Great news to soon be released about a new Rehabilitation Workshop for disabled patients of the NRH
I will soon be able to write about a forty foot rehabilitation workshop erected at the NRH that will be capable, once equipped, with manufacturing and custom fitting of artificial limbs (legs and foots) to those patients who have needed surgery over several years following amputations after developing diabetes.
In 2014 I launched my website to aid the Solomon Islands in practical ways and the very first story I wrote on the website prompted 7 years of effort to see the rehabilitation workshop for the disabled become a reality.
That very first story told of the plight of father who was widowed and had two young children to support.
He had just had a leg amputated and consequently had lost his job and his ability to earn and take care of his children.
He told his story at the entrance to the NRP when he pleaded for help in caring for his two children, both still young.
I relayed his concerns and his plight in an article to the local media and published the facts as a Blog on my website,
The man subsequently received some S$3000 from a generous community but after that I never knew how he had survived or got help with an artificial leg and a return to work.
It was then that I learned there were many former patients of the NRH without a leg, jobless, and needing mobility to become independent again.
It was at that point I felt it vital to see to the needs of those disabled similar to the father I have mentioned.
The effort, which became a struggle, seems about to pay off with the creation of a new workshop built following my appeal and funded through the very generous support of the local SFA and its President Mr. J Sy.
Once the building is fully finished I have been promised photos by the NRH and I will write again giving more details.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
