The Amputee Coalition announced that Cindy Poorman, MSPT, of Aurora, Colorado, and Joseph Webster, MD, of Sandusky, Ohio, are the recipients of the Burgess Award, a distinction given to professionals serving the limb-loss community. The award was announced at the Amputee Coalition National Conference in July.
“We are so pleased to announce these two award winners who have dedicated their professional careers to the field of limb loss,” said Susan Stout, president and CEO of the Amputee Coalition. “For many years, the Amputee Coalition has worked with both Ms. Poorman and Dr. Webster on a variety of projects, studies, and task forces. We are sincerely grateful for the leadership, tireless service, research, and medical care they have provided to the limb-loss community.”
Poorman has been a rehabilitation planning specialist, amputation program manager at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Rehabilitation Program Office field office in Denver since 2005. She holds numerous honors, including her selection as a Fellow for National Leadership VA; Performance Award, VA Central Office; and Spirit of Collaboration Award for Department of Veterans Affairs, Amputee Coalition, June 2011.
Special projects she has worked on include her current work with VA Champion, Upper Extremity Amputation Patient Education Handbook Development Committee; and VA Champion, Federal Advanced Amputation Skills Training Planning Committee. Poorman’s community involvement includes work as an animal therapy volunteer at the Denver Hospice Center; as a member of the board of directors of Horse Power, a therapeutic riding program; and with Retriever Rescue of Colorado.
Webster is currently a staff physician at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia, and serves on the faculty as an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the national director, VA Amputation System of Care; a member of the multidisciplinary Prevention of Amputation in Veterans Everywhere (PAVE) program; and a National Oversight Committee member. He serves as a member of the U.S. Department of Defense Tri-Services Hand Transplantation Advisory Board. In addition to numerous honors, he has completed extensive work, research, and publications for the VA.
Both recipients received a $1,000 check, which they donated to the Amputee Coalition. The money was given to individuals with amputations who had never attended the conference to use for travel expenses.
The award is named after Ernest Martin Burgess, MD, PhD, a former University of Washington professor, who was the preeminent voice in prosthetic rehabilitation for decades. Among his contributions were the Seattle Foot, a software program called the Shape Maker, a landmark text on immediate post-surgical fittings, and the popularization of the long posterior flap surgical technique.
