The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is a nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 based in Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, United States of America. ACA's mission is to reach out to people with limb loss and empower them through education, support and advocacy.

Outreach programs

The ACA runs multiple programs including the following.

• National Limb Loss Information Center (NLLIC)

The NLLIC serves as a call center for amputees

Team Zaryen

is a Haitian Amputee soccer team, located in Port Au Prince, Haiti. Zaryen is the Creole word for Tarantula.When asked why the tarantula was chosen to represent the soccer team the players give two answers. First because when a tarantula attacks, it pursues its enemy slowly and is deadly with just...

,friends and family members of people with limb differences, caregivers, medical professionals and others seeking information about limb loss. The NLLIC information specialists provide information resources in the form of articles, books, videos, research, and Web sites to help people find the answers they seek.

• Action Plan for People with Limb Loss (APPLL)

The ACA has assumed the challenge to address and improve the health and care of people living with the loss or absence of a limb and those at risk for primary amputations or secondary conditions, including additional amputations. The ACA has two main goals, one comprehends the coming together of patients, providers and manufacturers to identify ways to resolve access and coverage issues for prosthetics and care for all amputees in the United States. One way to address insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

 coverage issues is by promoting Insurance Parity at the State level. The ACA defines prosthetic parity as insurance companies covering appropriate prosthetic care.

The other objective pertains to partnering with other health organizations to promote health

Health

Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

ful lifestyles, which can prevent primary amputations and secondary conditions that can result in additional amputations.

• National Peer Network (NPN)

The National Peer Network is a network of support groups and trained, certified peer visitors that meet with soon-to-be or recent amputees to answer questions, and build a mentoring relationship.

• Youth Activities Program (YAP)

The Amputee Coalition's Youth Activities Program hosts a residential camp for children with limb loss or limb difference each year. The camp includes recreation

Recreation

Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

al activities such as canoeing

Canoeing

Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....

, swimming, educational sessions such as nutrition

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

 and offers peer support through peer circles and support group sessions.

Publications

The Amputee Coalition of America publishes many award-winning publications including inMotion magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, published 7 times per year, and First Step: A Guide for Adapting to Limb Loss, published every other year and available in both English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. Another publication is SideStep: A Guide to Preventing and Managing Diabetes.

The Youth Activities Program has an online e-zine called YAZ (Youth Amputee e-Zine).