Wheelchair Distribution

Written by Steven - Serving in Thailand

One of my more exciting ones roles within the Wheelchair Distribution, which I had heard was many previous interns’ favorite, is distribution events. A lot of our patients come to us in Chiang Mai, but about once a month, we will go to another city to deliver and fit wheelchairs for people. Many of these are large distributions where we will give away dozens of standard chairs, but some are smaller. Usually including patients with more serious needs that cannot make it to our bigger distributions, these are classified by the World Health Organization as Community-based Rehabilitations (CBR). My first distribution was a CBR to Phayao, to a church led by our friend, Pastor Matthew.

I am touched by Pastor Matthew’s heart. He leads a congregation of almost entirely college students (which hits close to home for me, of course!). People told him that his vision for reaching the university students at Phayao would not be sustainable, but he felt a burden for them from the Lord, and continued forward in it, and it is clear God has really blessed him and his efforts! He wishes to instill the value of caring for the disabled in his students, which is how he came to host us for a CBR event, which he invited his congregation to come to observe, after our leader Joey shared at church on Sunday.

On day 1 of Phayao, we had mostly children who had more severe disabilities. When doing a wheelchair fitting, I’ve learned there is a lot more involved than simply making sure the patient is comfortable. This is especially the case for children, whose development as they grow can be largely affected by whether a fitting is done properly. The seat and leg/foot rest positions, if improper, can cause pressure sores, and the hips and back positions can affect spinal mobility long term, and so much more. And it changes from patient to patient too, depending on their disability and their history.

The first patient brought in was this very small 4 year old girl with cerebral palsy (I was unable to get any pictures of her), who could essentially not move without assistance. She had not been given proper fittings or supportive enough chairs in the past, so her body was not developing the right muscles or habits to allow her to have more control as she grows older. I was tearing up from seeing her at first, but also was filled with joy watching her smile while some of our team played with her as we worked on her chair. Later, seeing her leaving in a chair that would help her develop more healthily filled me with hope.

I mentioned how much I love my coworkers and the new volunteers already, and how my hosts, Mo and Lea have done such a good job fostering a community for us that goes beyond working together, and I really am so thankful for loving community with them. They are all so hardworking, caring, and fun to work with, and they are always ready to hang out after work or go explore the city or nature together. I am grateful to get to experience Thailand for the first time alongside them!