Peer-To-Peer Amputee Program Launches in Vietnam

Pham Qui Thi, Ban Advocate, presenting peer-to-peer Mirror Therapy with upper limb amputees

 With a donation of 20 table-top mirrors, ETPP ToolKits translated into Vietnamese and pain scales from End The Pain Project as well as the joint sponsorship of Handicap International and Project Renew, a mirror therapy workshop for twenty amputees in Hai Lang district, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam was kicked off on December 18, 2014.

Cluster munitions survivor Pham Quy Thi presented the concept of mirror therapy at home, followed by an actual mirror therapy session that lasted for 20 minutes supported by Pham Quy Thi and Nguyen Thanh Phu of the Project Renew Mine Action Visitor Center.

The participants were divided into two groups, one with leg amputations, the other with arm amputations.

 four out of the five upper limb amputee participants had positive feedback. They can really feel their missing fingers moving exactly like what existed before.

Lower limb amputee concentrating on a reflection of his intact leg

A man whose leg was amputated, said  he really could see his missing leg in the mirror after many years, and felt as if he can walk with balance.

Only in one case, a woman reported that she could not feel anything.  Later, she said that she misunderstood what the team had told her. Instead of concentrating on the reflected image of her leg, she just looked at her intact leg. It was concluded that this was the reason why,she did not get any reaction during the session.

Participants of the Mirror Therapy Workshop with instructors Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Pham

All the participants were very happy and and committed to following mirror therapy sessions  at home for one month.

ETPP Co-Founder brings Mirror Therapy techniques to Vietnam and Cambodia

The focus of a December 2009 trip to Vietnam and Cambodia for Moira Judith Mann, ETPP Co-Founder, was to present mirror therapy techniques,  prototype unbreakable plastic mirror systems, ETPP ToolKits translated into Vietnamese and Khmer and PrismGlasses to the Vietnamese Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists (VIETCOT) in Hanoi, PeaceTrees Vietnam, an NGO based in Dong Ha that services over 600 landmine victims, The Cambodian School of Prosthetics & Orthotics (CSPO), Kien Khleang National Rehabilitation Center in Phnom Penh, CHA, an NGO in Phnom Penh, as well as two designated ETPP representatives who will bring mirror therapy to hill tribe villages in the former DMZ, Quang Tri Province. 

The mirror therapy information and the use of non-breakable plastic mirrors were enthusiastically accepted and will be incorporated into the VIETCOT curriculum, as well as becoming part of the treatment offered at the Kien Khieang National Rehabilitation Center and CHA.  In addition, an outreach connection was made with Catholic Charities of Sri Lanka. 

End The Pain Project Ventures Into Vietnam

Friday, December 18, marks the beginning of End The Pain Project activity in Vietnam.  Co-Founder, Moira-Judith Mann arrives on that date to bring information about Mirror Therapy for amputees suffering Phantom Limb Pain to several Vietnamese organizations serving amputees in various capacities. First stop -Hanoi.  Mid-January, she will visit Phnom Penh, Cambodia to establish connections.

Mann will present the ETPP ToolKit; a newly developed unbreakable mirror system prototype and portable PrismGlasses, recently invented by Dr. Jonathan Bannister and Dr. Glyn Walsh of Scotland and marketed by Scottish Health Innovations Ltd., all as non-invasive interventions to reduce or end Phantom Limb Pain.