Fall 2007 Project

This semester I am working on creating the Ponseti Portal within the eGranary.  The Portal will provide access to information on the Ponseti method of curing clubfoot.  My mentor for this project is Cliff Missen, director of the WiderNet Project.

The eGranary is a hard drive that contains approximately 10 million educational resources that can be added to a LAN (local area network) which provides access to the materials on the hard drive to all the computers in the LAN. This is a cheap alternative to Internet access in areas where Internet access is expensive or limited. The eGranary has been implemented in more than 150 schools, clinics and universities around the world. More information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egranary.

The Ponseti method is an inexpensive and effective way to cure clubfoot through the manipulation of the foot by a series of between 5 to 7 weekly castings. These castings correct the bone placement and brings the foot into proper alignment. After the casting treatment the child needs to wear special shoes for the continually for the first few months and then only at night until age 2 to 4. This method of treating clubfoot when done by a properly trained doctor is over 90% effective.