The Rotary Club of Montgomery Village has partnered with other rotary clubs as well as with Physicians for Peace, Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc., the Mosaic Foundation, Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD, King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, Jordan, Amman Cosmopolitan Rotary Club, and the Ministry of Health in Iraq to bring aid to the amputees of war-torn Basra, Iraq. The numbers of physically amputees in Iraq rise as innocent civilians fall victim to landmines, bombs, and insurgent attacks. It is estimated that there are in excess of 50,000 amputees in Iraq, many of which are women and children. Healthcare in the war-torn nation is barely accessible and of poor quality. Prosthetics are desperately needed to improve the prospects and quality of life for these amputees.

This initiative of Montgomery Village Rotary Club and its partners is multi-phased. Funding, PR are critical to this all volunteer project. Secondly, a Nationwide Limb Drive is being conducted to collect used prosthetics to be broken down into useful components and sent to Iraq. This effort will jump start their prosthetics program.

In May 2006, the first medical mission took place and involved the training of Iraqi Ministry of Health physicians and medical staff as well as directly providing treatment to Iraqi amputees at the King Hussein Medical Center in Amman, Jordan.

The next steps involve setting up the King Hussein Medical Centre in Amman, Jordan to be in a position to continue to train the Iraqi, MOH personnel by purchasing additional equipment, continued training of Iraqi MOH physicians and prosthetists in Jordan, and ultimately, when it is safe to go into Iraq, the setting up of the Basra Prosthetics Centre with the needed medical supplies and equipment.

District #7620 partnering Rotary Clubs:
Montgomery Village Rotary Club
Rotary Club of Washington, D.C.
Pikesville-Owings Mill Rotary Club
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rotary Club
Waldorf Rotary Club
Annapolis Rotary Club
Kensington-Wheaton Rotary Club
Potomac-Bethesda Rotary Club
College Park Rotary Club
Rotary Club of Prince Frederick

Other partnering Rotary Clubs:
Amman Cosmopolitan Rotary Club, Amman Jordan (Host Club)
Rotary Club of Coronado, California

Ms. Linda A.H. Smythe
Chairperson and Founder
Basra, Iraq Prosthetics Project
Email: Linda.a.Smythe@kp.org
Tel: (301)816-5774

Rotary Clubs, individual Rotarians, and friends can contribute with donations of used prosthesis and/or financially to help meet the goals of this humanitarian project and save lives of Iraq's amputees: