Össur Americas, Foothill Ranch, California, the Amputee Coalition, and Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, Maryland, are collaborating to create a new, nationwide program to help prosthetists address the emotional needs of people with limb loss. Tools and training material will be trialed in 2012.
“While research has shown that a large number of people with limb loss experience depression or other forms of psychological distress, today’s standards of care often leave amputees’ mental health needs unaddressed,” said Kendra Calhoun, the Amputee Coalition president and CEO. “The new Össur/Amputee Coalition emotional well-being initiative will provide important training and educational resources to enable prosthetists to take a more active role in enhancing their patients’ emotional well-being and resilience.”
Concept testing to ensure the program’s feasibility and relevance took place earlier this year during the American Academy of Orthotists & Prosthetists (the Academy) Annual Meeting & Scientific Symposium. Amputees and prosthetists who participated in focus groups during the meeting agreed that mental health issues are a growing and often unrecognized need within the amputee community; both groups also expressed strong support for the new initiative. Clinicians from JHU, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, have begun developing the tools and training materials.
“The Amputee Coalition is developing programs to evaluate how the healthcare providers assess and respond to the well-being of people with limb loss,” Calhoun said. “This first phase will build the resources necessary to achieve that goal, and the program should ultimately make significant improvements in the care continuum for amputees. We are grateful to Össur for supporting this important work.”
“We are pleased to be partnering with the Amputee Coalition and Johns Hopkins University in developing this new initiative,” said Mahesh Mansukhani, president of Össur Americas. “We hope that this program will help raise awareness of this often-overlooked issue and directly support more prosthetists and their patients in pursuing emotional and mental health as well as physical wellness.”
