Our Work

Our hand can be the difference between someone having access to gainful employment or not. It can provide an increased sense of independence. Because these devices can cost thousands of dollars, we have spent the last 15 years+ perfecting a rudimentary prosthetic hand that contains fewer parts than the average hand, involves less assembly by the recipient, and here’s the best part…

It is always free of charge to the recipient.

We work with manufacturing partners who provide us supplies at a reduced cost. A network of corporate partners, organized by Odyssey Teams, pays for the manufacturing costs, assembles them, and quality checks each of the hands before donating them back to the foundation, which allows us to concentrate solely on distribution. Our distribution partner also provides us services at reduced cost, which allows us to ship a larger amount of hands.

We have three methods to distribute hands globally:

Fitting Events

Our LN4 Ambassadors communicate with local partners in a specific country to determine need and appropriate timing for the fitting event. They then raise funds while recruiting for recipients in surrounding areas. The Ambassadors communicate with The Foundation in order to determine the number of hands to ship and where to ship them. The Ambassadors will then travel to the destination in question and work with local partners to fit hands and train recipients for the day.

Learn how to become an Ambassador by clicking below.

Individual Outreach

We respond to individual requests for hands as they come in. We ensure that no one is left wanting. If the recipient does not qualify for an LN4 hand due to their physical requirements, we try to refer them elsewhere.

Do you know someone who needs a hand? Get in touch.

Sustainable Ambassador organizations

We recognize that the people on the ground know their communities best. We partner with hospitals, medical clinics, non-profit organizations, and community leaders in order to ensure that these places have access to LN4 hands. After a conversation and efficient vetting process, we give them a supply of LN4 hands, and train them on how to fit amputees. When they identify someone in need, they will be able to immediately act, because they already have the hands in their possession and then report back to us.

The LN4 Hand Policy for

Hand Requests, Distribution, & Fittings

We thank all of our Ambassadors and Ambassador Organizations for their continued support of the LN4 hand fittings happening all across the world. As a Foundation, we could not do this important work of delivering and fitting prosthetic hands upon those in need without them. We love their energy, commitment, and passion to improve the lives of those with limb loss!

We also want to clearly explain the relationship between The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation and its' Ambassador Organizations and Ambassadors as individuals. The Foundation has a strict policy that each Ambassador or Ambassador Organization needs to directly request LN4 prosthetic hands from the Headquarters in California only. The best method to request hands is to join the LN4 Ambassador Portal and request hands online, and The Foundation will ship directly to approved Ambassadors and Ambassador Organizations. We understand there may be outlier circumstances where an Ambassador or Ambassador Organization needs to email a request for hands, and if that is the case, please email ln4project@gmail.com to do so.

We would like to remind each Ambassador and Ambassador Organization (including partnering foundations or Rotarian clubs) that it is not permissible to act as an intermediary or mandate other Ambassadors or Ambassador Organizations to request hands through their organization. It is also not permissible to deny other Ambassador Organizations the opportunity to host hand fitting events, conduct individual fittings, or to receive hands directly from The Foundation. We do not allow any individual Ambassador or Ambassador Organization to solely control a single city, state, province, region, or even country. There are no appointed regional authorities, and we do not typically offer LN4 exclusive franchises to any individual group or organization, unless expressly documented in a signed agreement by all EMPHF Board Members. Ambassadors and Ambassador Organizations are welcome to collaborate together and combine their efforts; or they are free to work independently, but every Ambassador and Ambassador Organization has the right and obligation to request their own LN4 hands from The Foundation and conduct their own independent hand fittings as representatives of The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation. 

Unfortunately, limb loss has affected millions of people across the world, and many countries are in great need of free prosthetic hands. We are thankful for all of the support and believe the need is so great that we can never have too many Ambassadors or Ambassador Organizations working toward the same goal - to provide prosthetic hands to people at no charge, so they may regain their independence and confidence, as well as be reminded of their intrinsic value to the world.