NESTLED in the quiet northern outskirts of Beijing, the idyllic yard seemed enchanted. Locals saw people enter the yard in wheelchairs, only to later walk out, as if by magic. The mysterious “magician” casting spells at this location is Georg Hoffmann-Kuhnt, a 57-year-old German prosthetist who had lived in China for over 17 years. Nothing delights him more than the smiles on the faces of his Chinese patients when they can stand up again thanks to the artificial limbs he tailor-made for them. A cozy yard Three years ago, Hoffmann-Kuhnt started the Meide Yanyuan Studio for Rehabilitation in northern Beijing’s Changping District. As Hoffmann-Kuhnt beckoned his guests inside, the “bewitched” yard revealed itself — it looks nothing like a typical medical venue, but instead is a real garden. Not brimming with mythical green smoke nor glaring light, it turned out to be a mini botanic garden with lotus floating on ponds, plants, and trees. There is even a tree house for kids with artificial limbs to play in, a swing chair, an iridescent trampoline, and spiral tunnel slide. “My idea is to give our clients a comfortable feeling when they are here so they can enjoy it,” Hoffmann-Kuhnt said. As patients explore the garden, they can practice using their new prostheses and adapt more quickly to real-life scenarios. “For them, an amputation is a dramatic situation for sure. So we need to give them the possibility to come back to normal life,” he said, while sitting in this cozy yard and sharing his story as one of the very few foreign prosthetists practicing in China. Relocating to China Growing up in a family of surgeons in Munich, Hoffmann-Kuhnt developed an interest in medicine at a young age. Shortly afterwards, he realized that prosthetic orthotics could be a field that effectively combined both his medical interests and his handcraft skills. After finishing his master’s degree in orthotics and prosthetics in 1996, he worked as a prosthetic orthopedics technician for a decade in a rehabilitation center in Germany. He had an opportunity to visit Beijing in 2005, and that visit sparked his connection with China. “It was an eye-opener for me! I was absolutely impressed. It was not what I was told in the media in Germany. It was totally different,” said Hoffmann-Kuhnt. After his trip to China, he believed that there must be a lot of possibilities in the country, including in his own field of expertise. His chance to move to China materialized a year later. One day in 2006, a random glance at a recruitment notice from Ottobock, an international supplier of prosthetic components, completely changed his life. He spontaneously applied, quickly received an offer, and relocated to Beijing in early 2007. As technical director of the company’s China branch, Hoffmann-Kuhnt tried to raise standards in the industry year after year, which kept him in China for 17 years. This extended stay has allowed him to witness the great changes in the country. Inside Hoffmann-Kuhnt’s studio, there is a felt board pinned with colorful badges, stickers, and pictures. The board displays many of the memorable stories and significant events that have happened during his years in China. Among them, an identification card confirming Hoffmann-Kuhnt’s service to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games is the most noticeable. In 2008, he led a team at the Paralympic Games and served over 3,000 athletes and coaches with disabilities. “It is incredible to see the energy and enthusiasm of the people with disabilities who participate in these games and to see their spirit,” Hoffmann-Kuhnt said. He has a torch from the 2008 Beijing Olympics in his collection, which features a traditional Chinese design known as “Lucky Cloud.” Despite having room for further improvement, he noticed a huge increase of support for people with disabilities across China in 2008 and afterwards. Later, in both 2012 and 2016, his team also provided services to the London and Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games. Setting up a studio During his years of working in the industry, Hoffmann-Kuhnt identified a gap between what is considered good prostheses and rehabilitation in the Chinese market and his personal standards. The German believes many prostheses in the Chinese market are not quality products. Notably, Hoffmann-Kuhnt feels that it is crucial to put patients at the center of the rehabilitation process. Since they have been through a life-changing accident and have lost an extremity, individualized care and treatment should be provided to them in addition to an artificial limb. “I would like to set a kind of sample for rehabilitation to increase the quality of life of more people,” Hoffmann-Kuhnt said. With this goal in mind, he aims to introduce new standards to the industry. He emphasized the significance of comfort and more completely meeting the diverse functional and aesthetic needs of patients. In 2020, Hoffmann-Kuhnt acquired his foreign permanent resident ID card, which is not easy to do in China. Since 2021, Hoffmann-Kuhnt has helped dozens of amputees to get back on their feet and return to normal life each year. He hopes that his studio in Changping will continue to serve persons with disabilities and bring joy and happiness to them even after he retires. “Working in the healthcare industry means caring and supporting each other. If everybody could contribute a small piece, we will have a better future,” Hoffmann-Kuhnt concluded. (Xinhua) | 