The Emotional Needs of the Amputee

I am excited to find that Össur Americas has partnered with the Amputee Coalition, and Johns Hopkins University to create a new program to help providers to address the emotional needs of amputees and those with limb loss.  As a life care planner, when I perform an assessment on an amputee, I often find unaddressed emotional needs.  Even when mental health services have been instituted, I  still find some emotional needs have not adequately been addressed.  I am excited about this new program and am anxious to see what is offered.

Kendra Calhoun, the president of the Amputee Coalition states, “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. 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.”

In concept testing held earlier this year, 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.

“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.”

Those interested in the program can read more about it on OandP.com.