A chance for children after the earthquake

The Otto Bock Foundation will continue and expand its aid to children who became victims of the earthquake catastrophe in the Chinese province of Si Chuan in May 2008. Thus far, in cooperation with the Red Cross, 28 children were brought to Beijing and fitted with prostheses. The spokesman of the Otto Bock Foundation, Joachim F. Hamacher, explained this during the “Night of the Stars”, at which Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel gave awards to Disabled Athletes of the Year on Tuesday, 11 November 2008.

Hamacher stated that the continuity of this initiative with the title “Give children a future” is decisive. The orthopaedic-technical aids continuously have to be adapted to the growth of the children. Here, the Otto Bock Foundation will provide technical support. Together with project partners in China, it also engages itself in training orthopaedic technicians. Qualified care with modern prostheses and orthotics gives children the opportunity to largely regain their lost mobility.

Before and during the Paralympics in Beijing, 50 Chinese orthopaedic technicians already received further education, and then returned to their clinics and specialised centres throughout the entire country with recognised additional qualifications. Here they pass on their newly acquired know-how. Together with the China Disabled Persons' Federation, Otto Bock HealthCare has signed two “Letters of Intent” which focus on continuing and expanding this technical knowledge transfer.

Since 1993, the medical technology company Otto Bock HealthCare is represented in China with its own distribution and service company as well as a production site. With the support of two orthopaedic technicians from Germany, special emphasis is placed on practical training for Chinese technicians. They are trained in order to learn up-to-date care techniques and be able to use modern prosthesis and orthotic components in this process.

The initiative of the Otto Bock Foundation “Give children a future” receives support from the Katarina Witt Foundation as well as by the Förderkreis Behindertensport (fundraising group to support sports for the disabled), the Federal Association of Trade Gilds and the professional journal Orthopädie-Technik. Further information about this is available on the internet page www.stiftung.ottobock.com