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Jul 05, 2015 News
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), while there are more than 70 million people worldwide who require wheelchairs, only five to 15 per cent have access.
While this publication has not been able to obtain statistics as it relates to the availability of wheelchairs here, Food for the Poor (Guyana) Inc. (FFTP) is gearing to commence an initiative this week that could easily help to guard against the challenge of accessing wheelchairs.
Senior Manager at FFTP, Mr Jimeel Davis, disclosed that the initiative is one that will be undertaken in collaboration with the Free Wheelchair Mission of the United States.
Founded in 2001 by Laurie and Don Schoendorfer, the Free Wheelchair Mission is an international faith-based non-profit humanitarian organisation dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations.
The commencement of the collaboration, Davis said, will see 550 wheelchairs being made available here to those in need. He noted that while FFTP has over the years catered to the wheelchair needs of persons with disabilities, its capacity did not allow it to meet all the requests made. In spite of FFTP’s ongoing efforts in this regard, Davis disclosed that “every week we have, on average, a total of 10 applications for wheelchairs.”
While some persons are born with physical limitations that warrant the need of wheelchairs to enable their mobility, there are others who become disabled as a result of accidents and health conditions such as diabetes that could require the amputation of limbs.
It was because of the vast existing needs that an informed decision was made to collaborate with the Free Wheelchair Mission. And not only an increased number of wheelchairs will be made available, but according to Davis, they will be available in various sizes too.
Affording persons wheelchairs in various sizes has on occasions been a challenge, as according to the Senior Manager, while the FFTP programme had focused mainly on acquiring wheelchairs for the disabled, affording them the ideal sizes has not always been possible.
“We just got a shipment (of wheelchairs) and we are assembling them now,” said Davis, as he related that the wheelchairs will be available in small, medium and large sizes.
“We have the different sizes and the parts that we can fit together ourselves.”
And accessing a wheelchair from the 1999-2000 Blue Mountain Road, Festival City Georgetown FTTP office is as simple as taking a doctor’s report recommending the use of a wheelchair.
Also a photograph of a person in need showing their disability could suffice, said Davis.
“I am appealing to people who know anyone, a neighbour, relative, a friend, who is in need of a wheelchair to come in and apply for one, and we will definitely assist,” the Senior Manager assured.
In addition to this, he noted that FFTP will shortly commence outreach activities throughout the 10 administrative regions with the intention of finding people in need in order to distribute wheelchairs to them.
With the official start of the programme this week, Davis believes that Guyana will be in a better position to address, though in a small way, a challenge that is faced globally.
This programme will serve to significantly add to the FFTP mission to help alleviate poverty by helping those in need.
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