– helps get amputee barber back on both feet, brings expertise here

A WEEK ago, popular Stabroek Market barber, James Boyce was trimming the hair of his customers on one foot.
Boyce, called “One Foot”, has been “hopping around” for decades following a surgery which went horribly wrong; a move which saw his left leg being amputated.

On Friday, the 71-year-old was a happy man, thanks to the assistance he received from the National Orthotic and Prosthetic Appliance Workshop at the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, which this week benefited from the expertise of a visiting team of experts who specialise in prosthetics and orthotics, as well as therapy.

The team of experts, which includes Jon Batzdorff, Director of the California-based Prosthetika; Ian Carrick of RSF International Inc of Canada; and England-based Laura Burgess, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist, met with patients undergoing rehabilitation at the Centre.

Administrator of the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre, Cynthia Massay told this newspaper during an interview on Friday that the facility’s capacity to assist patients has been challenging over the years. She said many persons were trained to assist patients, but after gaining experience, they left for greener pastures. As such, the training provided by the team was beneficial to the centre, she said.
The partnership commenced several months ago when Massay received a call from David Nicholas, a British traveller who himself had his left leg amputated following an accident. Nicholas, who accompanied the team to Guyana, told the Guyana Chronicle that he came here two years ago and while walking around Georgetown, he recognised that there are a number of persons “hopping around” on one leg.

CHANCE MEETING
He said he grew emotional when he visited the Stabroek Market and encountered Boyce who offered him a hair-cut. Since then, he said, he has been working to ensure that he can assist such persons. And on his return to England, he contacted his physiotherapist, Burgess.

“When I went back to England, I mentioned to Laura that there was a need for someone to provide support to Guyana,” Nicholas said.
“That conversation grew, and one person got onto the other and here we are in Guyana,” he added.

The two contacted Batzdorff, who runs a charity in the United States which addresses the needs of amputees and similar patients, and together they decided to travel to these shores after establishing contact with the rehabilitation centre.
Batzdorff said that in the past, he taught the subject in California at universities and also runs the non-profit organisation which he noted provides services which require such training.

“We don’t come in with the idea,” he said. “What we do is find out what the situation is; usually it starts with some kind of request.”
He said the work of his organsiation is to connect with others, such as the Ptolemy Reid Centre, via training and this he noted is what the project undertaken over the past week entailed.

“If we fit 20 or 30 people and then leave, then we only help them,” Batzdorff said. “But if we help to train that amount, then it benefits thousands.”
He said he found the Centre on the Internet and wrote them, and found out through Massay that there is an interest.

TREMENDOUS HELP

Massay said the Centre has been working hard to build its workshop capacity, and the experience this past week has benefited staff tremendously. She said that the staff seemed eager to benefit from the training provided by the team; that some even stayed beyond their working hours to gain additional knowledge.
She said there are 20-odd persons at the clinic, and there are children who have “lots of needs”.

Badsdorff said that now that the two parties have met, they will be planning ahead. He said the visiting group will assist with the tools for upper extremities, such as those who lost their arms, and also work on how they will fund future exercises.
“We want to have a long-term relationship, and we are very happy with what happened this week,” Massay said.

In addition to government support, she said that Guyana Goldfields Inc has been a partner with the Centre, and has been funding the local expenses of the entity. She said that there are user charges which she noted have been helping the workshop to fund its expenses.