More than 40 children were fit with orthoses and prostheses at the FOOT Foundation’s annual clinic in Guatemala City at the Infantile Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital April 3-12.
According to Dino Scanio, CO, LO and FOOT Foundation founder, patients as far as 12 hours away traveled to the clinic to receive care from the Florida O&P Outreach Team, comprising Scanio and four additional clinicians.
The FOOT Foundation clinical team was recognized at the presidential palace in Guatemala and Scanio was given a special award by the Secretary of Government and the Director of La Secretaria de Obres Sociales de la Esposa del Presidente, the agency in charge of overseeing humanitarian projects in the country.
“I am humbled by the award but we choose to help others, not for the recognition, but because it’s our passion,” Scanio said.
The FOOT Foundation seeks to educate local O&P providers, physicians, therapists and families to provide continuing care for children after the Foundation has departed. According to Scanio, a goal for a successful humanitarian trip is to perpetuate the local wealth by using resources that are readily available, raw materials, supplies, tools and local talent.
“If the end goal of a humanitarian trip is not to just provide help, but to improve the community and empower the people to continue the work you began, then you will have truly made a difference,” Scanio said in a statement.
For more information about the FOOT foundation, visit www.footfoundation.org.
Dino Scanio with a young Guatemalan patient. Image: Dino Scanio
