polio
Here is a story of how workers in a small village rehabilitation program figured out what
kind of aids a child needed. How many of the steps we have just discussed did they
follow? Was each step important?
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A STORY: A BRACE FOR SAUL
Chelo
Saul’s mother
Mari
Saul
Saul’s
pants
Saul’s baby
sister
One day a mother from a neighboring
village arrived at the village center with her
6 year old son, Saul. Mari and Chelo, 2 of
the village rehabilitation workers, welcomed
them warmly. Learning that Saul had polio
as a baby, they asked him to walk, and then
to run, while they watched carefully. Saul
limped a lot and one leg looked thinner and
shorter. With each step it bent back at the
knee.
“He walks quite well, really,” said Mari.
“But he has to ‘lock’ his knee back in order to
put weight on it. That knee is going to keep
stretching back and some day it will give
out.”
“A long-leg brace would protect his knee,”
suggested Chelo.
“Oh, please, no!” said Saul’s mother. “A
year ago we took Saul to the city and the
doctors had a big metal brace made for him.
It cost so much we are still in debt! Saul
hated it! He would always take it off and hide
it. We tried and tried to get him to use it, but
he wouldn’t.”
“Don’t worry, Saul. Maybe we can do
something simpler,” said Mari. “But first
let’s examine you, okay?” Saul nodded.
On muscle testing Saul, they found he
could not straighten his knee at all. But he
had fair strength for bending his knee back
and his hip forward,
and good strength for bending his hip back.
“That’s not surprising,” said Mari. “Often
a child who can walk without a brace will
refuse to use one—even if he walks better
with it. We could make him a long-leg brace
out of plastic. It would be much lighter. What
do you say. Saul?” Saul began to cry.
disabled village children