Steady Footsteps

STEADY FOOTSTEPS, INC. was founded by an American couple: Virginia Lockett, a Quaker physical therapist, and her husband David, who is Buddhist. David and Virginia first came to Vietnam in 1995 to adopt two children. They were saddened, at that time, by the apparently hopeless situation of disabled people in Vietnam.

By the time the Locketts returned to Vietnam in 2005 for a short-term volunteer project, improvements in Vietnamese medical care and economy had made attention to the plight of the disabled more feasible. And yet many of the foreign-run assistance projects that David and Virginia observed seemed to be ineffective--due, in large measure, to minimal and hurried oversight by absentee program directors.

That 2005 trip convinced David and Virginia that the efforts of two middle-aged, middle-class Americans, dedicated to preventing head injuries and to improving life for disabled people in Vietnam, could be both effective and appreciated. They quit their jobs, sold their home, founded STEADY FOOTSTEPS, and moved to Vietnam. They have yet to regret their decision.

Teaching by Example

Physical Therapy is a young profession in Vietnam and Occupational Therapy is a non-existent one. STEADY FOOTSTEPS volunteers try to demonstrate for Vietnamese-trained medical professonals and students the practice of compassionate and effective rehabilitative care.

We have a volunteer opportunity right now for an experienced Occupational Therapist to come and help establish an Occupational Therapy Department in the Da Nang Rehabilitation-Sanatorium Hospital. The caseload in Rehab-Sana consists primarily of neurological patients: traumatic brain injury, stroke and spinal cord injury being the most common diagnoses.

For more information about volunteer opportunities, please contact Virginia at valockett@gmail.com

Where Our Money Comes From

Steady Footsteps is a small organization. Support for our activities comes from little groups and individuals like you. Personal connections mean a lot. Steady Footsteps has garnered support from Quaker Meetings, therapists and individuals in America, Australia, Germany, Great Britain and New Zealand. But, up until now, the bulk of Steady Footsteps’ funding has come from the sale of the Lockett’s family home in America. Additional contributions would enable us to hire additional translators in order to provide more opportunities for volunteer therapists to work with us. It would also allow us to offer more assistance to disabled people in Vietnam. If you feel led to contribute to our work, we hope that you will share what you can with us. Please share, also, our story—or at least a link to our website—with others who might have an interest in helping the disabled people of Vietnam.

Where the Money Goes

First and foremost, our funds pay living wages to the people who translate for our foreign volunteer rehabilitation specialists. There is absolutely no advantage to having dedicated professional therapists volunteer their time and expertise in an effort to improve the state of rehabilitation in Vietnam if no one here can understand what they’re talking about.

Secondly, Steady Footsteps provides equipment as needed in the rehabilitation departments in which we work, as well as for disabled individuals. For example, Steady Footsteps provided exercise mat tables, posture mirrors and a sewing machine for Rehab-Sana. We’ve also provided leg braces, appropriate footwear, walkers, canes, and pump-action carts to various individuals, as well as four false teeth for a sixteen year old girl who had lost hers in the same accident that rendered her left arm and leg paralyzed.

Finally, because we’re here on the ground and we’ve got access to funds and the authority to use them, we’re able to do things that other, more distantly managed organizations cannot. In the aftermath of the recent typhoon, for example, Steady Footsteps got relief supplies out to folks in flood-stricken areas of neighboring Quang Nam province as soon as the waters receded from the roadways and folks had climbed down out of their rafters. We got needed relief supplies to forty members of the Hoi An disabled group, for example, long before any other NGO or governmental agency was ready to offer assistance.

The Locketts draw no salary from their work here and Steady Footsteps’ administrative costs are absolutely minimal. Any and all contributions go directly to assist disabled Vietnamese people.

Contact Information:

STEADY FOOTSTEPS, INC.
604 Clearfield Ave.
Chesapeake, VA 23320 USA
Web: www.steadyfootsteps.org.
Email: valockett@gmail.com.

STEADY FOOTSTEPS, INC. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

We welcome your tax-deductable contribution.

Virginia Lockett, PT
President and Founder