‘These Words Have Life in Our Day-to-Day Operations’

By Mike Crist, Editor

“A world where our community thrives.”

This is the newly stated vision of the Amputation Coalition. It lays out what we want to achieve, and it inspires our staff and community to work together. It is remarkable in its simplicity and its clarity.

So is our mission statement: “To support, educate, and advocate for people impacted by limb loss and limb difference.”

This tells us, and you, how we will INSPIRE TO ELEVATE by achieving our vision. If the vision is our destination, the mission is the Google directions for getting us there. We will use these as guiding lights in every decision we make as an organization.

And everything involved will help ELEVATE YOUR POTENTIAL.

The Amputee Coalition board of directors has updated our mission, vision, and values to inspire and direct our work toward the same goals and to give our community a glimpse of what we strive to provide.

“From the CEO search posting to the interview materials and then my onboarding resources, a simple one-pager with our mission, vision, and values was shared with me over and over as a newcomer to the Amputee Coalition,” President and CEO Cass Isidro said. “In my first week, these were also shared aloud in the beginning of three different staff meetings.

“These words, crafted from the heart and with deep understanding, have life in our day-to-day operations and I truly believe will ensure we meet success.”

Whether we are reaching new amputees with critical information for their recovery, fighting for fair insurance laws around the country, or providing tips to make daily life with limb loss and limb difference easier, the work of the Amputee Coalition impacts lives every day.

We reach thousands of people every month through our National Limb Resource Center, peer support matching, advocacy, and communications.

We support through our more than 1,000 certified peer visitors, a network of more than 400 support groups, and new initiatives such as our Workforce Development Program. We educate by providing information through the National Limb Loss Resource Center, inMotion Magazine, and our THRIVE blog. We advocate with our Advocacy Forum, our Grassroots Advocacy Center, and training programs for our community.

All these resources and activities, and many more, are pointed toward our mission and vision. And all keep three key tenets in mind.

• Limb loss is not uncommon, and it is becoming less uncommon every day: We work to raise awareness and increase practices to prevent limb loss.
• No amputee alone: We strive to ensure no one feels isolated from pre- and post-amputation through recovery.
• Living well with limb loss: We work to help amputees and their families live to their fullest after amputation.

“Many, many organizations across the for- and nonprofit spaces have defined values, and they often do so without also describing the behaviors that align with those values and thus they become a point-in-time reference at best,” Cass said. “The Amputee Coalition has gone the extra step to define what behaviors illustrate our values and as such has set in not just a plan but a defined path to build a culture of service, teamwork, innovation, and commitment from peer visits to back-office operations.”

Indeed, the Coalition’s new mission and vision outline six value statements with specific examples of how to carry them out.

• We have an unwavering commitment to serve: We greet every member with purpose, practice excellent decision-making, and demonstrate our humility.
• We win as a team: We learn from each other and give credit to others, we challenge each other, and we build complementary teams to achieve our goals.
• We see you! We don’t presume to know what you need, so we always ask. And we actively listen to what you have to say, acting with focus and asking clarifying questions.
• We actively innovate: We embrace change as an opportunity to grow, we always look for new answers, and we encourage and act upon feedback.
• We are consciously committed: We accept challenges, we follow through on what we say we will do, and we track progress using SMART goals.
• Our stories inspire! We curate and share our stories, which are really your stories, and participate passionately in events that are meaningful to the limb loss and limb difference community.

We are sharing our mission, vision, and values with our community so you know what to expect from us. You can also hold us accountable to these guidelines.

The Amputee Coalition is excited about what lies ahead, and we know it all begins with you. We hope you will join us in our mission to achieve our vision.