The internation organizations--World Rehabilitation Fund Inc.

Abstract

The World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF) began in 1955 as a very small organization. For the first few years our resources were expended to provide fellowships to bring people from other countries to the United States of America and, in particular, to the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, New York University Medical -Centre for advanced training. Most of the resources were spent to provide fellowships for physicians. The Centre had been training physicians from overseas countries prior to the founding of the WRF and many of the leaders in rehabilitation throughout the world have had training at New York University. In those early days fellowships were also provided directly from the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and later from thc WRF in the fields of prosthetics and orthotics. When the programme at the Institute was run by the late William Tosberg, I recall we had trainees from Japan, Korea, Burma, Thailand and Colombia. In the early 1950's our President, Howard A. Rusk, M.D., made a trip around South America to visit a number of former physican trainees. When he returned he stated he was appalled by the lack of prosthetic-orthotic services. Those that were provided, primarily by unskilled persons in private shops, in many instances contributed to furthering the disability of a crippled child rather than correcting it. I have always believed that the two essential services for a crippled child in the developing country are mobility and education. A child must have mobility and must have some education to have a fighting chance of becoming independent. In 1957 the World Rehabilitation Fund gave a fellowship to Mr. Juan Monros, a professional soccer player from Spain who had played in Switzerland who recognized that he was approaching an age when he could no longer play soccer professionally and wanted to learn a trade. At that time we noted that a new technology in prosthetics and orthotics was beginning to emerge based on the use of plastics and prefabricated parts. The WRF decided to test the hypothesis that a person with mechanical aptitude, even though he lacked formal academic preparation, could be taught orthotics in five months. This we did successfully in Peru and then in Brazil. Since then we have been conducting training programmes throughout the world and have now provided courses for approximately one thousand students. In many instances, however, the student took a course in orthotics and subsequently . took a course in prosthetics, therefore, the number of individuals is somewhat less than 1,000. We have specialized in the developing parts of the world. No fellowships for such courses have been given to persons from Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Japan, or the United States. Of the 1,000 persons trained, to our knowledge, the vast majority' are practising their professions. Around twenty have died or were killed in Vietnam and we know of only four instances where the trained individual has left the profession for another occupation. The WRF global programme in. prosthetics and orthotics has been very carefully developed. After four or five years, the WRF established permanent regional training centres in prosthetics and orthotics. To staff these centres a number of potential instructors were brought