoulder muscles to open and close the pincher. It takes practice, The hand prosthetic was pretty amazing. Muscles in the arm (whatever remains of the arm) are mapped and electrodes are placed inside the prosthetic. Muscle contractions enable the hand to open, close, pinch and grasp. There is some finger movement. Amazing. It is interesting how heavy these prosthetics are. I was told it is actually similar to the weight of a natural limb. I had no idea our hands were so heavy.
There are physical, occupational and emotional therapists , cheering folks on with positive encouragement as they work them hard.
There is no charge to these defenders. Money comes from grants and donations.
I encourage you to visit their website: https://www.protezfoundation.org/
