Build Prosthetic Hands Through Team Building
Odyssey Teams helps companies build prosthetic hands for amputees around the world and as of today, over 29,000 prosthetic hands have been built and fitted on people without arms.
Shire Pharmaceuticals APAC (Asia-Pacific) Leaders converged in Ho Chi Minh City and went through Odyssey Teams’ Helping Hands team building program to build prosthetic hands. The attendees assembled eight hands—the cognition of knowing that their giveback team-building program was going to produce an immediate effect the very next day to those individuals in Vietnam created an even more special team activity.
With these eight hands being built by Shire, along with other hands that were built by people in the Helping Hands program in Australia, Bill John, set off to Vietnam with 21 hands.
Seeing The Sparkle In Someone’s Eye
Kahn, a 58-year-old man who lost his arm at 13-years-old was one of the prosthetic hand recipients. When he was 13, he was using a shovel in the fields to dig out copper, iron and pieces of metal that were left over from the Vietnam War. His shovel hit a landmine and when the bomb went off, it took off the bottom half of his left arm.
During Bill’s fitting in Vietnam he was able to see these individuals write for the first time, ride a bike, put their arms around each other – he got to see a “sparkle in their eye.” Not all the recipients were landmine related amputees. Others had lost their arm from a farming or work related accident and others were born with congenital birth defects, but all were thrilled to receive their new prosthetics and the mood was pure joy as they learned to use the hands.
What Will Your Story Be?
This is a story of just a few of the 7 million below-elbow amputees in the world. We’re just beginning to scratch the surface of helping these individuals, but with the help of you and your company, you can make a big difference in the lives of many.
If you’d like to help with this effort and bring Helping Hands to your next company meeting, get in touch with us.