Our Mission
The mission of the Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) is to provide comprehensive support to optimize health and independence of the Veteran. Our vision is to be the premier source of prosthetic and orthotic services, sensory aids, medical equipment, and support services for Veterans.
Hot Topics in Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service
In November we celebrated the 66th anniversary of the creation of Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS). Although the timeliness and quality of prosthetic services provided has expanded over the years, the heart and soul of the program consists of PSAS employees who are extremely dedicated to taking care of each of our Veterans. Our National PSAS Day (which, from this year forward will be the first Thursday of November), recognizes the outstanding work accomplished every day by these employees. We know that for the PSAS folks at Central Iowa Health Care System, it was an exciting day. Named the 2011 Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service of the year, they celebrated with their facility leadership as a plaque was presented and their accomplishments were highlighted. Congratulations again to the Central Iowa HCS on their exceptional accomplishment!Fourth Annual National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic
The 4th Annual National Veterans Summer Sports Clinic (SSC) takes place in San Diego, CA, September 19-23. Once again, the VA Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service is out there in full force to support approximately one hundred Veterans to participate in cycling, sailing, kayaking, track and field, rowing and surfing. The SSC is one of six VA national special events which supports Veterans with physical, cognitive, sensory (hearing and vision) and mental health challenges. Kendra Betz, Prosthetics Clinical Coordinator for VACO, heads up the SportsPlus team at the event to support Veteran athletes relative to adaptive sports equipment needs. Kendra has a phenomenal team of clinical subject matter experts which includes Chad Kincaid, Prosthetist/PT from the Grand Junction VA, Leif Nelson, DPT from VISN 3 PSAS, Debbie Pitsch, PT from VA Palo Alto, Sam Phillips, Prosthetist from Tampa VA, Mark Schmeler, OT with the University of Pittsburgh, and Anouk Kincaid, PT, from Grand Junction.
The team supports each Veteran and assists in providing individualized optimal adaptive equipment, seating interventions and prosthetic limb adjustments for successful participation in each event. As an example, at the cycling venue, Veterans rode handcycles, recumbent bikes, or tandem cycles, depending on their specific impairments and abilities. The local PSAS staff, led by Richard Rodriquez, supports the event all week by providing DME and coordinating prosthetic limb and wheelchair repair. Joseph Duffie, Administrative Office for VISN 8 PSAS, plays an instrumental role in supporting Veteran athletes and event staff at the kayaking venue. As always, our PSAS staff gives their all to go "above and beyond," to promote a positive experience for Veterans attending the SSC. For more information click here*.
National Veteran Small Business Conference and Expo
VISN 16 hosted the National Veteran Small Business Conference and Expo in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 15-18, 2011. This is the largest nationwide conference of its kind in support of Veteran-Owned, and Service Disable Veteran-Owned Small Businesses. The Expo specifically featured all of the services provided by the Veterans Health Administration.
Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Services (PSAS) was well represented during the Expo. The PSAS team, led by the VISN 16 Prosthetic Representative, Valerie Russell, Ridgeland, MS, along with Jason Cordes, O&P Chief, New Orleans, LA, Neal Eckrich, PSAS Program Director, Washington, DC (VACO), Michael Meinen, PSAS Chief, Amarillo, TX, Jacob Dickson, PSAS Chief, New Orleans, Christine Pelland, PSAS Chief, Biloxi, MS, Tristan Wyatt, Assistant Chief PSAS, San Diego, CA, Paul Yarbrough, Assistant Chief, New York, NY, all attended to showcase the latest artificial limbs, mobility devices, and auto adaptive equipment.
The Veterans who attended the conference were educated about the PSAS programs, products, and services available. Informational materials such as the "Forward Together" booklets, Home Improvement and Structural Adaptation (HISA), and Automobile Adaptive Equipment (AAE) pamphlets were all made available.
During the Expo, the PSAS Team had the privilege to personally meet and speak with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, Deputy Secretary Scott Gould, Chief of Staff John Gingrich, Under Secretary for Health Dr. Robert Petzel, Executive Director of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction Glenn Haggstrom, and Senior Procurement Executive Jan Frye.
HBO REAL SPORTS Goes on Location with the Wounded Warriors Softball Team
On July 4, 2011, the magazine Sports Illustrated hit the newsstands containing a story about a competitive softball team. But, what made this feel good story so special wasn’t that it featured a team of household names with multi-million dollar players; it was that the article, titled Battlefield to Ball field, told the story of American Iraq and Afghanistan Amputee War Veterans playing softball against able-bodied players – and winning!You may be wondering… How is this possible?
Day in and day out, the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS) works passionately to ensure that our country’s Veterans receive their properly prescribed devices. A key part of that mission is to make sure that Veterans achieve the greatest level of function possible. And although most of what PSAS does allows Veterans to live independently or to communicate with family and friends, PSAS also provides the equipment that allows some Veterans to excel to a competitive level.
During the months of July and August, the cable network HBO will exclusively be featuring the story of these injured War Veterans playing competitive softball on the show HBO REAL SPORTS with Bryant Gumbel, which debuts on Tuesday, July 19 at 10PM EST. REAL SPORTS correspondent Frank Deford goes on location with the Wounded Warriors Softball Team to show that "they are the same focused, physically capable men they have always been." For a full listing of the HBO program showings, click here.*
Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team Featured in Sports Illustrated
VHA Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service continues to provide state-of-the-art prosthetic technology to our nation’s Veterans and soldiers, and that can be evidenced by the highly visible prosthetic devices that are being worn by the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team. This national amputee slow pitch softball team comprised solely of Veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars is currently traveling the country and playing games against able bodied teams due to amputee rehabilitation and the advancement of prosthetic technology provided by PSAS.
"It’s one of the best and most rewarding things I have done physically since losing my leg," said Michael Meinen, a US Army Veteran who is a right above knee amputee as a result of a rocket propelled grenade in Iraq. Meinen made an appointment at his local VA Medical Center Amputation Care Clinic and was prescribed and fitted with a new prosthetic knee and running foot which now allows him to participate on the softball team. "Being able to play softball in a situation like this is an experience you will never forget."
In the very near future the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team will be traveling to the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City, OK, the US Military World Softball Tournament in Panama City, FL and playing in Washington, DC at Nationals Park directly following a Washington Nationals home game.
Please click here* to read the Sports Illustrated Article Battlefield to Ball field.
SpeechEasy Device Helps Army Veteran Henry Rouse Deal With Stuttering
Our ability to speak and communicate with others is a part of life that most people take for granted each and every day. Imagine if one day your ability to speak was taken away, leaving you with no way to communicate effectively with others without an enormous amount of fear and embarrassment. Stuttering is a communication disorder in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions (li-li-like), prolongations (llllllike), or abnormal sound blocks. More than three million Americans stutter, or approximately 1% of the population. There are a variety of successful approaches for treating Veterans who stutter, but there are currently no cures. A collaborative approach between the primary care provider, speech-language pathologist, and the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service at the VA Medical Center in Battle Creek, Michigan was necessary to achieve the dramatic outcomes attained by one remarkable Veteran.
Henry Rouse was referred to the Speech-Language Pathology clinic at the Battle Creek VA Medical Center in July 2010 due to increased stuttering. Rouse sustained a traumatic brain injury in November 2003 while serving with the 25th Infantry Division in Iraq. He suffered injury to the left temporal lobe from impact with a 105mm artillery shell casing which resulted in the loss of consciousness. Although he resumed his normal duties following the incident, he suffered his first seizure one week after the concussion. He began having word-finding problems and occasional speech hesitancies early in 2004. By the end of 2004, his stuttering was increasing in frequency and severity. Unfortunately, his stuttering continued to progress and was untreated for almost six years. More Information*
PSAS Hosts Conference on Guide Dogs and Service Dogs
The Veterans Health Administration's Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Serivce (PSAS) joined the American Veterans (AMVETS) and Paws With A Cause in Phoenix last week to participate in the first PSAS Guide Dog and Service Dog clinicians Training conference.
The weeklong seminar brought together industry experts within the VA system, Veteran service organizations, representatives from the assistance dog industry, and Veterans who utlize service dogs to learn about the many benefits that these dogs can bring to enhance a disabled Veteran's quality of life.
"The overall goal of rehabilitation is to increase or maintain Veterans at the highest level of functioning possible. The provision of individualized care leads us to explore and apply, as appropriate, all options to maintain independence as long as possible," said Stanlie Daniels, Deputy Chief for the VHA Office of paitent Care Services. "Our collaboration with guide and service dog organizations is a key component to assuring we are aware of all options to assist our nation's Veterans."
PSAS, AMVETS, and Paws With A Cause, view this conference as a critical step in ensuring clinicians understand the benefits of assistance dogs in an effort to ensure proper and equitable access for all Veterans utilizing this unique prothetic product.
PSAS coordinated the conference to inform clinicians about guide dogs and service dogs for Veterans, establishing the expertise VA needs to draft clinical practice recommendations for PSAS guide and service dog benefits.
VA Debuts Robotic Foot
Army Vet From Manvel, Texas Among The First To Be Fitted With Robotic Foot. The Houston Chronicle (2/17, Wise, 363K) reported that Army Special Forces Veteran Randy Tipton "became the first Veterans Affairs patient in the nation to receive the iWalk PowerFoot BiOM", a robotic foot that represents a groundbreaking advance in prosthetic technology made possible by tens of millions of dollars that the U.S. government has poured into research to "rebuild service members who have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan." Tipton demonstrated the device Wednesday at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston. "The PowerFoot represents a quantum leap in technology, according to Mark Benveniste, a Prosthetist at the VA hospital in Houston," who explained that instead of just filling the space of where the limb used to be, it actually replicated "the action of the amputee's Achilles' tendon, ankle, and calf muscle." The Houston Chronicle*
High-Tech Prosthetics for Older Veterans
John Loosen served in Vietnam from 1967 - 1968 as an airborne infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division. While on a mission in the Cu Chi District, he was severely wounded in a Viet Cong motor attack. John's injuries required amputation of his left leg above the knee. On August 16, 2010 John was the first Vietnam Veteran to receive the X2; the newest generation of a fully microprocessor controlled prosthesis system that more closely mimics the natural gait. You can read more about John's story and this new prosthetic technology in our News Section.
Contact VA Central Office Prosthetic & Sensory Aids Service
If you have a general question regarding artificial limbs/orthotics, automobile adaptive equipment, clothing allowance, durable medical equipment, eyeglasses, hearing aids, HISA, home oxygen, wheelchairs or any other PSAS related device/service please contact us via IRIS at https://iris.va.gov.
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