e-NABLE Brasil Recife, Brasil November | 2019 | CHAPTER SPOTLIGHT |
Site & Community | |
Everton Lins began as a volunteer in 2016. He partnered with Jon Schull on a project to collect information about global news related to e-NABLE using Power BI analytics. e-NABLE Brasil was formed in 2017 in collaboration with Instituto Pepo, a rehabilitation center in the state of Bahia that only uses e-NABLE devices. Over the course of 2 years, the team developed a rehabilitation protocol. Today, they continue to work together to evaluate and verify the quality of all e-NABLE processes around Brasil’s medical regulations. The team has developed and regularly provides training to certified medical professionals. Other partnerships include collaborations with Million Waves project, Engineers Without Borders, and several volunteer teams in Brazil. For more information: e-nablebrasil.org/wp/parceiros/ | |
Tech & Specs | |
The team has printed more than 20 e-NABLE hands as tests and delivered 13 successful devices to recipients in the states of Bahia, Pernambuco, São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Amapá. 36 participants are currently on their waiting list, from 76 years old to under 2 years old. The team has used Phoenix hands and Unlimbited arms to ensure that trials were consistent during protocol development. For information on team and printer brand, model, and table size. | |
Team & Specialities | |
4 part-time | 72 volunteers
Process Design | Rehabilitation Protocol Development Currently the database includes 72 volunteers across the country including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, teachers, doctors, maker’s spaces, psychologists, developers, lawyers and engineers. This network forms the base for e-NABLE Brasil although the open community reaches every Brasilian state, covering a region of 3,286,000 square miles. The 4 part-time members of the team all have other full-time Jobs. Fabricia works on-demand as she manages contact with recipient families. Rogério works 3 days per week to update the social network accounts, manage contacts, and plan posts for the days in between. Menilde manages a team of 6 people at the rehabilitation center and is responsible for the medical processes and training. For more information: e-nablebrasil.org/wp/equipe/ | |
Design & Process | |
e-NABLE Brasil abides by national laws which requires a medical prescription for every medical device (prosthetics can only be donated with a doctor’s prescription). Since all e-NABLE volunteers in Brazil need to answer to representatives within the medical system, the chapter functions to mediate relationships between medical professionals and recipients. The chapter provides audits and reporting for government agencies, manages all donations, and ensures the safety of all participants (children and adults) served by e-NABLE devices. To efficiently reach the widest audience, the donation process has been organized like an assembling line. Volunteers become specialists on a particular process step. The team currently works primarily with adult recipients and children over 4 years old. As part of the process, rehabilitation training is provided as a requirement. Brazil's traditional prosthetics process often involves a 2 year delay when a person requests it through the free national healthcare system. e-NABLE Brasil hopes to significantly improve that timeline and reach people often not supported by the system. | |
Projects & Collaborations | |
Financial Transparency Project Currently the team is developing a financial management system to encourage volunteer responsibility and efficacy through transparent accounting. The project documents all donated money for the chapter while sharing expenses and purchases with donors through open dashboards. As an open source project, it can be used by all other chapters. e-NABLE Brasil Integration System Currently the team is developing a secure phone app to manage cooperation between medical professionals and recipients. e-NABLE Brasil is accountable for all levels within their process and dependent on doctor’s prescription. The application would connect recipients to a network of Brazilian medical professionals. Using automatic authentication, they will manage appointments, sensitive medical information, and devices for recipients. The team is currently exploring how to align with EnableWebCentral.com from a separate secure platform. As an open source project, it will be usable by other chapters. | |
Research | |
e-NABLE Brasil and Instituto PEPO has partnerships with researchers who are working to develop medical standards for evaluation and rehabilitation processes. Webinar training for their rehabilitation protocol is born from this research: youtube.com/watch?v=HpJpqavUzUk Clinical testing for NIOP devices is underway, with test data submitted to the CNPq (Ministry of Science, Tech, Innovations, and Communication) for approval into Brazil's health care system. The team consists of a group of medical professionals from PEPO institute as well as Engineers Without Borders to provide mechanical and biomechanical engineering support. | |
Funding & Sustainability | |
The team maintains activities and campaigns for active participation of volunteers without relying on monetary donations for staffing needs. The participants from the administrative, medical and technical teams all work as volunteers without charging for any service. By focusing on work without any monetary compensation they ensure that all work is done by people engaged in giving their time and expertise for the cause. They do accept donations of raw materials for device impression such as PLA, device mounting material, and equipment, as well as donations to buy printing materials. Donated funds are also used to support recipient families that are below the poverty line and need extra help to participate in the process. Transportation and other basic costs are reimbursed to encourage participation in appointments with medical professionals, assessments, and the required rehabilitation process. | |
Public Presence | |
The web presence is managed by volunteers and our communication leader Rogério Fornazier. He is also responsible for managing external communications and social networking. The team shares stories of local projects to raise awareness of initiatives for volunteers as well as a monthly open web meeting for new volunteers. The team is working to spread the word to the medical community in Brasil by hosting regular webinars about rehabilitation and also participating in medical seminars to demonstrate how the e-NABLE community works. e-NABLE Brasil has appeared on TV in local and national news and presented at academic conferences in São Paulo. Globo News Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFV76KS4WO0 FCA Corporative Coverage: e-NABLE Brasil Presentation at UNIFESP: |
