EMERGENCY USA is a USA based organization devoted to the promotion of a culture of solidarity, peace and respect for human rights.
EMERGENCY USA provides support to projects that offer free, high quality medical and surgical treatment for the victims of war and poverty.

Emergency

Rehabilitation Center

Given the high number of landmine amputees in Iraq, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan, and in order to give maimed individuals the chance to live an  autonomous and dignified life, in 1998, EMERGENCY built a Rehabilitation and Social Reintegration Center in Sulaimaniya.

The Center provides physiotherapy and fits prostheses to amputees. Vocational training courses in areas such as woodwork, light carpentry, leather work, tailoring and shoemaking are also offered. These courses allow amputees the opportunity to learn a trade compatible with their disability.

Once the vocational training course has been completed, EMERGENCY helps amputees start up professional cooperative workshops in their villages  By providing the first six months of rent and the necessary equipment and raw materials, EMERGENCY helps each amputee embark on the journey to the road to independence.

EMERGENCY’s Home Adjustment Program makes the necessary modifications to the wheelchair-bound or double leg amputee’s home. This ensures independence to these individuals in need while in their own living space.

In 2001, EMERGENCY opened a Rehabilitation Center in Diana. Another one was opened in 2003 in Dohuk (2003). Both facilities have been transferred, and are now run by local authorities and NGOs.

Today, the number of landmine victims is dropping, but the Rehabilitation Center in Sulaimaniya continues to work in full gear due to the long waiting lists, and in order to guarantee the necessary assistance to former patients, and to provide periodic maintenance and replacement of prostheses.

The annual operating cost for this Center is approximately $900,000.

REHABILITATION AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION CENTER KEY FACTS

Date Opened: February 1998

Number of Patients Treated: 6,174

Number of Prostheses and Orthoses Produced: 39,859

Upper lim prostheses delivered: 804

Lower limb prostheses produced: 5,821

Number of Courses Completed: 28

Number of Graduates: 459

Number of Cooperatives Initiated: 275

Activities:  Physical Rehabilitation, Prostheses and Orthoses Production

Capacity: 41 beds

Local Staff: 100 (approximately 30% are physically disabled)

Facilities: Orthopedic Laboratory (including 5 sections: Casting, Modifications, Kiln machines), Laboratory (5 Lab Technicians, 4 Assistants and a Work coordinator), Physiotherapy (2 Physiotherapists), Indoor Swimming Pool, 5 Laboratories for Professional Training Courses (Tailoring, Leatherwork, Iron Work, Carpentry and Shoe Production), Classrooms, Offices and Storage

Data as of December 2011