The Amputee Coalition has recruited 95 civilian-based hospitals and rehabilitation facility partners across the United States into its Healthcare Partnership Program to expand services and support to people living with limb loss and/or limb difference. Hospital and rehabilitation facilities are first responders to patients who experience amputations and play a critical role in helping these individuals through their recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration into their homes and communities. In partnership with the Amputee Coalition, the facilities share expertise, training curriculum, and patient education materials for peer support programs to ensure no amputee is alone on his or her journey.
The Amputee Coalition offers free services to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities to establish a nationally recognized peer support program for amputees, and to help meet Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) standards on peer support for facilities with an amputation care designation. Professional training is also provided to embed a nationally recognized Certified Peer Visitor Program into the facility’s amputation rehabilitation framework and to develop trained Certified Peer Visitors who serve as volunteers at the facilities.
“We are proud to be a powerful extension of the patient-centered care that hospitals and rehabilitation centers provide to the limb loss and limb difference community,” said Mary Richards, president and CEO of the Amputee Coalition. “Before and soon after amputation can often be the most vulnerable and influential stages of a patient’s journey. Through our Healthcare Partnerships, we help bridge the gap between care and support to ensure patients, and their families, have access to vital resources, peer support, and community connections they need to not feel alone and to help achieve outcomes they need to thrive.”
