Physicians for Peace

David A. Lawrence, M.S.P.T., A.T.C., an internationally renowned physical therapist and amputee specialist, is being honored by Physicians for Peace as a Health Care Hero for his medical volunteer work with Walking Free, an international program he co-founded in 2000 to help amputees abroad. 

 

David is President of Lawrence Rehabilitation Specialists Inc. which manages the LRS Gait Center Richmond, Gait Center Hampton Roads, and the Country Club of Virginia Manual Therapy Center.  He is also Program Director for the Stepping Back to Life Project, AT Home Care Inc.

Throughout much of the world, amputee victims of land mines, earthquakes, motor vehicle accidents, industrial and agricultural accidents, birth defects, disease, and war receive little or no medical treatment. The Physicians for Peace Walking Free Program was designed to help third world countries meet the needs of amputees. Following the first initiative in Diyarbakir, Turkey in 2000, Physicians for Peace brought the Walking Free program to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 2001 and has since expanded it to Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Manila, Philippines; and Guatemala City, Guatemala. The Walking Free Program has helped more than ten thousand patients with prosthetic and orthotic needs and has provided more than $2 million in prosthetic and orthotic in-kind contributions including rehabilitation and surgical supplies and equipment.

 

David Lawrence's contributions to Walking Free have been invaluable. He has helped Physicians for Peace establish prosthetic and rehabilitation centers in developing nations worldwide, implementing a strategy that gets volunteers actively involved with prosthetic and physical therapy training for 4-5 years.  “We are empowering the therapists and prosthetists abroad with the skills to be independent.  Success is complete when the clinics are able to not only operate on their own, but to expand their business and patient care,” emphasizes Lawrence. He continues to work tirelessly to help those in need, and his passion for the mission of Walking Free is an inspiration to all.

 
Today is also David's birthday, so from all of us at Physicians for Peace, THANK YOU DAVID AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

 

To make a contribution to Physicians for Peace in honor of David Lawrence, click here. 

To find out more about Walking Free and other international health programs, visit our web site at www.physiciansforpeace.org