The following information was provided by Mr. Binh Nguyen, President of the VCF.
In 2024, The Vietnam Children's Fund (VCF) launched a pilot program in
Chu Lai that provided artificial limbs to 10 amputees and 10 others
with other needs. At the time, we did not have a permanent clinic, and
my hope was to secure Fred Smith’s support to help make the program
sustainable over the long term. We brought a prosthetic physician and
a nurse from Da Nang to conduct examinations, take measurements, and
create the molds. Two weeks later, they returned to complete the final
fittings. We then held a small ceremony to present the recipients with
their prosthetic limbs, along with socks, fasteners, and additional
mobility aids such as crutches. The total cost of this pilot program
was approximately $10,000. Establishing a permanent clinic would
require an estimated $50,000 in initial startup costs, plus an
additional $50,000 annually to cover operations, rental, including
hiring one or two nurses or physical therapists, as well as purchasing
and maintaining equipment and tools.
It would be meaningful if we could do something similar this year for amputees, the blind, and the sick in the A Shau Valley. Many of the recipients in Chu Lai were former South Vietnamese Marine and Army veterans.
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