A week after the earthquake, the death toll was still rising. Many survivors rescued from the debris needed an immediate amputation. I was shaken at the sight of their substantial pain. I began to think of setting up a comprehensive rehabilitation program where the Orthopaedics and Traumatology field was concerned. The idea of Stand TALL was thus born.

The name Stand TALL was coined by a group of friends in the Rotary Club who shared the same vision. “Stand TALL” clearly demonstrates our belief, i.e. to help the amputees recover from this catastrophe, so that they can one day Stand TALL again in their lives.

With the public’s great support, our Stand tall team was established in less than two weeks’ time. On 26 May, we started our first stand TALL trip to Guangzhou.

There was a large number of casualties from the Sichuan earthquake. Some of the more serious cases, especially those of children amputees, were transferred to Guangzhou, where the patients could receive medical treatment and would return to Sichuan when their conditions stabilize. During the visit, we treated some direly injured patients whose hope and strength still flickered in their eyes. We must do the best we can for their sake. Some of their wounds had not recovered yet, so we carried out instant treatment to prevent them from being infected. Of more importance, however, was not solely giving them medical treatment, but also psychological therapy to assist them in facing the future positively.

A number of international rehabilitation specialists and the Sichuan rehabilitation staff were invited to participate in the Symposium in Hong Kong to discuss the way to co-operate, and find out the best rehabilitation program. In the conference, the mission of “Sichuan Hong Kong Rehabilitation Center” and the “rehabilitation works in the Hospital Authority” were introduced by Dr. York CHOW Yat-ngok and Mr. Anthony WU Ting-yuk. Then, the heads of the major hospitals in Sichuan took turns to introduce the local rehabilitation plan, followed by my introduction of the progress in Stand TALL project.

This Symposium covered all the areas of concern in Orthopaedic rehabilitation, including bone fracture rehabilitation, community rehabilitation, pain rehabilitation and spinal cord injuries. We discussed some special cases and shared our clinical experience. Although the Symposium was held on Sunday morning, there were as many as 150 participants; the result was truly encouraging. Furthermore, we all agreed that inadequate specialists were the bottleneck in rehabilitation. This justified the objectives of the Stand TALL project, reminding us that we should concentrate resources to accelerate the progress in training rehabilitation specialists.

On the eve of the Wenchuan earthquake anniversary, we hosted the “2nd Sichuan-Hong Kong Symposium on Rehabilitation for Earthquake Victims” and invited people from all fields to witness our fruitful results. With over 150 participants, the response was truly encouraging. Prof. Chan summarized the efforts of “StandTALL” through a video documenting the respective rehabilitation journeys of the quake patients, showing their “unique journeys, unique experiences, unique achievements”. The hall of symposium participants was profoundly moved.

To share the results of StandTALL thus far, we undertook patient case analyses and reports by playing videos on the rehabilitation training of patients. Furthermore, to help the participants understand the practical situation of the rehabilitation, there was a sharing session among the patients to share their rehabilitation experiences and difficulties encountered. Experts and students started a vigorous discussion, all in hope of seeking ways to help the patients as much as possible.

During the anniversary of Sichuan Earthquake, Stand TALL invited 5 patients to come to Hong Kong attending symposium and medical assessment.

Mr. Donald Tsang, the HKSAR Chief Executive, was so kind to spare his precious working hours to welcome our patients and shared the bits and pieces of his life with them. Furthermore, our patients even had a chance to join a tour generously guided by the Chief Executive himself in the Government House.

Ma Yuerong, President of Luzhou Medical College and Professor T F Fok, Dean of Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong signed the Agreement of Academic Exchange and Cooperation at Prince of Wales Hospital for improve the cooperation of the two college. This cooperation include:

• Exchange visitor programs
• Co-chaired colloquia
• Scientific and technological cooperation
• Information exchange