Parkland patients up and moving again thanks to new prosthetics program
DALLAS - A Dallas man, who lost the lower part of his left leg due to complications from diabetes, is now back on his feet thanks to a new prosthetics program at Parkland Health.
58-year-old Victor Velazquez Espinoza is one of four patients at Parkland who have received a below-the-knee protheses.
Donations from The Junior Charity League of Dallas have made the new program possible, according to Parkland.
The funds allow Parkland to manufacture the protheses on-site. They also help pay for low income patients' necessary physical rehab after being fit for the device.
Parkland says they realized the need for the program after Texas' ice storm in 2021.
The hospital says it saw several patients with frostbite decline treatment and risk infection in order to keep their legs.
Many of the people were homeless and knew that they would not be able to afford prosthetics, according to Parkland.
Before now, Parkland patients who needed help had to go through a lengthy application process in order to get the funding needed.
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Espinoza is learning to walk on two feet again with the help of his new leg.
"He must have asked at least three or four times, ‘Who can I thank? Do you have a card for where this money came from? I’d like to reach out to them," said Sahil Shah, Parkland Certified Prosthetist Orthotist in a statement. "It was very touching to see that. He was very, very grateful."
2 more patients were just approved for the program.
"When a patient receives a prosthetic, their face lights up, they look at themselves in the mirror and they’re standing again. They have a sense of confidence, a sense of pride that this is the beginning of the rest of their life," said Shah.