Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled

CONTACT:

541 Cambridge Street
Boston, MA 02134
(617) 787-4419
www.monkeyhelpers.org

Megan Talbert, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

Helping Hands breeds, raises, trains, and provides, free of charge, capuchin monkeys to assist severely disabled individuals -- e.g., quadriplegics (paralyzed from the neck down), whether by accident, injury, or disease -- with daily activities we take for granted such as eating and drinking, using books, computers, and audio-visual equipment, turning lights on and off, repositioning an arm or leg after a muscle spasm, even scratching an annoying itch. In many cases the monkeys make it possible for people to work from their homes. The advantages of monkeys for animal support are greater intelligence, far greater dexterity, and much longer lifespan -- 30-40 years. Helping Hands has placed over 60 monkeys nationwide, provided customized adaptive equipment, in-home training for the injured individuals, their health care attendants and family members, and behavioral and veterinary support for the monkey's lifespan. Each placement costs Helping Hands $25,000. Now that the value and viability of the program have been proven, HH is raising its productivity to a higher power by creating a full-scale, permanent, state-of-the-art Training and Respite Center in a 150-year-old abandoned Boston church. They have been awarded a $1 million challenge grant to get this project off the ground. Now they must match that, and your helping hand is needed!

(2002: HUMAN SERVICES: Health and Aging: General)