GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Mary Free Bed sent a group of eight clinicians to Guatemala to build prosthetic legs for roughly 40 people in underserved communities.
Lauren Jones, physical therapist, and Katy Thorpe, prosthetist, are two of the crew members sent by Mary Free Bed to give people in Guatemala a chance to re-take their first steps.
Thorpe said, “These patients are just so grateful to get these limbs, and I get to teach them how to use them and walk with them so they can be functional after delivery.”
Mary Free Bed's trip to Guatemala is part the Range of Motion Project, which is a non-profit providing refurbished prosthetic limbs to people around the world without access.
“This is a chance to provide my skills to the underserved,” Jones said.
According to Jones and Thorpe, most of the patients in Guatemala are at least a year out of amputation.
"To give them a device that they don't necessarily trust, and to have them depend on it to hold their entire weight as they walk is kind of the first step,” Jones said.
In addition to getting a prosthetic leg, these patients are gaining a lifetime of knowledge from their days spent with Thorpe. Just like her patients, Thorpe has a prosthetic leg. “It helps the patients to see me just walk through the room and own what I'm doing," Thorpe said. "So hopefully I can instill a little bit of confidence in them.”
From their first steps into a new normal, this mission provides much more than mobility.
“Human to human, it feels really good to know that you're helping someone achieve something that they wouldn't be able to do on their own," Thorpe said.
This is Mary Free Bed's fourth trip to Guatemala, and they have plans to return again next year.
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