The Hospital Procedures detailed in the manual are also very helpful. When I conduct peer training seminars, I usually add a section that outlines the particulars of the hospitals with which we work. This is reassuring to new peer trainees. Upon completion of the training program, each participant receives a packet of helpful materials for the new amputee put together by ACA and the local support group. It is up to the peer to decide which materials are distributed.
Some patients are eager to read anything they can get while others are overwhelmed by too much.
At the very least, the Amputee Support Network flyer is left. I heartily recommend the ACA peer training materials. They are readily available, very usable and an invaluable addition to the amputee professional's tool kit. After every training session, there's always at least one person who comments that even if they never visit a new amputee they have learned some valuable information and have come to know some fellow amputees at a deeper level. Georgie was the winner of the 1999 Volunteer of the Year Award, presented to her at the ACA Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada in June 1999.