This week, our speaker at the Norwich Rotary Club was the incredible Graviel Nuel Jacobo, founder and Director of Operations for the Centro de Protesis & Terapia Fisica. They work to provide prosthetic limbs for those in need in the Dominican Republic.
Nuel lost a leg at age six when he was run over by a train. His parents did their best to help by moving the family (of 10 children) closer to a school to make it easier for Graviel to get there on crutches. At 13 years old, he began working at a mission hospital. It was there that he got to see the pain and suffering that others were experiencing, and he met people with knowledge of prosthetics. Eventually, he was able to go to the United States and was fitted with his first artificial leg.
Seeing a need to help those like himself in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Nuel founded a Christian nonprofit organization, the Centro de Protesis & Terapia Fisica. They provide people who have lost arms and legs with prosthetic limbs and physical therapy at no cost.
Recently, the Centro de Protesis partnered with the Portland Rotary Club (Maine) and with their assistance was able to hold the first prosthetic clinic last January where they assisted patients from all over the country.
Mission
Centro de Prótesis & Terapia Física is a Christian non profit organization providing Prosthetic legs and arms to those who have lost lower and upper extremities. We will also provide counseling for people with traumatic amputations and physical therapy for amputees and special needs kids living in highly precarious conditions of the Dominican Republic at no cost. We attempt to provide prosthetics, counseling and therapy care to all without regard to race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religión, age, marital status, disability or national origin