Port Angeles students send tools to help orthopedic surgeons in Nepal
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, May 27, 2015
PORT ANGELES — Special tools made by Port Angeles High School students in Justin Parker’s machine technology class are helping surgeons mend bones in Nepal.
Six fracture distractors recently completed by the students were requested to be sent to Nepal, which suffered a massive quake a month ago, as part of the emergency supply from SIGN Fracture Care International of Richland, which helps orthopedic surgeons in developing countries.
The fracture distractors are used by orthopedic surgeons to hold broken bones in place while the surgeon realigns the bone.
What tool does
The distractor pulls the broken bone back to length and stabilizes it in the correct position while the definitive fixation of the fracture is accomplished.
The distractor is removed when the surgery is completed.
Jeremy Slack, graduate of the Port Angeles High School Class of 2005 who now teaches in the welding and fabrication technology department at Spokane Community College, provided the nuts for the distractors made by the students.
Students built each distractor for less than $100; commercially, one costs about $5,000.
Dr. Bob Watkins and Dr. Sam Baker, both now retired, started the school program with now-retired instructor Mike Frick, who still volunteers with the program.
Baker, who assists with the project, and other orthopedic surgeons use the distractors in their work in Third World countries, train doctors on how to use the bone distractor and then provide the tool for future use by local doctors overseas.
The earthquake that hit Nepal on April 25 and a second major tremor May 12 killed more than 8,600 people and destroyed some 600,000 homes, leaving thousands injured.
