Oriana Robertson
October 1, 2010
2: 57 pm
The devastating natural disaster that took place in Haiti in January of 2010 left thousands of its citizens without limbs. This epidemic was found to add to the growing number of amputees worldwide. Amputations are not only caused by natural disaster, but diseases stemming from untreated infection post-war or post-natural disaster. This amputee crisis has by far had the largest ever loss of limbs stemming from a natural disaster. Haiti has become the center of the crisis as teams of prosthetic groups have stepped in to give aid.
These coalition teams are setting up in neighboring cities to Port-au-Prince and in other countries where the amputee count is rising quickly and there is little attention and resources given to these under-developed countries. As amputees continue to flow in due to contracting the diseases in their ‘camps’, there is becoming less and less room for newer patients. Treated patients have no home to go back to. Out-patient care is virtually impossible for patients in the healing process.
Some amputees are even further disadvantaged because of their now lost limb in addition to their already impoverished state. Often times, amputees become isolated and feared by society and face psychological issues. They not only must find a way to survive, but to form a life of purpose and joy. Another issue facing amputees are the financial aspect of their prosthetics. With them usually coming from war-torn, impoverished nations, the families are usually on the receiving end of the financial burden.
The problems presented are unfortunate in the sense that they stem from natural disasters destroying already impoverished nations. It is a good thing that these coalitions have been formed to help and draw attention to a more understated aftermath of a natural disaster such as this one. It essentially is of great importance to ‘clean’ up the nation as a whole. Rebuilding homes, facilities, and the economy on a larger scale would help the predicament of amputee survivors on their smaller scale. It might be helpful to include psychological facilities to help out-patients adjust with their surgeries. Going against the modernization theory, these facilities, both psychological and medical, help third-world countries develop.
http://haitiamputees.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/03/20/4040341-limb-loss-a-grim-growing-global-crisis?pc=25&sp=25#discussion_nav
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/world/americas/25amputee.html
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