Global Initiatives
Project Next Mile
Project Next Mile is an initiative of health skills physiotherapy with the goal of improving global health through fostering partnerships to build capacity in rehabilitation clinicians in developing countries.
The idea for Project Next Mile was developed while I was serving as a medical volunteer in Lima, Peru. International development is sometimes seen as a process of delivery of aid or resources from ‘rich countries’ to ‘poor countries’. The term ‘last mile’ can be used to describe the most difficult and costly part of the journey in the delivery of aid or resources to those who need them. While in Peru, I was struck by the reality that the most difficult mile in the development journey is not the last mile, but rather, the ‘next mile’ – that is, the work that remains, after the volunteers have left. Partnership with clinicians in developing countries – through knowledge exchange and skill building initiatives – is vital in order to understand and meet their needs to assist them to travel this ‘next mile’. To this end, Health Skills Physiotherapy commits $1 from every assessment and treatment to fostering partnerships with rehabilitation clinicians through annual teaching and training missions in developing countries.
Michael Sangster
Physiotherapist/Owner Health Skills Physiotherapy
Completed missions:
Lima, Peru – January 2013
Lima, Peru – January 2012