<img style="float: right;" src="https://opedge.com/Content/OldArticles/images/2008-05_11/2008-05_11-01.jpg" hspace="4" vspace="4" /> Angela Montgomery, CPO, grew up in a small Pennsylvania town that afforded her the opportunity to do a little of everything. Growing up, she worked on a farm, sang in the chorus, played sports, and performed in the school band. Her pursuit of all things new and interesting led her by chance to prosthetics. "I thought, Wow. What could be more challenging than trying to mimic human movement with artificial means,??" Montgomery says. "It is the perfect combination of my two passionsart and science!" Montgomery manages a patient care center for Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics in Boulder, Colorado, where she still manages to enjoy the outdoors, shoot photos, and play her banjo. <h4>1.Describe your approach to patient care. What are your top priorities when working with a patient?</h4> My number one goal is to improve my patients quality of life. I believe the three most important things that make this possible are listening, communicating, and admitting your limitations. Usually you can learn everything you need to know by just listening to your patients needs. A thorough discussion including as much of the clinical team as possible will make sure everyone is working toward the same goals. The ultimate professional maturity, however, is to know when to say when. If you are not going to improve [a patients] quality of life, you need to question the purpose. <h4>2. Who or what has motivated you in your professional pursuits?</h4> I met my mentor in a photography class, of all places. His name is Gary M. Berke, MS, CP, FAAOP, and he was [chief of orthopaedic surgery and rehabilitation, prosthetics, at the Childrens Hospital at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Medical Center] at the time. I had never heard of prosthetics before and was immediately intrigued. During our second week of class I asked him if I could do an internship with him, and the rest was history. I think I spent less than a week shadowing him before calling my parents to tell them I figured out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. "It was one of those bizarre, chance meetings," says Berke, immediate past president of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists, who now runs Berke Prosthetics in Redwood City, California. "We started chatting, and pretty soon she became really interested in the field." <h4>3. What emerging trends or advances do you see for the profession?</h4> This is a very exciting time to be in this profession. There is a lot of money being put into research, which is allowing us to question things we have always believed to be true. We are starting to demand objective proof of the effectiveness of our claims as a profession. <h4>4. What do you see in the future for O&P/rehab?</h4> I dont know&there are so many theories and directions we could head as a profession. However, there is one thing for sure that we will seean amazing increase in the human/computer interface. "Intelligent" prostheses/orthoses are certainly the next wave of innovation. <h4>5. How has your career progressed (highlights, achievements, obstacles faced, etc.)?</h4> Managing a patient care center has been a lot of fun. It is a slow process of creating your own environment and running a business the way you see fit for yourself and your community. The main obstacle Ive faced is being patient enough to allow time to prove my skills to the community as a young practitioner, who looks even younger. I love my patient population in Boulder and find it extremely rewarding as people here tend to push everything to the limit! However, my career highlight thus far was probably the prosthetic outreach work I had the opportunity to do in Ecuador.
