Students to the Rescue!

Letter writing students ensure their teacher gets a new prosthetic hand

By Simon Meadows

Last updated 11/25/2014 12:26:53 PM

Letter writing students ensure their teacher gets a new prosthetic hand

Students at a school in the U.S. have used their letter-writing skills to secure a prosthetic hand for their former teacher.

The fifth grade class from Western Salisbury Elementary School in Allentown, Pa., wrote to Albert Chi, an assistant professor of surgery in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in East Baltimore, asking the trauma surgeon to make one of his pioneering low-cost prosthetic hands for Patti Anderson.

Patti has had the use of only one hand since an accident when she was teenager. The hand-written letters touched Prof. Chi and he rearranged his busy schedule to make it happen, using his 3-D printer to produce a prosthetic hand with a zebra print for Patti.

Prof.Chi and the whole office gathered around and took turns reading the letters aloud. They concluded, he said, "we have to make this happen, we have to build this hand for this teacher, we have to do this for these kids. The letters brought such joy to us.

" The students travelled with Patti to Johns Hopkins Hospital when she was fitted with her new hand and Prof. Chi showed around his facilities. He reflected happily: "Receiving those letters has to be one of the highlights of my entire career."

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