Improvising and Modifying

February 8, 2014


There are many situations that requires one to be creative to get a job done. Today our project was to help an elderly man who had fractured his femur (thigh bone) a week ago while trying to ambulate from his wheelchair. The patient went to the hospital and was told he was too high a
risk for surgery, kept there for a few days and sent home. Our job was to create a splint to immobilize the fracture as much as possible and make him as comfortable.

Making split with school rulers.

Modifying splint for patient.

Adding cotton wrapped in Coban to prevent chaffing or irritating the skin.

Shopping for bed foam to help prevent bed ulcers.

Sometimes, this is a good as it gets.

We used an Ace wrap to hold the splint in place. It took 3 ppl to help raise the man and push the foam underneath him and with me pulling to cover the bed.  Life is not easy here and I continued to be impressed by how tough and resilient the people are and how they do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Posted by Patricia Ferrer.