Visiting specialists help kids with bone problems
Since Monday children with varying bone defects have been attending special clinics through an ongoing project that has assisted a total of two hundred and seventy young patients. The children are being assessed to see whether or not they may be in need of surgical treatment to improve their quality of life. The patients are being attended to by specialist Doctor Jack Sheridan and the clinics are organized by the Rotary Club of Belmopan. Today, as the session moved to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, News Five got an update on the procedure.
Dr. Jack Sheridan, Bone Specialist
”It really is a combination of things. We are looking at the results of injury, we’ve seen some children who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents and other sorts of trauma. But an awful lot of what we see are developmental things like congenital dislocation of the hip, club feet, scoliosis and actually we see a lot of normal kids, whose folks are just concerned about their growth and development. Some of the children we are seeing here today have had surgery up in St. Louis at a specialised children’s hospital, Shriners Children Hospital.”
Wilana Oldham, President, Rotary Club, Belmopan
“We are very challenged by this and we are very excited about being involved in this project, and our goal is to continue and try to expand on the project as much as possible. And of course one of the biggest things that we are faced with is the financial side, having to raise the money to assist because a lot of the children or families don’t have the necessary funds to get their children up in the U.S. and that’s where the Rotary Club comes into play. And not only are we involved in organising the clinic, but we are also very much involved in raising the money you know so these children can go to the U.S. and can get the help that they need. And of course we are expanding the programme a little bit in that we are now going to be assisting with medications and other things like that.”
To date, eighty-five children have been assessed and of that number eight children so far may need to go abroad for further treatment at Shriners. On Thursday and Friday clinics will be conducted in Orange Walk at Northern Regional and at Polyclinic 2 in San Pedro.
