Norfolk, VA. In partnership with the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), Physicians for Peace (PFP) – a humanitarian medical education organization – will train Ronald de la Cruz, a Filipino prosthetist from UP-PGH in Norfolk, Virginia August 4-19, 2006.
De la Cruz has already completed three training sessions at Prosthetics and Orthotics Training Program in Newington, CT under the Newington Certificate Program in Orthotics and Prosthetics, in cooperation with Newington Market Fabrication Lab and Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Inc. in Bethesda, Maryland, the oldest and largest prosthetics and orthotics organization with nearly 600 practices nationwide. It administers treatment to 10,000 to 12,000 patients daily.
Founded in 1989, PFP has over 350 medical education programs in 45 countries and has provided medical education in a variety of specialties to health care professionals and their patients in areas of profound need and scarce resources.
“Through our Walking Free Program, PFP aims to provide much-needed care for amputees so that they can continue to live full productive lives through the establishment of sustainable and rehabilitation centers in their homelands,” says its CEO, Brigadier General Ron Sconyers (USAF, Ret.)
“We have been working closely with Dr. Josephine Bundoc and have had several visits to the PGH, and have been able to identify appropriate facilities to set up a Prosthetic and Rehab Center.
“De la Cruz is the first Prosthetist from the Philippines to undertake training to US standards, a pivotal element in the program to allow facilities freedom to become medically independent”.
He will gain hands-on experience in a variety of practice environments including, home health care, dance medicine, rehabilitation and private practice.
Physicians for Peace (PFP) was founded by the internationally acclaimed humanitarian Dr. Charles E. Horton, Sr. of Norfolk, Virginia, PFP has sent teams of medical volunteers throughout the world to deliver much-needed healthcare services, medical education and supplies.
Using medicine as a peace-building tool, it has conducted programs over the past three decades, bridging even ethnic divisions. It is a non-profit organization that encourages financial and in-kind contributions to underwrite its mission-based work.
For more information, please visit www.physiciansforpeace.org.
