SNN December 2018

ALTUS TRUST
By Brett Ladbrook,
NZST Family & Peer Network Coordinator
In August this year I was given the opportunity to head over to
Samoa with the Altus Resource Trust. The role was as a Volunteer
Wheelchair Technician and I had the chance to teach some of the
locals basic maintenance.
The Altus Resource Trust works with organisations in the Pacific
Islands who provide services for children and adults with disabilities.
This year on the trip to Samoa the team included physiotherapists,
occupational therapists, a wound-care nurse specialist, a bladder
and bowel nurse specialist, seating specialist, wheelchair technician
and builders. It was all documented on video for the Altus Trust
(at the time of writing; we don’t know when the video will be
made available). All this involved seeing people with spinal cord
impairment (SCI’s), training field workers and health professionals.
I had heard what the Altus Resource Trust had been doing and
seeing it first hand, I was blown away by the impact they have had
on people with SCI’s in Samoa. The health of people with SCI’s
used to be poor with limited resources and a lack of knowledge in
how to care for themselves.
Complications from skin issues or pressure injuries, bladder issues,
infections and blocked catheters were some of the main problems
affecting the health and well-being of people with SCI.
Lack of access to Fales, toilets and showers were some of the
things that hit me when I visited a few of the families in the
community. Imagine not having a suitable ramp for you to be able
to get out of the house or in this case the Fale, not being able to
take a shower or use a toilet because it was not accessible to you.
I saw what the Altus Trust had done first-hand with building some
well put together ramps and accessible shower units. I was told it
would be full on. And from Monday to Thursday it was. I also knew
it would be hot and everyday it hit around 30 degrees Celsius.
Our clinic was held at Fletcher Construction’s base in Apia. The
initial client check-up and wheelchair maintenance was done under
a large carport, which worked out great as it was sheltered, open
and we had a breeze coming through. The medical check-ups
were done in an air-conditioned modified container office.
It was really rewarding to be able to use the skills I had learnt over
the years in the wheelchair industry and also the new skills I have
as a Peer Support worker with the NZ Spinal Trust.
One of the things I was asked to do was go over with the locals
how to repair their chairs so that when we left they had some
skills of their own to carry out basic maintenance. Showing the
locals how and what to look for, techniques on repairing and how
to adapt or use what you have on hand to set up a chair. These
people have it tough, but the willingness to learn and to adapt is
amazing. They are very resourceful people.
Being a techie my focus was on what people were using for
mobility and some of the chairs were grim to say the least. The
biggest issue I saw was the lack of parts and the challenges in being
able to get out to get the chairs repaired.
We were robbing unused chairs for parts and using a lot of good
second-hand parts as well as a lot of parts I had bought from local
importers or manufacturers. I know over here in New Zealand
some of the parts would have been thrown out when the chairs
are serviced, but they can be used or disassembled for spares. I
had to think outside the box for a lot of set-ups or repairs with
having limited fittings, limited parts and limited tools. It was a
challenge but extremely rewarding!
On the second day I worked on a wheelchair which was similar
to mine. It is a basic chair, not a lot of parts in it, but I spent over
two hours on it. The chair came in with a broken front castor that
was rather unsuccessfully glued together. The front castor mount
bearings were seized and when I went to knock them out they
disintegrated. After lots of penetrating lube, a punch and hammer,
I eventually got out the bearing shells. The front forks on the chair
had been pulled apart and reassembled incorrectly at some stage.
These had been wearing out the frame housings. This added to the
issues of getting the bearings out as it damaged the housings. The
studs that held them on were pretty rusted and worn as well. It
was off to the parts shed, which was a wee distance from the clinic
area over rough chunky stones, to rob some parts off a donor
chair. I put the front end together, removed the cushion to find the
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