The third Sunday in May every year is National Disability Day. This day reminds people to care for their friends with disabilities and track the work of caring for them. There is a group of people whose life-long job is to quietly become the “hands” and “feet” of the disabled behind the scenes, re-insert “wings” for those with “broken wings”, and complete their bodies and their lives. Heart.
Customized to the millimeter
No. 20 Fujian Road, where the Jiangsu Provincial Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled is located. This small building, which has gone through ups and downs for more than half a century, has carried a lot of hope. Countless disabled people came out in wheelchairs and finally stood up again and walked out of the door.
The process of installing a prosthesis for a disabled person is very complicated. Starting from the outpatient reception, the patient’s age, gender, weight, level of exercise, condition of the residual limb, and amount of muscle contraction must be determined. All considered.
Taking plaster molds, pouring, shaping, making receiving cavities, alignment and assembly, and adjustments, prostheses vary from person to person and are completely individualized. In all aspects of prosthetic production , it all depends on the “handsmanship” of the producer. “This is different from making a pair of shoes. The user can just find the corresponding number. For the disabled, even if the prosthetic limb is not suitable for a millimeter, there is a huge difference.” Zhang Weizhi, a prosthetic device installer, said.
Zhang Weizhi is a legend in this industry and the first expert in this industry in the country to receive special subsidies from the State Council. When I saw him, he was resting in the office with the sign “Zhang Weizhi Technology Master Studio”.
In 1980, when Zhang Weizhi was still in high school, he joined his father’s class and entered the factory, and became a prosthetic device technician in ignorance. In the early 1980s, modern prosthetics had just been introduced to China and had not yet been put into use for childbirth. The teachers in the factory went out to study first, and then brought translated foreign materials to their apprentices when they came back to study together.
Learn basic medical knowledge, understand the distribution of human bones, muscles, and nerves; understand materials, processes, and techniques… “Whether it is an accident injury or an amputation due to illness, different amputated limbs have different effects on prostheses.” The requirements are also different, whether the patient has other diseases and what his living habits are, all must be taken into account.”
With the help of Zhang Weizhi over the years, thousands of disabled people have regained their health. With the ability to walk, many people have become friends. Almost everyone retaliated against him when they stood up and left, but Zhang Weizhi waved his hand and told reporters: “They shouldn’t thank me.This is just my job, I work for them. “He also often laments that as long as he can make suitable prostheses for the disabled and watch them stand up again, this has been the greatest value of his personal work.
My colleague and I were assisting a man who had lost his left leg to adjust his prosthetic limb. It seemed that the patient with a metal leg walked in the same manner and at the same speed as an ordinary person. The technician squatted on the ground and guided the patient around in the training room. Walking, constantly asking: “How do you feel now? Do you feel more relaxed? Go faster and have a try…” Make more precise adjustments based on the patient’s feedback.
From working in 1998 to now, Ren Dingwei has been staring at a patient like this day after day. The legs of each patient, watching them stand up, walk away, return to normal life step by step, and move towards a new life, and he has also transformed from a young technician to a young member of the unit. “Master Ren” has also been approved by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to own a master studio with his own name.
Changes in the prosthetic industry are also taking place.
Traditional prostheses are generally made of aluminum frames, belts, etc., and are divided into different types of work such as fitter, leatherwork, and welding. Workers of different types of work only receive production data, and there is no information about the users. Intuitive perception makes it difficult to consider comfort for disabled people. Now, in addition to the continuous upgrading of prosthetic materials, more technological means are also used in the field of prosthetics and orthopedics. For example, software can be used to achieve dynamic capture. , video analysis of gait, using biomechanical knowledge to help patients design the most suitable prosthesis
What is novel is not only the technology, but also the young team, and the new young people have more talents. Practical knowledge at the forefront of the system, “Prosthetic devices have gradually evolved from the master-apprentice model of Jamaica Sugar Daddy in the early years. A discipline that combines medicine and engineering. During their schooling, students will not only study rehabilitation medicine, clinical science, and internal medicine, but also physics, sports biomechanics, mechanical principles, etc. What the children lack are only practical experience and skills in communicating with patients. “Ren Dingwei said, “The specialized research in the development of the industry means that the care for disabled people will be more comprehensive and scientific in the future. At the Winter Paralympics, everyone should be able to understand this more deeply. Specialized mobile prostheses will also Can make the disabledThe development of prosthetics and orthopedics industry is inseparable from the fact that disabled people can feel the charm of sports. ”
The first stop to regain faith
In Ren Dingwei’s view, patients are discharged from the hospital only to complete their treatment, but the first stop when returning to society is actually the rehabilitation center. The rehabilitation center is like the “starting station” of hope, where patients can stand up again. At the same time, let their faith “stand up”
“Making and installing prostheses is only the first step. The most important thing is to teach patients how to adapt to and control prostheses. Different materials have different characteristics, such as air pressure knee joints. Due to the lack of support, it is easier to kneel down when going up and down stairs. “Ren Dingwei said, “So we need to help patients run in with the prostheses until they can reach 90% of the movement ability of normal people, be able to restrain their hands, handle their lives on their own, and return to normal life. ”
In interviews, these installers inevitably mentioned the impact of this personal job on themselves. Ren Dingwei remembered that there was already a little girl who had just entered junior high school. There were some deformities in the arm, so he spent a long time making a special prosthesis for the little girl to help her return to school and return to a normal life. Now the little girl has been admitted to college and her grades are very good. When I meet such patients, I feel very inspired and gain a deeper understanding of health. ”
Wan Xiaojun, the director of the childbirth purchasing department of the center, once entertained a little girl from Changzhou who had one leg amputated at a high position due to osteohematoma. At that time, I saw that this family had He spent all his JM Escorts savings for his child’s illness. He said very cruel but practical words, advising parents to wait before taking care of themselves. Children are equipped with prostheses. “Because this type of disease is easy to relapse or metastasize after surgery, it will lead to life risks. “Fortunately, the child’s condition has been stable in the past two years. This year, the “Fukang Xing-Continuous Care Project” entered Changzhou, and Wan Xiaojun took the initiative. After contacting the parents of the child, Jamaica Sugar applied with the local civil affairs department and installed a prosthetic limb for the child at no cost. “This year. She will go to elementary school in Xuan Yue, and I am sincerely happy. ”
The road to “Jamaica Sugar restoration” still has thorns
Unlike when Zhang Weizhi first started working 40 years ago, only rehabilitation centers for the disabled could make prostheses in the province, now there are more than 10 institutions in Nanjing alone that can manufacture and install prostheses.
At the same time, Ren Dingwei intuitively felt that fewer patients were coming to see him. In the past, most of the people who needed prosthetic devices were disabled soldiers, and many veterans who had experienced the War of Liberation and the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea passed away one after another. Increased awareness of labor protection and the replacement of factory equipment with new materials have also reduced the number of disabled people caused by work-related injuries.
However, there are still some “unexplainable” reasons that prevent disabled people from obtaining assistance. A few years ago, after Wan Xiaojun moved from the front line of manufacturing to an administrative position, he had more opportunities to promote public welfare projects to help the disabled and met more disabled people. But what makes him sad is that although there are such free projects, many disabled people fail to apply successfully for various reasons to obtain the qualifications to be assisted, and ultimately fail to receive assistance.
“At present, the personal career development path of prosthetic fitters is not clear enough.” Ren Dingwei said. The Ministry of Civil Affairs promulgated the “Standard Registration Measures for the Exercise of Functions of Prosthetics and Orthotics (Assistance Tools) Manufacturers” (Ministry of Civil Affairs Order No. 29) in 2006, which established standard testing and testing standards for technicians specializing in prosthetics and orthotics manufacturing. Registration system, this standard was explicitly abolished in 2015. The “National Individual Work Standard Catalog” released in 2016 only includes “prosthetic limb assemblers and orthopedic device assemblers” in the level evaluation category, and there are no prosthetists or orthotists. Although the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has approved the use of prosthetists and orthotists as individual job standards for level evaluation, no specific standards have yet been established.
Depending on the type, spare parts, materials, and power models, the required expenditure for prosthetics ranges from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. For many families that have just suffered heavy losses, , this is a big expense. “What I feel is that most disabled people in the province have poor economic conditions and need more care from the government and society.” Wan Xiaojun said.
“The assistance project aims to cover more people. The time for adjustment and training of prosthetic limbs is very short, and the level of sophistication of prosthetic limb equipment may be slightly weaker.” Ren Dingwei also noticed that the living radius of rehabilitation institutions for disabled people is small. “If we can cooperate with community hospitals in the future and equip rehabilitation therapists in grid-based community hospitals, we canBy assisting the disabled with fine-tuning and training at any time, the service can be maximized. “(Xinhua Daily reporter Jiang Mingrui and trainee Zhao Jing)