Delivery Systems to Empower People in Less Resourced Countries to Serve the Needs of People with Disabilities Who Require Wheelchairs

Implementing Partner: Reach Out & Care Wheels, Inc. (ROC)

Funding Period: April 2009 - March 2012

Amount: $749,803

Purpose: Provide appropriate mobility devices and services for Iraqi and Moroccan children with disabilities

Project Components

• Perform assessments at the Iraq and Morocco regional centers to determine the best method of sourcing ROC Wheelchair components for local manufacturing
• Develop manuals and resources specific to each region that are necessary to begin manufacturing and distributing ROC Wheelchair components and to provide ongoing care
• Perform onsite and teleconference training for technical workforces, service staff, and caregivers
• Train local staff to perform assessments to properly prescribe mobility devices
• Perform material testing, quality control, and field analysis of manufactured components and assemblies to ensure that the components and finished wheelchairs meet ROC's quality control standards
• Assist partners with wheelchair design modifications for each country to best overcome environment concerns, terrain challenges, and seating and positioning needs of the local population

Through ROC Wheels, USAID supports rehabilitation services for disabled children in Iraq and Morocco by providing training based on WHO guidelines and establishing regional centers capable of providing appropriate mobility devices and services to thousands of children with wide ranging physical and mental disabilities. The project is collaborating with both the public and private sectors and with medical device designers throughout the industry to improve existing device designs and develop new wheelchairs and other mobility devices to properly serve the range of disabilities. Each regional manufacturing and assembly operation will be capable of initially delivering 100 ROC Chairs per month with the capability of increasing production in the future. ROC developed a medical and physical therapy team of highly accomplished specialists in the fields of physical therapy, cerebral Palsy (CP) , custom seating and positioning, ongoing care, and prescription of appropriate mobility devices to develop curriculum, manuals, and perform training.