Innovative solutions for amputees

Hi, this is Xhosanetti.

Xhosanetti’s a 43 years old

amputee who lives with his

family in a small village of a

rural area in South Africa.

He likes to help out in the house chores like gardening and taking care of the animals.

Right now, he is always dependent on the support from his family and neighbors for these basic tasks.

The local health facility treats all patients without sufficient electricity or water supply.

They do not have the infrastructure to provide him with a prosthetic. So for 10 years he can only walk with crutches.

Xhosanetti needs not only

mobility, but also to be able

to work with his hands.

To solve this challenge an international group of students, got together. With an interdisciplinary team of engineering, design, business, biochemistry and public health backgrounds:

Ines Pedro

Jessica Menold

Hendrik Dahlhaus

Isabel Bahiana Wotzasek

Matthew Dion

Maria Udén

Wesley Teerlink

Lucas Paes de Melo

We are the AMP IT UP TeAM!

Cecilia Hilmer

Using Design Thinking, a user-centric approach and research with users and stakeholders in South Africa and Germany, we were able to gain deep understanding and effectively tackle the challenge.

After intense work we

created two solutions that go

hand and hand.

AMPARO is a low-cost off-

the-shelf socket made of a

moldable material that can

be easily fitted.

With AMPARO there is no need for complex ma-chines in the clinic nor all the visits to a technician. It’s less customized and easily adjusted to provide adequate comfort.

Most important, with the process we developed, no electricity is needed!

By now you may be asking

yourself: but how does

Xhosanetti get an AMPARO

socket?

That’s where the

AMP LeAGUe

jumps in!

The AMP LeAGUe is an implementation strategy specially designed to give support to amputees who live in isolated areas.

It consists of a technician and an amputee who learn how to work with Amparo and will be traveling together to areas of great need. This is how it works:

AMP IT UP! GROUPS THe SeLeCTeD

PROSTHeTISTS AnD AMPUTeeS TO fORM AMP LeAGUe TeAMS

AMP IT UP! CALLS fOR eXPeRIenCeD PROSTHeTISTS AnD AMPUTeeS TO vOLUnTeeR fOR THe AMP leAgUe In SOUTH AfRICA

eACH AMP LeAGUe IS ASSIGneD TO A SPeCIfIC ROUTe

fORMeD By A feW vILLAGeS.

AMP LeAGUe

LOCAL AMPUTeeS

COnneCTInG AMPUTeeS HeLPS TO CReATe

MOTIvATIOn!

CALL TO ACTIOn

vILLAGeS ARe SeLeCTeD ACCORDInG TO AReAS

COveReD By BASIC HeALTH fACILITeS THAT SeRve AS RefeRenCe COnTACTS.

In eACH fACILITy A LOCAL COnTACT PeRSOn WILL ASSIST THe PROJeCT In

THAT vILLAGe

LOCAL COnTACT PeRSOn

InvOLvInG LOCALS In

THe PROJeCT HeLPS TO

CReATe TRUST!

first round:MeeT AnD PRePARe

third round:fOLLOW-UP

second round:fITTInG

The mobile assistance by rounds has been designed to allow the AMP leAgUe to cover a larger area while maximizing time and available resources. Since amputees don’t need to follow up on a daily basis, providing a prosthetist from time to time and enabling a local contact person that backs up in acute situations substitutes the need of building a whole prosthetic clinic infrastructure.

every round has a purpose, either to prepare the patient, to fit the socket or to follow up the patient’s progress.

Always giving the support

amputees need to gain

confidence and readapt to

their new life.

finally, Xhosanetti will be

able to walk without crutches

and work with his hands

once again!

So how do we turn this into

reality?

We already have a proof of concept and now we want to build a final prototype. We also want to go back to the field and test both our ideas, the Amparo socket and the Amp League implementation strategy.

for more information or if you want to contribute to our project, check out our website:

ampitupnow.org

Or get in touch with us:

hello@ampitupnow.org

Help us to AMP IT UP!

www.ampitupnow.org