Message from the President and CEO, Cass Isidro
A warm thank you to all our friends of the Amputee Coalition! While we share different experiences, cultural expressions, and backgrounds, gratitude is the centerpiece where we can find commonality. For the various community members, I have had the pleasure to learn from, hearing stories of intentional relationship building on the AC Connect Platform, and conversations post-conference all have had a tone of gratitude for the community connections we share. At the center of the Amputee Coalition’s work through the National Limb Loss Resource Center (NLLRC) includes youth engagement, peer support, workforce development, self-advocacy training, health resource development and training, and health and wellness policy development. We are grateful these resources to support, educate, and advocate for the limb loss and limb difference community are being utilized and shared across America. As we enter the season of gratitude and in the closing of 2024, we send a heartfelt thank you to the community members who trust the Amputee Coalition to deliver critical resources and programming day in and day out as a nonprofit organization. We see you. We hear you. And we will continue to serve as a coalition for the limb loss and limb difference community.
We cannot do this work without incredible leadership, staff, and community volunteers. Thank you to our Board of Directors leadership team who elevate and keep the vision: A world where our community thrives with equity and inclusion at the forefront as we lead the next years with dedicated commitment. Thank you to our incredible Amputee Coalition staff focused on the mission to support, educate, and advocate for people impacted by limb loss and limb difference, fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion, and equity in all aspects of our work in their daily work. To our wonderful volunteers that range from the workforce development program, youth engagement program (YEP), advocates and certified lead advocates, certified peer visitors, support group and peer support leaders, SciMAC committee members, and more – thank you! Collectively we are working together to continue bringing daily resources to community members throughout the nation, creating continued policy shifts in accessibility, and continue growing the collective voice in disability rights to create change for a world where everyone can thrive as they choose.
Thank you to all who joined the last 2024 Amputee Coalition Winter Town Hall you heard the tremendous updates we have shared to keep the community up to date and for those who missed you can watch the playback on the Thrive blog. Our organizational updates bring to focus how greatly resources for the limb loss and limb difference community are essential in the lives of those we serve. Our National Limb Loss Resource Center’s Information and Referral team received 6,544 cases from January to the end of October of this year, averaging more than 30 cases per workday. These numbers do not include engagement through our social channels or direct engagement with our advocacy team members. From Jan. to October, we have matched 926 people for peer visits, and we have added more than 6,600 people to our database.
Our volunteer and staff team are working for our community members, family members, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, creating and delivering vital resources and support including information, referrals, patient navigation, peer visits, support groups, and much more. In support services over the last year, we trained 251 new Certified Peer Visitors, and we re-certified 250 Peer Visitor volunteers.
Our four recurring virtual support groups meet the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Thursday of each month in their respective time zones as well as our Caregiver Support Group, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Young Adult virtual support groups continue to meet monthly in addition to the 300+ support groups we also engage with across the country offering advice, sharing resources, and creating connections.
The Amputee Coalition Youth Leadership Council is currently working on a youth-led annual service project deliverables. Youth are working in Ohio, Texas, and New Hampshire as advocates to elevate youth voices in the So Every BODY Can Move initiative. The youth of the leadership council are organizing and will be recruiting and mobilizing other youth to get involved in the recycling of durable medical equipment by taking part in the ROMP’s Components for a Cause initiative.
Our team has had a full 2024 and we are grateful for the limb loss and limb difference community we serve. We also thank the continued community support of our Amputee Coalition donors who support our mission as a nonprofit. As we approach Giving Tuesday and year-end giving, we thank the community for their meaningful financial gifts of all sizes that support our programs. To make a financial donation to the Amputee Coalition you can visit our donate page here.
As we enter a time when we take stock to slow our speed down, spend time with loved ones, and focus on our individual journey I encourage you to also keep moving! Movement is critical to all of our well-being. No matter how you spend the closing of 2024 we wish you well!
Going into the last stretch of 2024 we all may feel the energy it takes to get through a full year, and we are thankful that the Amputee Coalition has served as a place of creating community and supporting for the limb loss and limb difference community. Have a wonderful close to 2024 and please stay connected and up to date with all things Amputee Coalition at www.amputee-coalition.org and connect with peers on AC Connect.