Do you remember hearing the tale of Chhouk, the baby elephant who lost his foot in a snare ? He was rescued by Wildlife Alliance, taken to Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre where he was nursed him back to health, and was fitted with a prosthetic foot. The foot, which wears out and needs to be replaced regularly, is the subject of much interest to all those who work with prosthetics.


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Recently, a team from the Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of Salford visited Chhrouk the elephant during a working and learning trip to Cambodia:


Academics and students from the University of Salford have returned from an outreach trip to Cambodia where they met with a number of prosthetic users, including an elephant.

The group, who are part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics (CDT) based at the university, explored the need for prosthetics in Cambodia and the work that is ongoing there to provide users with the best possible experience.

Professor Malcolm Granat and Dr Joanne Caldwell from the University of Salford and Dr Maggie Donovan-Hall from the University of Southampton, along with six UK-based CDT students, were visiting Sisary Kheng, a CDT student who is based in Cambodia. The trip consisted of clinical and hospital visits and observations as well as student volunteering.

The week began with the group making the trip to a wildlife park to see Chhouk, an elephant with a prosthetic leg. Sisary and her team at Exceed have been helping the team at the wildlife park create Chhouk’s prosthetics for many years. The group had the chance to see him lift his leg to change prosthetics, something they described as a fascinating experience.

Exceed, a prosthetic and orthotics school in Phnom Penh, hosted the group the following day as the CDT students presented their PhD work to the Exceed students. Following this they visited several manufacturers of prosthetics, including a family run foot factory where they saw how prosthetic feet were made.

The students undertook a number of volunteering activities during their stay. Several went out on community visits to deliver wheelchairs, while others stayed in the Exceed clinic to help patients requiring prosthetics and orthotic fitting. The visiting academics, Maggie, Malcolm and Joanne, went to a meeting with Sisary at the Australian Embassy.

Joanne tells us: “It was great to see Sisary in action talking about funding for the prosthetics and orthotics charity sector and we were honoured to be able to observe this meeting with other non-governmental organisations and charities. In the afternoon we went to see the Director of the Department of Disability Welfare for Cambodia, who listened to our presentations on the CDT and the way the prosthetics and orthotics sector works in the UK.”
https://www.salford.ac.uk/news/salford- ... odia-visit