August Newsletter Vol. 6 Issue 8
Triathlete, runner and public speaker Sarah Reinertsen (Above Knee) has written her first book, a memoir of her experiences including growing up with limb loss, performing as an athlete, traveling around the world during her participation in the CBS show The Amazing Race, and being a mentor and role model to children with disabilities.
The book, entitled "In a Single Bound: Losing My Leg, Finding Myself, and Training for Life" will be available in books stores and on Amazon.com on September 1st.
The memoir is described as an inspiring story of courage, spirit, and determination. Touching, funny, and honest,"In a Single Bound" is the story of how a feisty little girl from Long Island became one of the world's most famous disabled sports figures.
Patients In The News New York City Police Officer Rashid Elkadi (Below Knee), who in 2007 received the Police Commissioner's Roosevelt award, was called in to visit Police Officer Eric Grimes in the hospital. Officer Grimes was injured in a motor vehicle accident when he was hit by an out-of-control car while escorting suspects into a police vehicle. His injuries resulted in a below the knee amputation. 
| Rashid Elkadi
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Two articles from the New York Daily News and Newsday tell the story of Officer Grimes' accident and the support he has been receiving from Officer Elkadi.
http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/friday/news/ny-nycop1612972931jul15,0,7614654.story
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/07/16/2009-07-16_bedside_lift_for_fellow_amputee_and_finest.html
Gary Corbin (Hip Disarticulation), actor, playwright, producer, and arts administrator is performing at "A Survivors Celebration," an evening of theater, music, and comedy. In addition to his critically acclaimed drama Four One-Legged Men, Gary's resume includes theater performances in The Waiting Room, June Cleaver, The Dutchman, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Hamlet, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and That's What Happened to Baby Jane. His film and television appearances include The Fugitive Chronicles, Nurse Jackie, Summer of Sam, Malcolm X and Homicide.
Gary is also the recipient of awards in playwriting from the Maryland and N.Y. State Councils on the Arts, the Gregory Millard Fellowship, and the Performance Art Fund from the Franklin Furnace and Jerome Foundations
Bryanna Copeland (BAKA) and Marshall Cohen (AK) were featured in an article in the Dayton Daily News entitled "Children with No Arms and Legs Tackle Rope Course." The article highlighted experiences at the recent annual Amputee Coalition of America Youth Camp. Bryanna attended as a camper and Marshall attended as an ACA board member. The full story can be read at:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/children-with-no-arms-legs-tackle-ropes-course-224020.html
Jean Draper (Below Knee), one of the newest members of Team A Step Ahead, was featured in two stories in the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper. The two articles focused on Jean's participation in the New York City triathlon:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=309116&src=1
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=309491&src=1
Sandy Dukat (Above Knee) and Paul Martin (Below Knee) were featured in a story in Transition Times on their recent accomplishments at the New York City Triathlon:
New Addition to A Step Ahead Staff
Bernie Guzman, C.P. recently started with A Step Ahead Prosthetics, becoming the newest addition to our prosthetic staff. Bernie has been a certified prosthetist since 1999. He graduated from the State University of New York at Stony Brook with a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating, he decided that he wanted to apply his degree and knowledge of mechanical engineering in the field of prosthetics. Bernie attended the Newington Prosthetic program in Connecticut in 1997. After successful completion of his prosthetic residency with Allied O&P in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, he worked at a variety of prosthetic facilities in the tri-state New York region. Bernie's experience over the last ten years has allowed him to work with a very diverse population of amputee patients of various ages and activity levels. We are excited about the addition of Bernie to our prosthetic staff.
Amputee Support Groups
The next ASPIRE amputee support group meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 30th at 6:15 pm at the Hospital for Special Surgery located at 535 East 70th Street, NY. There is no meeting in August. For more information about the ASPIRE support group meeting, contact Charlie Steele at charlieatl@aol.com or (212) 877-7050.
New York-Presbyterian Hospital Amputee Education and Support Group meets on the first Friday of every month from 10am to 12 noon at the Neurological Institute, 8th Floor North Classroom (PT and OT Department) 710 W. 168th Street, contact Sharon Clark at 212-305-3964.
Rusk Rehab Amputee Support Group (34th Street/1st avenue) meets Thursday, August 20th at
6:00PM. For more information about the Rusk Rehab Support Group contact Dr. Jeff Heckman at 631-873-6223 or jtheckman@yahoo.com for details.
The Long Island Amputee Support Group meets the first Saturday of each month at South Side Hospital, 301 East Main Street in Bayshore. Contact Jodi Adler at 631-968-3330.
For more information on amputee support groups around the country, go to http://www.amputee-coalition.org/npn_about.html
Improve Running & Walking at Mobility Clinic Join Dave Balsley, P.T. and Phil Kreuter, P.T. at the Jericho High School track on Long Island for their monthly mobility clinic at 10 am on Sunday, August 23rd. They will provide instruction in gait training and running techniques as well as advanced mobility skills. Dave and Phil have extensive experience working with amputees of all ages and activity levels. Come work out with world class athletes and learn from experienced coaches and physical therapists. The setting is relaxed and enjoyable. There is no pressure; come learn and see what you can do to improve yourself or just to watch what others can do. For more information and directions to the mobility clinic, call the office at 516-681-3484.
New York City Triathlon
Eleven athletes represented Team A Step Ahead and A Step Ahead Prosthetics at the Annual Nautica New York City Triathlon and the USA Triathlon National Para-Triathlon championships. Team A Step Ahead was the largest team of amputee athletes at this prestigious competition. The triathlon consisted of a 1500 meter swim in the Hudson River, 25 mile bike ride on the Henry Hudson Parkway, and a 6.2 mile run on the streets of Manhattan and the roads of Central Park. The male below knee division proved to be a very close race with Paul Martin (Below Knee) taking 2nd in a time of 2:16:12, Tommy Koehler (Below Knee) finishing in 4th with a time of 2:25:04, and Jeff Glasbrenner (Below Knee) finishing 5th with a time of 2:30:02. Rounding out the male below knee division was Dave Kruysman (Below Knee) competing in his first Olympic-distance triathlon and finishing with a time of 3:13:05 followed by teammate Michael Laforgia (Below Knee/trans-metatarsal) finishing in 3:24:40 and Shlomo Nimrodi (Above Knee) finishing in 3:48:35. In the women's below knee division, Kelly Bruno (Below Knee) took 1st place with afinishing time of 2:37:57, followed by new TASA member Jean Draper (Below Knee) taking 3rd place in her first official Olympic-distance triathlon with a time of 3:09:47. In the women's above knee division, Sandy Dukat (Above Knee) again took 1st with a finishing time of 3:03:06 and Sarah Reinersten (Above Knee) placed 2nd with a finishing time of 3:48:22. Team A Step Ahead member Sam Cila (Below Elbow), racing for Operation Rebound and the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF), finished 3rd with a time of in 2:37:36. Go to the following link for more information on the programs of CAF:
Assisting the team were Junior Team A Step Ahead athletes Victoria Cutrone-Foley, Sofia Castillo and Cate Hughes.
Connect with A Step Ahead On Facebook and Our Blog
A Step Ahead's Facebook page continues to grow, now with over 100 members. We encourage you to visit our Facebook page and blog to participate in discussions and postings. We have launched both of these web pages to provide an opportunity for individuals with limb loss, health care professionals, family members and others to have a forum for communication about news and issues that have an impact on people with limb loss. In addition, the blog and Facebook sites will allow A Step Ahead to increase its reach to the world by providing our regular news and updates.
We welcome your postings and comments at both of these sites, and look forward to seeing you there.
Arms and legs are not luxury items, yet every month we hear from people who are having trouble getting the prosthetic care they need due to unfair, shortsighted insurance regulations.
The ACA is working hard along with their partners and activists to enact laws designed to provide fair and consistent standards of prosthetic and orthotic coverage.
State Parity Update Governor Jodi Rell of Connecticut recently vetoed House Bill 5021, which included prosthetic parity language. The ACA is working to override the governor's veto. In 2009, Arkansas, Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Missouri have passed parity legislation. In previous years, Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, Indiana, Vermont, and Louisiana have enacted parity laws, totaling 17 states. May other states are looking to advance prosthetic parity legislation in 2010.
The ACA is holding organizing meetings and calls throughout the summer to ramp up for the 2010 session. They are also developing an updated toolkit for the state campaign committees.
For more information or to get involved in our upcoming organizing meetings, contact Dan Ignaszewski at 202/742-1885 or state@amputee-coalition.org.
Federal Parity Update
- The Prosthetic & Custom Orthotic Act of 2009 (H.R.2575) was introduced in the House on May 21, 2009.
- The ACA has reached out to the health aides in the offices of past co-sponsors to push for support.
- The ACA has met with numerous offices to discuss co-sponsorship of the parity bill.
- We are continuing to work with our partners to coordinate with Senator Harkin's and Senator Snowe's offices to get the bill introduced in the Senate.
NEXT STEPS: Continue to push for support at the district level through meetings and calls. Work with the sponsors to finalize the senate draft and get it re-introduced.
For more information or to get involved in our upcoming organizing meetings, contact Sheila Van Pay at 202/742-1885 or federal@amputee-coalition.org .
The ACA understands that healthcare reform presents an enormous challenge. We feel that any healthcare reform proposal that truly gets at improving health systems and enhancing access must address the healthcare needs of people with limb loss.
Some of the actions taken by the ACA regarding healthcare reform include: a letter went out from a coalition of disability groups on Tuesday, June 30; the ACA is continuing to hold meetings with health aides from targeted committees House Education & Labor, Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce; an e-mail communication was sent to the health care aides from Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, Education & Labor, Senate HELP and Senate Finance; calls were made to the targeted offices' health aides; in-district meetings were held by ACA activists during the July 4th recess; a hill drop was done to all health aides on July 2; an alert went out to all ACA action network members on July 1; The ACA participated in national call-in days on July 7th and 8th.
NEXT STEPS: ACA meetings on the hill continue during the week of July 13th. Another hill drop is being conducted on July 9th.
For more information or to get involved in our healthcare reform efforts, contact Morgan Sheets at 202/302-4373 or msheets@amputee-coalition.org .
The ACA is working to increase visibility about limb loss. One of our initiatives over the next five years is to gain a designated awareness month. We believe such a designation will allow us to focus key activities that raise awareness about living with limb loss and about limb loss prevention.
Congressman John Duncan (R-TN) has agreed to introduce a bill to name April as National Limb Loss Awareness Month. We will announce the bill introduction when it happens.
The ACA has launched a new website called Arms and Legs are Not a Luxury specifically about prosthetic parity and health care reform:
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