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The Heroes Among Us
By Tina Eichner  It is fitting that this month as the nation
reflects on the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of September
11, 2001, and the thousands of lives lost that day, that we look
within our own community at amputees who have entered, returned to,
or attempted to return to, protective service careers following or
despite a disability.
Protective Services Heroes
In "Amputees Fight for Right to Serve" , Sherry
Metzger writes about amputees working in protective services as
police officers, firefighters, and paramedics--without limitations.
Without a doubt, there is inspiration in every story of each
patient served by the O&P profession, but these brave men and
women stand above the crowd.
Extreme Athletic Heroes
Also in this issue we cover the recent O&P
Extremity Games by College Park. It was a first-class event and
a true celebration of many of the athletic heroes in the O&P
community.
As part of the event, the first Jeffrey Winfield Green Award was
given to Amy Purdy.
The award states, "The Jeffrey Winfield Green award is of the
highest honor and given to an individual, nominated by fellow
athletes and peers. This individual's outgoing personality and
friendly, helping attitude makes everyone who they come in contact
with feel better about themselves."
Green was an entrepreneur, devoted O&P speaker and educator,
and most recently, manager of Technical Services Training at SPS.
He died in January, 2006, in an auto accident.
"Amy Purdy was a tremendous asset to the 2006 Extremity Games,"
said College Park Marketing and Communications Manager Beth Geno in
commenting on the award. "As a bilateral BK amputee and co-founder
of Adaptive Action Sports, Amy helped coordinate 13 athletes to
attend the Games, while training to compete in wakeboarding. Her
positive influence has gone beyond Adaptive Action Sports and was
shown at the event."
Hero of Humor
We also applaud another type of hero, US Paralympian and
comedian Josh Blue of Denver, Colorado, who was chosen the winner
of NBC's Last Comic Standing on the show's season finale in August.
Blue, who was born with cerebral palsy, began playing soccer in the
backyard with the family when he was just ten years old. Blue went
on to make the US Paralympic Soccer Team in 2001, and he qualified
for the 2004 US Paralympic Soccer Team that competed at the 2004
Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. For more about Josh Blue, visit
his website, www.joshblue.com.
For more information about US Paralympics, visit www.usparalympics.org
Super Humans
We may not have any real-life superheroes to protect us from the
uncertainties of the dangerous world that we live in post 9/11, but
we are fortunate to be surrounded by countless super humans who
give hope and inspiration both within our own little O&P corner
of the universe and beyond.
 Thanks for reading.
Table Of Contents - September 2006
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