miraclefeet: preventing unnecessary disability caused by untreated clubfoot around the world
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
Making More Health: Achieving Individual, Family and Community Well-Being competition.
The change we bring is to ensure that children born with clubfoot can walk, run, go to school, and live, healthy productive lives. Untreated clubfoot is one of the the primary causes of physical disability in the world, affecting 1 in 750 children. Without treatment children born with clubfoot will never walk properly and live with the pain and humiliation of a serious physical disability.
By establishing a network of clubfoot clinics that provide free treatment using the WHO-approved Ponseti Method, miraclefeet is preventing unnecessary physical disability caused by untreated clubfoot. miraclefeet partners with local doctors and hospitals to create clubfoot clinics within public hospitals to create a long-term, sustainable solution to the issue of untreated clubfoot.
About You
About You
First Name
Chesca
Last Name
Colloredo-Mansfeld
http://twitter.com/#!/miraclefeet
Facebook Profile
About Your Organization
Organization Name
miraclefeet
Organization Website
Organization Phone
: +1 800 785 6605 ext 205
Organization Address
PO Box 9985 · Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Organization Country
United States, NC, Orange County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States
Is your organization a
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..
Innovation
Entry Form title
miraclefeet: preventing unnecessary disability caused by untreated clubfoot around the world
What change do you want to bring to the world?
The change we bring is to ensure that children born with clubfoot can walk, run, go to school, and live, healthy productive lives. Untreated clubfoot is one of the the primary causes of physical disability in the world, affecting 1 in 750 children. Without treatment children born with clubfoot will never walk properly and live with the pain and humiliation of a serious physical disability.
By establishing a network of clubfoot clinics that provide free treatment using the WHO-approved Ponseti Method, miraclefeet is preventing unnecessary physical disability caused by untreated clubfoot. miraclefeet partners with local doctors and hospitals to create clubfoot clinics within public hospitals to create a long-term, sustainable solution to the issue of untreated clubfoot.
What are the primary activities of your project?
miraclefeet partners with orthopedic surgeons working in large public hospitals to increase access to proper clubfoot treatment. We work with them to set up Ponseti Treatment clubfoot clinics within their hospitals, providing organizational guidance, training and all of the supplies necessary to treat children for free. miraclefeet works with the hospital administration and with national and state policy makers to push for change in the way clubfoot is treated, so that the work miraclefeet does becomes an integrated sustainable solution to clubfoot in the long term.
miraclefeet provides a model for how to establish a highly functioning Ponseti clinic that can easily be replicated in different countries with minimal adaptation, making it possible to scale quickly and maximize reach and impact.
miraclefeet is currently working in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Guadalajara, Mexico, Managua, Nicaragua and in Maharashtra State, India. miraclefeet plans to launch an 8 clinic national program in Mexico in November, as well as converting the Brazil and Nicaragua initiatives into national programs in 2012.
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
While there are a few programs that address clubfoot, nobody else is attempting to address the issue on a global scale. Existing programs are focused on individual countries and/or tied to faith-based organizations which have several agendas. There are a number of aspects that make miraclefeet's work innovative and different:
1. Use of a national clubfoot program model. miraclefeet provides a complete roadmap or system for establishing a clubfoot clinic in a public hospital. This includes the organization, the expertise, admin and educational support and the supplies. This makes it possible to establish high quality programs in many countries.
2. Local partnerships. miraclefeet partner with local clubfoot champions, medical establishments and policy makers to ensure that clinics are integrated into the existing public health infrastructure. miraclefeet will only work once a strong group of supportive partners is formed to drive the project forward within the country.
3. Use of an on-line patient database. miraclefeet provides an online patient database into which all clinics have to enter their patient records. This allows miraclefeet to monitor the quality of care, identify problems quickly, and track outcomes in a way that nobody has ever done.
4. Development of a low-cost, high-performance brace. miraclefeet is creating a $10 brace (versus the US $350+ brace) to lower the cost of treatment and increase brace compliance rates. Bracing is an essential part of the Ponseti Method treatment.
5. Focus: Our only agenda is helping kids with clubfoot.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
Our programs provide free treatment to any child born with clubfoot, but especially those who have limited resources. We partner with hospitals that provide care to low income children, primarily through large public and charitable hospitals located in large metropolitan areas. We have focused initially on urban areas, since this is where the largest referral hospitals are located and where we can reach the largest number of children.
We work with local maternity hospitals and other maternal and child initiatives, e.g.in Sao Paulo with the Mae Paulistana program, to identify babies born with clubfoot so they can be quickly referred to a clubfoot clinic for proper treatment. In many countries, doctors, nurses and midwives are unfamiliar with clubfoot so education of the health care community is important.
Since the Ponseti Method requires the parents to bring their child to the clinic for a series of casts over a 5-8 week period and to ensure the child wears a brace at night for the next 4 years, parent education is very important. Various design elements are built into the program to support this, such as the one-day clinic approach, parent education and the provision of free braces.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
miraclefeet has several founders. We were all inspired by the fact that we could completely turn lives around for $250/child by providing early, effective treatment to children born with clubfoot. Having seen what SmileTrain and others have done for cleft palate, we believed we could do something similar for children born with clubfoot (albeit with a different model due to differences in the way the two conditions are treated).
The initial impetus came from three parents who had successfully treated clubfoot children. These parents were horrified to learn that the treatment that allowed their children to live normal lives was largely unavailable to the majority of children born with clubfoot around the world. They persuaded their children’s orthopedic surgeons to create an organization to increase access to the Ponseti Method.
My connection to clubfoot came from time spent working at the University of Iowa, where I learned about the Ponseti Method and the fact that it was a cheap and effective solution to a problem I had seen first-hand in many developing countries.
We all joined forces to start miraclefeet to prevent the debilitating disability caused by untreated clubfoot and give clubfoot children the chance to live healthy productive lives.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
In the first year of operation, miraclefeet has managed to establish 4 clubfoot clinics in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in Guadalajara, Mexico and in Managua, Nicaragua. In addition, miraclefeet has partnered to fund a CURE program working in 4 clinics in Maharashtra State,India.Although these are all just pilot programs, they will form the foundation for national (state in the case of India)programs that will provide a network of clinics across the country.
Over 150 children have been treated in the first year. We have data and photographs detailing the successful treatment of each child, plus the anecdotal stories of how life transforming treatment has been for many.
These pilot projects have proved the concept and allowed us to raise additional funding. On the basis of this early success we have secured over $.5M for next year's operations.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
101-1,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
1,001-10,000
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
The 6 month milestone, will be converting the Mexico program into a national program with the launch of 5 additional clinics, national and regional training, and broad educational campaigns.
Task 1
Launch clinics in 5 additional public hospitals spread throughout Mexico. These will provide free Ponseti treatment to 6 regions in Mexico as the start of a national network blanketing the country.
Task 2
Deliver a national training, plus 3 regional trainings at hospital sites. This will ensure at least three doctors from each partenr hospital are fully trained in the Ponseti Method.
Task 3
Start to inform the public and the healthcare community that clubfoot is treatable for free at the 6 initial miraclefeet clinics.
Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Our 12 month milestone, will be raising the funds and putting together the consortium of partners to launch additional national programs in Brazil, Nicaragua and Ecuador for launch by the end of 2012.
Task 1
Finalize partners in Brazil. Hopefully, secure a contract with the Hospital Samaritano Foundation to fund and manage the Brazil program.
Task 2
Raise funding to launch an Ecuador national program. Get final sign off on the proposal that is in front of a group of Ecuadorian partners so detailed operational planning can begin.
Task 3
Start the process of determining how the national model can be adapted to a country with very few orthopedic doctors and functioning hospitals by leveraging the group of physical therapists.
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
We hope to be in 33 countries (or states in the case of very large countries like India and China) treating over 6,000 children a year. This will require us to scale our staff and to build our fundraising capability to enable us to raise up to $4.5M a year. All of these programs will be launched as national programs and will involve extensive local partnerships so that the programs become integrated into the public health infrastructure. By year three, miraclefeet should be seeing some policy change and some indications of local ownership of the programs indicating that our goal of creating sustainbale,long term solutions is playing out.
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
1. Fundraising. Our biggest barrier to success is our ability to raise funding. We have just been given a pledge that will cover our administrative and fundraising costs for the next three years, including hiring a Director of Development. We are developing a comprehensive fundraising strategy to attract a broad base of small donors, inspired to give the gift of walking for a $250 donation, as well as continuing to focus on high net worth individuals and foundations.
2. Resistance to change. Orthopedic surgeons like doing surgery. Even when they are given strong evidence that a non-surgical technique provides a better outcome, there can be resistance. In addition, there are often institutional and structural impediments such as higher reimbursements for surgery and the prestige that doing surgery bestows on doctors. miraclefeet works with a local medical director, usually someone who has already become a Ponseti disciple, and partners with local medical establishments, such as the national orthopedic societies or the government agencies that oversee prevention of disability. These partners act as influencers and can persuade local colleagues and institutions to change.
Tell us about your partnerships
miraclefeet’s model depends on partnerships at every level.
Each national program is created from national, state and local partnerships with doctors, public and charitable hospitals, medical associations, Ministries of Health, NGOs, and parent’s groups. miraclefeet pulls together a consortium of partners based on local interest and conditions, from the Mexican Society of Pediatric Orthopedics and Office of the Vice President of Ecuador, to the local Rotary club in Nicaragua. In all locations miraclefeet depends on partnerships with dedicated local doctors and hospitals. It is through these multiple partnerships that a network of clubfoot clinics is created to form a national clubfoot programs.
miraclefeet also partners with other NGOs to collaborate and integrate clubfoot initiatives. Ponseti International Association (PIA) provides training for miraclefeet’s programs to ensure we are delivering the latest and highest quality medical expertise to our clinics. miraclefeet works with CURE International in India, and is in discussions to develop joint programs with STEPS in South Africa and HRDC Hospital in Nepal.
miraclefeet is partnering with PIA, CURE and University of Iowa’s Biomedical informatics department to develop a global clubfoot patient database, and with North Designs and Objet who are providing pro-bono design services to create low-cost clubfoot brace.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
$250,001‐500,000
Explain your selections
Initial funds came from board members and personal friends and family. These early donations allowed miraclefeet to launch pilot programs in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After the initial proof of concept, miraclefeet was able to attract funding from high net worth individuals, especially those affected by clubfoot, and from small family foundations who were interested investing in a new, focused organization to target a problem that is largely unaddressed. Since then miraclefeet has been able to attract some small corporate donations, Rotary club funding and additional funding from a major foundation, The Oak Foundation, who has a strong interest in prevention of childhood disability.
Recently, miraclefeet has been pledged a very significant anonymous donation that will allow the organization to cover administrative and fundraising costs for the next 3 years. miraclefeet has secured funding from a corporate/family foundation for the Mexico national program.
Hospital Samaritano Foundation in Brazil is considering fully funding the Brazil National program. In addition, the Draper Richards Foundation is currently considering miraclefeet as a potential Draper Richards fellow which would provide additional funding over the next 3 years.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
While miraclefeet expects to rely on high net worth individuals and family foundations in the short term, it also believes that can replicate SmileTrain’s success in generating funds from small donors who want to change a child’s life. miraclefeet is focusing on developing a multi-channel approach that leverages new fundraising tools and star-power to engage with people, while also depending upon the more traditional direct mail and event approaches to create a broad donor base of individuals. We believe we can generate interest from a broad spectrum of people from families affected by clubfoot in the US, to youth soccer teams (Mia Hamm and Steve Gerrard, captain of England soccer, both born with clubfoot), and young people eager to help other kids. This can now be done much more cost effectively by leveraging the internet and social media. This will probably start to generate significant funding in the 1-2 year time frame.
miraclefeet is also actively courting very large funding sources such as USAID and the Gates Foundation, with the expectation that the concept of tackling a childhood health issue on a global scale will appeal once miraclefeet developed a stronger track record in the 3 year time frame.
Challenges
Which barriers to health and well-being does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.
PRIMARY
Lack of affordable care
SECONDARY
Limited human capital (trained physicians, nurses, etc.)
TERTIARY
Limited diagnosis/detection of diseases
Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.
Currently there are very few clubfoot treatment centers available worldwide. Historically, clubfoot was treated with expensive surgery which produces very poor outcomes. miraclefeet is changing this by establishing and supporting free clinics, in major public hospitals, with trained Ponseti teams providing the proper treatment needed to address clubfoot. This makes treatment affordable and accessible, and increases the number of trained Ponseti practitioners. In parallel, miraclefeet works to communicate that clubfoot is treatable to health workers (maternity/pediatric nurses/doctors, midwives, rural health workers) so they can identify and refer babies born with the condition to a Ponseti clinic.
How are you growing the impact of your organization or initiative?
Please select up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.
PRIMARY
Grown geographic reach: Within host country
SECONDARY
Grown geographic reach: Multi-country
TERTIARY
Influenced other organizations and institutions through the spread of best practices
Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.
miraclefeet is adding 8-12 clinics in the four countries it is already in by 2012 and plans to add at least two additional countries next year. In addition, miraclefeet will continue to work with other local NGOs such as CURE and STEPS SA to extend the miraclefeet country model to their programs. Through these activities miraclefeet expects to treat over 1,000 children in 2012, up from 200 in 2011.
Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)
NGOs/Nonprofits, Academia/universities.
If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?
miraclefeet has been working with the University of Iowa, where the Ponseti Method was developed, to create a global clubfoot database which will be available to any organization treating clubfoot. This has allowed to develop a very secure patient database that enables us to monitor quality of care and to measure our success. Our investment and collaboration will be made available to anyone who wants to use it, so will have broad impact.
miraclefeet is also working with Ponseti International, a University of Iowa-based NGO,to deliver Ponseti -training to new clinics. This collaboration ensures that we are delivering high quality and up-to-date training on clubfoot treatment, endorsed by the world's clubfoot medical leaders.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| yasmin1_600x800.jpg | 336.99 KB |
| yasmin2_600x800.jpg | 253.67 KB |
| yasmin_4_600x800.jpg | 276.04 KB |
| yasmin_5_596x800.jpg | 265.4 KB |
| danielandmotherbefore.jpg | 717.76 KB |
| danielandmotherafter.jpg | 731.23 KB |
| riquelme_1.jpg | 396.54 KB |
| riquelme_3.jpg | 124.9 KB |
| miraclefeet-sm.jpg | 148.52 KB |
 | 26 weeks agoSylvia Penfield said: Go miraclefeet!!!! Keep helping kids all around the world, what you guys are doing is great. about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 26 weeks agoChesca Colloredo-Mansfeld said: I just reread the original question and wanted to add a little more on this very important topic. It is one we debate and discuss ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 26 weeks agoChesca Colloredo-Mansfeld said: Thank you for your important question. All of our clinics are created in public or charitable hospitals and are run and managed by a ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 26 weeks agoJessi Wolz said: Congratulations on being selected a Finalist in the Making More Health competition! Your innovation displays potential for ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 28 weeks agomiraclefeet: preventing unnecessary disability caused by untreated clubfoot around the world has been chosen as a finalist in Making More Health: Achieving Individual, Family and Community Well-Being. |
| 35 weeks agoLauren Wall updated this Competition Entry. |
| 35 weeks agoLauren Wall updated this Competition Entry. |
| 35 weeks agoLauren Wall updated this Competition Entry. |
| 35 weeks agoLauren Wall updated this Competition Entry. |
| 35 weeks agoLauren Wall updated this Competition Entry. |
