We wanted to share with you one of the patient stories from ROMP.

Carlos is 22 years old and has an above-knee amputation. ROMP came to learn about his case through a partner organization, Novulis- Movilidad Salud. Carlos leads an active lifestyle and is employed at Florequisa Flower Farm in the city of Cayambe, Ecuador. Roughly eight years ago, he was in a pedestrian accident that led to his amputation. Car- and bus-related pedestrian accidents are unfortunately very common in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, because traffic and pedestrian laws are not always enforced.

After the amputation, Carlos was put in touch with a local prosthetic clinic. However, he could not afford the cost of the prosthesis, and unfortunately, he never even had the chance to use that prosthetic leg outside of the clinic. Because of financial burdens, Carlos has been using crutches for over eight years now. We learned about the first prosthesis built for him because the knee did not meet his functional needs, and thus, he was even less inclined to pursue the financial difficulties of paying for the fabricated leg. In the last eight years, he has been using his crutches to work five to six days a week and even plays soccer with his friends.

The first encounter ROMP had was when Patrick went to Florequisa to meet Carlos and take down some crucial information about his case in order for the team to evaluate the possibility of treatment. After discussing the case, a meeting date was set for casting when Dave and Shree traveled to the flower farm to cast Carlos. The next step in the plan is for Carlos to come to Quito for trial fittings with an initial prosthesis that has been fabricated from the casting mold.

The current plan for the components that will be used for him since he is such an active patient will be to set him up on a mechanical Total Knee 1900. From there, a schedule for device delivery and rehabilitation will also be discussed so that Carlos can get the most use from his new prosthetic leg

Keep running the change.