History
William G. Barr
Anthony T. Barr
In June of 1970, the late Senator William G. Barr of Illinois, suffered limb loss during a failed assassination attempt. He survived that day but he lost his left leg above the knee and the ability to walk without prosthesis.
Two years later his son Tony Barr, was put in the same situation after losing his foot in an accident in Delray Beach, Florida.
They spent the next seven years traveling across the country in an attempt to find a prosthesis that would allow them to live normal lives again. Unfortunately, what was found was that the profession was unregulated and many providers were not qualified to provide these specialized health care services. They continued what seemed like an endless search for pain free mobility and successful prosthetic rehabilitation.
After surviving this long struggle they decided to help amputees across the US by fighting for a much-needed regulation reform of the prosthetics industry. In 1978 the father and son founded and built the Institute for the Advancement of Prosthetics in Lansing Michigan, as a non- profit hospital to provide prosthetic rehabilitation to amputees whom otherwise did not have the resources to afford it for themselves.
Subsequent to the elder Barr's passing, in 1995 Tony Barr and the board of directors, continued this mission of hope by revolving the IAP into the Barr Foundation.
The Barr Foundation is a non-profit 501 (C) 3 organization determined to help improve the quality of life for amputees in the United States and across the globe. Every year thousands of amputees are refused prosthetic limbs due to lack of funds or lack of proper medical insurance. The Barr Foundation helps to provide these people with the funding, treatment, and prosthetic devices needed to return them to their normal lifestyles.
Over the last 10 years, the Barr Foundation has helped over 1200 amputees in 30 states and 21 foreign countries become "Whole Again".
In the USA The Barr Foundation has fought to have federal and state laws enacted to regulate the prosthetics profession as a means to better protect the consumer, the amputee. Since 1995, 10 states have been regulated with the support and advocacy efforts of the Barr Foundation. Florida was the first state.
