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Dow India Taking Steps to Help Thousands Regain Mobility
Through the power of the Human Element, Dow India is leveraging the unique qualities of polyurethane chemistry to fulfill dreams. And provide hope.
Dow India is reinforcing its commitment to technology and humanity by participating in a program to help provide those in need with a prosthetic limb made of polyurethane. Offering significant benefits over conventional artificial limbs, the revolutionary prosthetic is providing comfort and mobility - and a new lease on life - to individuals across India.
The extraordinary effort to put chemistry in action is helping people like Shafia, a woman in Mumbai who lost her leg five years ago, begin to build a new life. Shafia is among 17,000 people who have received artificial limbs that are lighter, more flexible and more natural looking than traditional prosthetics, including other polyurethane prosthetics, thanks to financial and technological contributions from Dow India.
Contributing Technology to Help Rebuild Lives
The Jaipur foot is the result of a collaboration between Dow and Pinnacle Industries, India's largest commercial vehicle seating and interiors company. In addition to operating funds, Dow India contributed the polyurethane technical knowledge and product that led to the improved design of the prosthetic. The work was done in conjunction with a philanthropic effort by the non-governmental organization Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), based in Jaipur, India.
BMVSS is the world's largest organization for individuals with disabilities, benefitting more than one million individuals in India and abroad since its inception in 1975. BMVSS fabricates and provides artificial limbs, calipers and other aids and appliances free of charge to people with disabilities. For many of those years, the prosthetics provided were made from vulcanized rubber. In 2005, Pinnacle and Dow worked together to develop a polyurethanes model, enabling a more efficient fabrication process. This would allow prosthetics to be custom-made on-site at non-manufacturing locations, where recipients would receive them.
"The Jaipur Foot initiative shows how successful a close collaboration between a technology company and a non-government organization can truly transform science and innovation into tangible benefits for society's less fortunate," said Dr. Ramesh Ramachandran, president & CEO, Dow India. (source of quote: http://news.dow.com/dow_news/corporate/2009/20091111a.htm)
Designing a Lighter Limb for Stronger Steps
The innovative prosthetic limb weighs 20 percent less than conventional prosthetics, has excellent functionality and closely resembles a natural human limb, allowing recipients to not only walk comfortably, but also to squat, kneel, crouch and sit cross-legged.
Development continues today with a Dow Polyurethanes team looking at coating the foot with an elastomer layer to increase longevity and developing a rigid polyurethane keel to give additional strength and increase product life.
Continued Outreach Touches More Lives
Dow India continues to display its commitment to the program through initiatives like the 2009 Jaipur Foot on Wheels. This program provided a fully equipped mobile workshop that traveled through rural areas of India to distribute free Jaipur Foot prosthetics and calipers to those with disabilities.
"On behalf of BMVSS, I would like to thank Dow India for its ongoing commitment to the Jaipur foot initiative," said Mr. V.R. Mehta, member of the BMVSS executive committee and founder-president of Mahaveer Philippines Foundation Inc. in Manila. "In a country that has approximately ten million people suffering from loco-motor disability combined with high levels of poverty, there is a pressing need to provide limbs and other aids to those unable to afford them. The addition of the mobile clinic bus, made possible by Dow's 2009 donation, has extended our reach and bolstered the number of people we can provide fittings for at each of our camps. You just need to look at the success of our Delhi camp, which has assisted more than 200 physically challenged people in just two days to see what we can achieve with the mobile clinics." (source of quote: http://news.dow.com/dow_news/corporate/2009/20091111a.htm)
Ongoing efforts like Jaipur Foot on Wheels bring hope to countless thousands across the diverse regions of India. The 2009 program alone helped more than 1,600 people with disabilities, much like Shafia, regain their mobility and their dignity, thanks to the power of chemistry.
Read more about the Jaipur Foot program at www.jaipurfoot.org.
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