ACA Announces the 2006 Awards of Excellence and Burgess Award Winners
Meredith Goins
Description
Collection
Title:
ACA Announces the 2006 Awards of Excellence and Burgess Award Winners
Creator:
Meredith Goins
Date:
7/11/2006
Text:
See online at:
<URL Redacted>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Amputee Coalition of America
900 E. Hill Avenue, Suite 285
Knoxville, TN 37915-2568
Contact: Meredith P. Goins
Marketing/Outreach Coordinator
888/267-5669 ext. 8135
<Email Address Redacted>
Amputee Coalition of America Announces the 2006 Awards
of Excellence and Burgess Award Winners
Knoxville, Tennessee - The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) recognized
the 2006 Ernest M. Burgess Award and Awards of Excellence winners on
Friday, June 16, at a special ceremony during the ACA Annual Educational
Conference & Exposition held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Ernest M. Burgess Award was given to Douglas G. Smith, MD,
acknowledging his motivation, spirit and dedication to improving the
lives of people with limb loss. This award was presented by renowned
physical therapist Robert Gailey, PhD, a close friend of Dr. Smith.
The award is named after Dr. Ernest Martin Burgess, an orthopaedic
surgeon and former professor who died in 2000. During World War II, Dr.
Burgess, then an Army surgeon, was inspired to develop better amputation
techniques and prosthetic devices. He also established the Prosthetics
Research Study (PRS) in Seattle, Washington, in 1964 through funding
from the U.S. Veterans Administration. Burgess later dedicated his life
to providing mobility to lower-limb amputees all over the world by
founding the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation.
In closing his acceptance speech, Dr. Smith stated, Continue to set
goals, to work very hard, and to be enthusiastic about your own
rehabilitation, about those around you, and about what you have to offer
to other people. I really have come to believe that the purpose of life
is to create enthusiasm and make life better.
In 1989, Smith completed a fellowship in Foot, Ankle and Amputation
Surgery under the direction of the late Dr. Burgess. Dr. Smith has
served as ACA's medical director since 2001 and is currently an
associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of
Washington and the director of the Prosthetics Research Study.
Joseph Czerniecki, MD, director of rehabilitation medicine at the VA
Puget Sound Health Care System, received the Professional Achievement of
the Year Award. This award is given each year to a professional whose
work has had a great impact on the health and lifestyle of amputees.
Since 1986, Dr. Czerniecki has treated approximately 2,000 amputees from
World War II through the current Iraq war and has trained more than 100
rehabilitation specialists. His research, funded continuously over the
past 12 years by the VA, has focused on injuries and degenerative
conditions of the feet, including the effects of stroke and nervous
system disorders, and the postoperative management of transtibial
amputees.
Catherine Hathaway, a bilateral below-knee amputee and an ACA-certified
peer visitor, received the Volunteer of the Year Award. This award is
given each year to a person who has given an outstanding contribution of
time and talent to the amputee community.
Hathaway established the Humpty Dumpty Amputee Society, the first
amputee support group in southwest Louisiana and today the only amputee
support group in the state. With the aid of a motorized wheelchair and a
crew of her support group members, Hathaway rescued hundreds of people
after Hurricane Katrina. They went city to city checking hospital
emergency rooms, identified and documented patient needs, and tracked
survivors as they were transported west and north.
Jean Boelter received the Role Model of the Year Award. This award is
given each year to a person who exemplifies living life to the fullest
with a disability.
Boelter a below-knee amputee since the age of 5, is a strong role model
in the Harborview Amputee Support Group, is an ACA-certified peer
visitor, and has assisted the ACA by facilitating the PALS (Promoting
Amputee Life Skills) project. She authored guidelines for peer
visitation to new amputees and helped develop a nationwide network of
support groups for amputees through the Telephone Pioneers of America, a
philanthropic group of telephone company employees.
In accepting her award at the ACA Conference, Boelter told the story of
receiving her first prosthetic leg in the mail when she was a child.
My father said, 'I've got something for you today,' she recalled. He
put the leg on me, and I said, 'Dad, there is no way I can walk on
this,' and he said, 'I'll hold your hand.' ... I'm hoping that we can
all reach out to other people.
Founded in 1986, the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is a national
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The mission of the ACA is to reach out to people with limb loss and to
empower them through education, support and advocacy. Through a
cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the ACA maintains the National Limb Loss Information
Center (NLLIC), the nation's most comprehensive source of information
for people living with limb differences. For more information, visit
www.amputee-coalition.org < <URL Redacted>> or call
toll-free 888/AMP-KNOW.
##
Meredith P. Goins, MS
Marketing/Outreach Coordinator
Amputee Coalition of America
900 East Hill Ave., Ste. 285
Knoxville, TN 37915-2568
(888)AMP-KNOW ext. 8135
Fax: (865) 524-3122
<Email Address Redacted>
<URL Redacted>
This E-mail and any attachments contain privileged and confidential
information. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or
agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, be aware
that any dissemination or copying of this E-mail is prohibited. If you
have received this E-mail in error, please notify us immediately by
returning it to the sender and deleting this copy from your system.
Thank you for your cooperation.
<URL Redacted>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Amputee Coalition of America
900 E. Hill Avenue, Suite 285
Knoxville, TN 37915-2568
Contact: Meredith P. Goins
Marketing/Outreach Coordinator
888/267-5669 ext. 8135
<Email Address Redacted>
Amputee Coalition of America Announces the 2006 Awards
of Excellence and Burgess Award Winners
Knoxville, Tennessee - The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) recognized
the 2006 Ernest M. Burgess Award and Awards of Excellence winners on
Friday, June 16, at a special ceremony during the ACA Annual Educational
Conference & Exposition held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Ernest M. Burgess Award was given to Douglas G. Smith, MD,
acknowledging his motivation, spirit and dedication to improving the
lives of people with limb loss. This award was presented by renowned
physical therapist Robert Gailey, PhD, a close friend of Dr. Smith.
The award is named after Dr. Ernest Martin Burgess, an orthopaedic
surgeon and former professor who died in 2000. During World War II, Dr.
Burgess, then an Army surgeon, was inspired to develop better amputation
techniques and prosthetic devices. He also established the Prosthetics
Research Study (PRS) in Seattle, Washington, in 1964 through funding
from the U.S. Veterans Administration. Burgess later dedicated his life
to providing mobility to lower-limb amputees all over the world by
founding the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation.
In closing his acceptance speech, Dr. Smith stated, Continue to set
goals, to work very hard, and to be enthusiastic about your own
rehabilitation, about those around you, and about what you have to offer
to other people. I really have come to believe that the purpose of life
is to create enthusiasm and make life better.
In 1989, Smith completed a fellowship in Foot, Ankle and Amputation
Surgery under the direction of the late Dr. Burgess. Dr. Smith has
served as ACA's medical director since 2001 and is currently an
associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at the University of
Washington and the director of the Prosthetics Research Study.
Joseph Czerniecki, MD, director of rehabilitation medicine at the VA
Puget Sound Health Care System, received the Professional Achievement of
the Year Award. This award is given each year to a professional whose
work has had a great impact on the health and lifestyle of amputees.
Since 1986, Dr. Czerniecki has treated approximately 2,000 amputees from
World War II through the current Iraq war and has trained more than 100
rehabilitation specialists. His research, funded continuously over the
past 12 years by the VA, has focused on injuries and degenerative
conditions of the feet, including the effects of stroke and nervous
system disorders, and the postoperative management of transtibial
amputees.
Catherine Hathaway, a bilateral below-knee amputee and an ACA-certified
peer visitor, received the Volunteer of the Year Award. This award is
given each year to a person who has given an outstanding contribution of
time and talent to the amputee community.
Hathaway established the Humpty Dumpty Amputee Society, the first
amputee support group in southwest Louisiana and today the only amputee
support group in the state. With the aid of a motorized wheelchair and a
crew of her support group members, Hathaway rescued hundreds of people
after Hurricane Katrina. They went city to city checking hospital
emergency rooms, identified and documented patient needs, and tracked
survivors as they were transported west and north.
Jean Boelter received the Role Model of the Year Award. This award is
given each year to a person who exemplifies living life to the fullest
with a disability.
Boelter a below-knee amputee since the age of 5, is a strong role model
in the Harborview Amputee Support Group, is an ACA-certified peer
visitor, and has assisted the ACA by facilitating the PALS (Promoting
Amputee Life Skills) project. She authored guidelines for peer
visitation to new amputees and helped develop a nationwide network of
support groups for amputees through the Telephone Pioneers of America, a
philanthropic group of telephone company employees.
In accepting her award at the ACA Conference, Boelter told the story of
receiving her first prosthetic leg in the mail when she was a child.
My father said, 'I've got something for you today,' she recalled. He
put the leg on me, and I said, 'Dad, there is no way I can walk on
this,' and he said, 'I'll hold your hand.' ... I'm hoping that we can
all reach out to other people.
Founded in 1986, the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is a national
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The mission of the ACA is to reach out to people with limb loss and to
empower them through education, support and advocacy. Through a
cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), the ACA maintains the National Limb Loss Information
Center (NLLIC), the nation's most comprehensive source of information
for people living with limb differences. For more information, visit
www.amputee-coalition.org < <URL Redacted>> or call
toll-free 888/AMP-KNOW.
##
Meredith P. Goins, MS
Marketing/Outreach Coordinator
Amputee Coalition of America
900 East Hill Ave., Ste. 285
Knoxville, TN 37915-2568
(888)AMP-KNOW ext. 8135
Fax: (865) 524-3122
<Email Address Redacted>
<URL Redacted>
This E-mail and any attachments contain privileged and confidential
information. If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or
agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, be aware
that any dissemination or copying of this E-mail is prohibited. If you
have received this E-mail in error, please notify us immediately by
returning it to the sender and deleting this copy from your system.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Citation
Meredith Goins, “ACA Announces the 2006 Awards of Excellence and Burgess Award Winners,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/226870.
