Since the catastrophe of Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, Stand TALL has constantly offered comprehensive rehabilitation services to the patients from the earthquake. Those include orthopaedics clinical consultation and surgical treatment, physiotherapy, ergo-therapy and prosthesis orthopaedic services. We have been engaged in recovering the self-care ability of the patients to the maximum possible level, to facilitate their re-integration into normal social life. With prosthetic limbs they can move as normal; wheelchairs help increase their self-care ability; orthopaedic devices stabilize their walking, and timely orthopaedics consultation resolves sequelae such as pressure sores, stump bone regeneration and deformed feet. With proactive rehabilitation therapy, most wounded patients have successfully returned to schools and work positions to continue their pursuit of dreams. Some have become Paralympics sportsmen, while some have chosen to be rehabilitation therapists or psychological therapists.

Most of the patients are teenagers who are very active. Therefore, their prosthetic limbs are tent to suffer higher wear and tear. Some patients are still children in growing period. They would even have to undergo stump reconditioning surgery before installing prosthetic limbs. Thus, Stand TALL will make every possible effort to offer prosthetic-limbs orthopaedic service and orthopaedics consultation to the wounded personnel. In every three months ever since the earthquake, our professional and warm-hearted orthopaedists, therapists and prosthetic orthopaedists physically arrived in Sichuan, to assess the condition of the stump and prosthesis usage for the patients, and make adjustment accordingly. Such service will not be one-off or temporary. Patients would even be arranged to Hong Kong to receive treatment by Stand TALL if it is necessary.

Additionally, the Sichuan-Hong Kong Rehabilitation Training and Development Scheme funded by the Hong Kong SAR government has accomplished last year. This plan has successfully attracted 2079 students to join, 1079 more than its original target of 1,000 attendance. To better summarize all training materials, Stand TALL has published Musculoskeletal Medicine and Rehabilitation in June 2015 in cooperation with People’s Medical Publishing House as the official reference book, and sent out to more than 2000 students. This book is definitely of great practical value for those who are working in rehabilitation industry.

All these years, Stand TALL has witnessed rehabilitation and resurrection of many wounded and traumatized. This is a great driver for our future work and endeavor to benefit more. On behalf of Stand TALL, I would like to take this opportunity to extend my most sincere gratitude to Hong Kong SAR government, Sichuan government and the warm-hearted Hong Kong residents for their selfless love and support!