It’s crazy how quickly the semester has gone by! The team is leaving for India next Thursday (hopefully if all the visas come in) and we’re really excited. It’s going to be an interesting two weeks, meeting with folks from different hospitals and NGOs involved in prosthetics and seeing how a developing country copes with disabilities on its own terms.

When I first signed up for the Jaipur Foot project, I’ll readily admit that we didn’t fully understand the extent to which people with disabilities were being served in India. And I’m pleasantly surprised to have found out that Jaipur Foot does amazing work in North India, providing prosthesis to over 23,000 people in a year for free. The team had the opportunity to speak with one of their leaders recently and their philosophy is incredibly inspiring. They firmly believe that every amputee should have the opportunity to a limb and work towards making it as convenient as possible – every limb is free, anyone can walk into their camp in Jaipur without an appointment and Jaipur Foot houses and feeds any amputee waiting for a limb at the center.

It’s a pretty inspirational story and one that’s helped drive the development of an enhanced prosthetic foot design. Our client, an MIT lab, is designing a lighter version of the Jaipur foot that will be easier to manufacture. We’re excited to be venturing into India to help them assess the market and better understand their potential customers.  It doesn’t hurt that we’ll also have a chance to see some of the most fantastic heritage sites in India – the Golden Temple, the Water Palace in Jaipur and the Taj. Now… all we need are our visas and it’ll be all stations go! 

http://video.mit.edu/watch/katy-olesnavage-designing-the-next-generation-prosthesis-26034/