WHEELS FOR HUMANITY
With a little help from some friends, a USC intern makes a small inroad in the desperate need for wheelchairs among the poor in other countries.
by Jon NalickWhen Gordon Van Tassell went to help deliver free medicine and wheelchairs to impoverished villagers in Guatemala, he had no inkling of the kind of response he was about to receive.
"When they heard there was going to be a doctor, I got mobbed. They had to put a barricade around me" to organize the grateful and excited throng, he said.
Van Tassell, a USC medical school intern, is one of three founding members of "Wheels for Humanity," a nonprofit group formed in December 1995 that collects and refurbishes used wheelchairs for the disabled poor in other countries.
The group collects the used wheelchairs from local hospitals and clinics and sends them to Iowa for repair. Several companies donate the spare parts required to fix the chairs under the condition that they not be given away within the U.S.
Van Tassell, 40, who lives in Encino, Calif., formed Wheels for Humanity with his friends, David and Mark Richard. The trio plan to start a repair facility in Burbank so that chairs will not need to be sent to Iowa, where the present repair facility is located. Eventually, they plan to employ the disabled to refurbish the chairs.
Van Tassell (pictured above) said he was amazed at the desperate need for wheelchairs among the poor in other countries.
He said that during his visit, disabled villagers "would crawl into the village center from the outskirts of town or they'd be carried in."
"One family put lawnmower wheels on a dining chair and would tilt the chair back and put their dad in it," he said.
During the visit to Guatemala, Van Tassel and David Richard delivered 150 wheelchairs to the needy disabled. None of the villagers, all subsistence farmers, could ever have afforded to buy wheelchairs new, which cost about $600, he said.
"They were just beside themselves, they were so happy. The most common response was just, 'Thank you so much. We ordinarily couldn't get this chair for my son or mother or father.' It's tremendously rewarding."
Van Tassell said the group's next mission will be to deliver chairs to Vietnam. Later trips will be scheduled to other countries including Nicaragua.
For information about Wheels for Humanity, or to donate funding or wheelchairs, call (818) 766-8000 or (818) 501-0923.
