Programs: BRAC
Facts
Announced:
July 7, 2010
Category:
Promoting Job Growth & Economic Opportunity
Grant Amount: $250,000
Disbursed to Date: $125,000
Grant Objective:
To establish the Haitian Limb and Brace Center to help disabled Haitians return to school and rejoin the Haitian workforce.
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One of BRAC's beneficiaries is fitted with a new prosthetic leg.
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BRAC staff prepare prosthetic legs for distribution.
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A young girl practices on the rehabilitation bars in BRAC's courtyard.
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A Haitian child attends physical therapy.
Nine year-old Renade's story is one of hope. She was studying on the second floor of her house when the earthquake struck. She saw that another apartment was falling onto her house, so she jumped off her balcony and hit the ground. Upon impact, her leg was shattered. She visited the Limb and Brace Center and was fitted for a custom made prosthetic limb. Though she has suffered a traumatic ordeal, Renade is now, once more, a happy, outgoing, vibrant girl. She is filled with energy and does not let anything slow her down!
The $250,000 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund grant helped establish a Haitian Limb and Brace Center that will provide prosthetic and orthotic services to over 1,500 Haitians by December 2011.
The BRAC Center provides low-cost, quality, technologically-appropriate artificial limbs and braces to help increase the mobility of disabled persons. All prosthetics and orthotics are manufactured on site where services are provided, including physical therapy and other rehabilitation needs. BRAC employs Haitian physicians with the goal of having a fully Haitian staff by 2012.
The CBHF-supported BRAC Limb and Brace Center began serving patients on September 16, 2010. As of the end of October, 2010, BRAC had provided prosthetic and orthotic services to 74 Haitians — 22 prosthetics and 52 orthotics — and the Center had amassed over 100 patients for its waitlist. Of the 74 patients BRAC had treated, 29 of them were referrals. Most of the Center's patients come from Port-au-Prince, but the Center has also received several patients from Leogane, Miragoane and Jacmel. BRAC has engaged 15 partners to date to take advantage of the Center's referral network.
BRAC has hired six Haitian staff who are helping manage the center at all levels, including a senior medical officer, two technicians, a receptionist and patient follow-up manager, a cook, and a caretaker. During a recent site visit, Clinton Bush Haiti Fund staff witnessed BRAC's Haitian and Bangladeshi staff working side-by-side to manufacture limbs and braces and fit them on patients. In November, the Center's Bangladeshi senior medical officer went on leave for one-month leaving the Haitian senior medical officer to demonstrate the skills he's been learning to manage the Limb and Brace Center.
Why We Invested in BRAC
By enabling Haitians to return to work and school — and by building capacity for local disability services — Clinton Bush Haiti Fund's grant to the BRAC Center reflects our commitment to filling near-term gaps that lay the foundation for longer-term reconstruction and economic opportunity.
Transforming Lives and Livelihoods
With support of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, BRAC plans to:
- Provide sustainable, affordable care and treatment for disabled persons.
- Establish a referral network with other NGOs, government agencies, and health care providers to reach those in need throughout Haiti.
- Develop local capacity to treat, manage, and support disabled persons.
About BRAC
BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) is an international humanitarian and development organization that promotes strategies to alleviate poverty and empower the poor through programs in the areas of Microfinance, Livelihood Development, Health and Water, Education, Rights and Equity, and Emergency Relief & Environment. Their vision is a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realize his or her potential.
