AMP IT UP!

Innovative solutions for amputees

Hi, this is Xhosanetti.

Xhosanetti’s a 43 years old amputee who lives with his family in a small village of a rural area in South Africa.

He likes to help out in the house chores like gardening and taking care of the animals.

Right now, he is always dependent on the support from his family and neighbors for these basic tasks.

The local health facility treats all patients without sufficient electricity or water supply.

They do not have the infrastructure to provide him with a prosthetic. So for 10 years he can only walk with crutches.

Xhosanetti needs not only mobility, but also to be able to work with his hands.

To solve this challenge an international group of students, got together. With an interdisciplinary team of engineering, design, business, biochemistry and public health backgrounds:

Ines Pedro

Hendrik Dahlhaus

Maria UdĂŠn

Jessica Menold

Isabel Bahiana Wotzasek

Wesley Teerlink

Cecilia Hilmer

Matthew Dion

Lucas Paes de Melo

We are the AMP IT UP Team!

Using Design Thinking, a user-centric approach and research with users and stakeholders in South Africa and Germany, we were able to gain deep understanding and effectively tackle the challenge.

After intense work we created two solutions that go hand and hand.

AMPARO is a low-cost offthe-shelf socket made of a moldable material that can be easily fitted.

With Amparo there is no need for complex machines in the clinic nor all the visits to a technician.

It’s less customized and easily adjusted to provide adequate comfort.

Most important, with the process we developed, no electricity is needed!

By now you may be asking yourself: but how does Xhosanetti get an Amparo socket?

That’s where the Amp League jumps in!

The Amp League is an implementation strategy specially designed to give support to amputees who live in isolated areas.

It consists of a technician and an amputee who learn how to work with Amparo and will be traveling together to areas of great need. This is how it works:

call to action AMP IT UP! calls for experienced Prosthetists and Amputees to volunteer For the amp league in South Africa

AMP IT UP! groups the selected Prosthetists and Amputees to form amp league teams

each amp league is assigned to a specific route formed by a few villages.

amp league connecting amputees helps to create motivation!

local amputees

villageS ARE SELECTED ACCORDING TO AREAS COVERED BY BASIC HEALTH FACILITES THAT SERVE AS REFERENCE CONTACTS. IN EACH FACILITy A LOCAL CONTACT PERSON WILL ASSIST THE PROJECT IN THAT VILLAGE

Involving locals in the project helps to create trust!

local contact person

first round: meet and prepare

second round: fitting

third round: follow-up

The mobile assistance by rounds has been designed to allow the Amp League to cover a larger area while maximizing time and available resources.

Since amputees don’t need to follow up on a daily basis, providing a prosthetist from time to time and enabling a local contact person that backs up in acute situations substitutes the need of building a whole prosthetic clinic infrastructure.

Every round has a purpose, either to prepare the patient, to fit the socket or to follow up the patient’s progress.

Always giving the support amputees need to gain confidence and readapt to their new life.

Finally, Xhosanetti will be able to walk without crutches and work with his hands once again!

So how do we turn this into reality?

We already have a proof of concept and now we want to build a final prototype. We also want to go back to the field and test both our ideas, the Amparo socket and the Amp League implementation strategy.

For more information or if you want to contribute to our project, check out our website:

ampitupnow.org Or get in touch with us:

hello@ampitupnow.org Help us to AMP IT UP!

www.ampitupnow.org