Carrboro Non-Profit Treating Clubfoot, with Help from Google

In a house converted to an office on Main Street in Carrboro, one organization is working to improve the lives of kids around the world.

Miraclefeet is a non-profit organization that helps provide treatment for the birth defect clubfoot.

Clubfoot affects about 1 in every 750 births worldwide and causes one or both feet to turn inward. In the United States, and in the developed world, it is treated soon after birth but in the developing world many children go untreated.

Lauren Wall is the senior manager for innovation with Miraclefeet. She said treating clubfoot can vastly improve someone’s quality of life.

“It changes a child’s life, it changes that entire family’s life,” said Wall. “I think potential donors and our donors have been very moved by what such a small gift on their part can really do to impact an entire family.”

Miraclefeet partners with hospitals and healthcare providers in 13 developing countries by funding the clubfoot operations, which only cost about $250 per child. That’s due in part to the Ponseti Method, a procedure that involves a small operation and then the child wearing a cast at night for several years until they are completely healed.

If left untreated, clubfoot can become a serious disability that can impact an entire family.

“$250 allows this child to walk, to interact with their peers, to go to school, allows the parents to have more opportunities to work because they don’t have to be at home with this child, so $250 changes a lot,” said Wall.

Miraclefeet recently received a $1 million grant from Google. The grant will be used to develop new methods and technologies to improve clubfoot treatment. Wall said one of their new projects is a brace with sensors that will let doctors know how often their patient is wearing it.

“So getting a grant like this allows us, while we still have to be very careful in our spending, it does allow us a little more flexibility testing and piloting different options, so that we can really find the one that works best for our partners,” said Wall.

Many people born with clubfoot even went on to become famous athletes.

“Mia Hamm, Troy Aikman, Kristi Yamaguchi, Steven Gerrard are all world class athletes that were born with clubfoot,” said Wall.

Clubfoot is one of the world’s most prevalent treatable physical disabilities but disproportionately affects people in the developing world. Wall said we are in an exciting time for clubfoot treatment and that new methods are making treatment more accessible for all people.

Carrboro Non-Profit Treating Clubfoot, with Help from Google

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