August 2006 • Vol. 2, No. 3
	Advancing Orthotic and Prosthetic Care Through Knowledge

Actively Increasing Awareness

As the Academy anticipates notification of Year IV funding of its grant through the Department of Education, the national recruitment and awareness campaign continues to be a large focus of the grant activities that date back to the fall of 2003. Through the grant from the US Department of Education, the Academy continues to develop its grassroots outreach program, provide tools for its members to help spread the word about careers and schooling in O&P in their local area, and maintain an informative career website for interested students, teachers, guidance counselors, healthcare and transitional workers, as well as parents, to learn more about entering the profession. The Academy continues to foster collaborative relationships with key organizations involved with education, health science, and career development.

School may be out for the summer, but the Academy's national recruitment and awareness campaign is not taking a vacation. Partnering with the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (NYLF/Med) and the Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), O&P volunteers around the country are donating time to help spread the word about careers and schooling in orthotics and prosthetics.

Prosthetic resident Coryn Reich spent one June morning at Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California, talking with health science students. "I was really nervous at first, but then just tried to think about what I wish I had known about O&P when I was in high school. I did not discover the profession until I was already out of high school, so it took me a little extra time to get on track."

Tim Klein, MPH, EMT, Health Careers Academy aca­demic director at Palmdale, comments, "As a teacher it was exciting for me to see my students not only receive new information, but feel empowered to enter a profession that is able to impact someone's life so significantly. It was an extraordinary experience for teachers and students alike."

With the AHEC programs, practitioners either joined the students at camp or the students had an opportunity to come to an O&P facility to see firsthand how each member of the staff plays a critical role in assuring quality care for each patient. Rick Psonak, Mississippi, CPO, FAAOP, invited 30 students from the Jackson, Mississippi, camp to tour the O&P department of the University of Mississippi Rehabilitation Center. "Most knew nothing about O&P before their visit," says Psonak. "One student had a family friend who wore a prosthesis, but for the most part they did not know about careers in orthotics and prosthetics and were amazed at the dramatic impact you could make in the lives of your patients."

Arkansas practitioner Micah Saterfield, CP, came to the camp site, so he brought some O&P technology with him to share. "I had a myo-electric arm set up so that the students could actually trigger the hand to open and close by contracting their arm muscles." He continues, "The Academy's PowerPoint presentation showed a cranial helmet, so I explained the traditional method of casting the young patient for this device but also showed them advanced technology that allows practitioners to scan images directly into the computer. I demonstrated the scanning pro­cess with one of the students so they could all see images projected on the big screen."

Numerous other practitioner volunteers and O&P schools hosted students attending the NYLF/Med. The NYLF is a unique ten day program offering high-achieving secondary school students an outstanding experiential education experience. Working with some of the area's most prestigious schools, research facilities, hospitals, and profess­ionals, NYLF/Med provides participants with an intensive exploration of the medical and health related career fields and valuable insights on pursuing these careers.

A number of Los Angeles, and San Francisco, California, area O&P facilities also opened their doors to NYLF/Med participants. During on site visits, students gathered firsthand experience in an O&P setting and came away with a keen appreciation of a day in the life of an O&P professional. Academy President Gary M. Berke, MS, CP, FAAOP, hosted a few students in late June. He says, "It's so important to introduce students to our profession. For most, O&P is a new experience and a profession that they had never considered, mainly because they were unaware of the opportunity."

Both Northwestern University's Prosthetics Orthotics Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology were able to host groups of students this summer. "It's a win-win all around. We have the opportunity to expose high-achieving students to the profession and potentially spark their interest in pursuing a career in O&P," comments Michael Brncick, MEd, CPO, and admin­istrative director at North­western.

"Bringing the students into Georgia Tech allowed them to experience something beyond the basic career presentation," says Christopher Hovorka, MS, CPO, clinical director of the Master of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics Program (MSPO). "We conducted lab tours; our fabrication laboratory technician Robert MacDonald, RTPO(c), demonstrated fabrication procedures with student assistance; we showed them materials testing facilities; and in conjunction with clinical faculty, the students were able to interact with persons who utilized orthoses and prostheses. We worked directly with the program coordinators in order to assure the students were receiving a well-rounded experience."

The Academy was pleased to build cooperative ties to the NYLF this year. As the NYLF strives to prepare extraordinary students for their professional careers, bring various professions to life, and empower outstanding young people with confidence to make well-informed career choices, it was a natural match for the Academy to not only help them with their programming but to introduce high-achieving high school students to O&P career possibilities.

Other organizations the Academy continues to work with are the American School Counselors Association (ASCA), the Health Occupations Student of America (HOSA) and the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA). The month of June was filled with outreach activities at these organizations' an­nual meetings in Chicago, Illinois, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Ana­heim, California, respectively. The ACA's meeting was an opportunity to inform consumers about careers in orthotics and prosthetics because many O&P professionals also are O&P consumers. The Academy brought its message to more than 5,000 future healthcare leaders at the HOSA Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, June 21–24. In addition to exhibiting at this meeting, the Academy conducted two workshops led by Randy Alley, BSc, CP, FAAOP, CFT, for students and their health science instructors to help increase awareness and understanding of the O&P profession, the schooling path, and career options. The month wound down with the school counselors. More than 1,600 coun­selors were provided with career packets to share with teachers and students and the counselors were made aware of the skills and interests that may make a particular student a potential candidate for the O&P profession.

As we continue to expand our grassroots outreach efforts, the Academy encourages all of its members to conduct outreach programs in their local area on a regular basis. Complimentary career materials are available, in print or electronic format, through the Academy to help educate students, teachers, and counselors about careers and schooling in O&P. To order your free career kits, e-mail and include your complete mailing address, the number of kits needed, and the date of the program. Thank you in advance for helping to spread the word.