October 2006 • Vol. 2, No. 4
	Advancing Orthotic and Prosthetic Care Through Knowledge

The Academy Sets the Stage for Ongoing Awareness and Recruitment

The Academy is finishing up our third year and will begin our fourth year of grant-funded projects on October 1, 2006. Throughout the course of our first two years and now in our third year of funding we have been building programs in key project areas that focus on research, education, and awareness.

In order to plan for the continuation of the programs and activities that the funding from the Department of Edu­cation has allowed us to begin, we are developing some key public relations materials that will enable practitioners nationwide to continue to spread the word about careers and schooling in orthotics and prosthetics. We also hope that these materials will allow potential students to come to our career website and get a snapshot of our field.

We will be preparing a short training DVD that will be sent free of charge to all ABC-certified practitioners. This DVD will showcase a presentation on the field and suggest a potential way to communicate with high school and college students about our profession. On the DVD we will talk about the skills, traits, and schooling required to enter the profession and the satisfaction someone can get from an O&P career.

We believe that it will be both beneficial to students and to practitioners who are preparing to make a presentation about the profession. Practitioners will be able to use our written materials and see what a successful presentation looks like. The DVD will provide an example of how you can communicate the appropriate information in a compelling way. The DVD also can serve as the main part of a presentation for a practitioner less comfortable at public speaking. It will allow the practitioner making the presentation to focus mainly on his or her personal experiences in the profession.

Peter D. Rosenstein, executive director of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (The Academy), commented, “We hope this new DVD will help train our trainers today and for years to come and showcase to future students why we believe a career in O&P can lead to a lifetime of satisfaction knowing you are doing something to help others live a better life.”