A record setting 1,245 people attended the 2017 Amputee Coaltion's National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky! Mark & Nancy Miller, and Keating from Miller Prosthetics & Orthotics attended, along with Steve and Martha Lamp from Parkersburg, WV.
Nancy and Keating (our 3-legged, certified therapy dog) took a road trip to Louisville, KY with Juanita Mengel and Bruce-E-Sockets (her certified therapy kitty missing both back feet) to attend a few pre-conference sessions.
Juanita attended the Support Group Leaders session on Wednesday afternoon, while Nancy attended the Peer Visitor training day. Juanita, who is the group leader for the Columbus, Ohio group: Amps4Ohio spent most of the time at the conference training to be an instructor to train peer visitors for the Amputee Coalition. Thank you Juanita for becoming an official trainer! It it nice to have someone in our area who can conduct the class for us. Nancy is now certified under the Amputee Coalition as a visitor, which is helpful for her hospital visits with Keating.
Wednesday Evening, Ottobock sponsored a Fitness Revolution. Nancy and Keating only caught the end of the event, due to the day-long training session. Check out the video below to get an idea of how the event went!
I was happy to see many friends that I met the previous year at the Convention, especially Mabio Costa. Mabio is the First Swim Instructor, and also a previous triathlete champion in the Paralympics. He is also from Brazil, and was super helpful with our trip to Rio last year for the Paralympics!
The conference was held at the Galt House, in Louisville, KY. The venue was beautiful, with twin hotel towers that sat right on the Ohio river. Nancy and Keating had fun being tourists together while Mark was still holding down the fort in Belpre.
The main conference started on Thursday, August 3rd, and I kicked off my morning with Yoga! Marsha Danzig offers yoga for Amputees and has been teaching for over 20 years. She is also a below knee amputee that teaches in Columbus, Ohio. Keating and I ran into Marsha and showed her our new favorite nearby park area.
Steve and Martha Lamp, good friends and members of our Prosthetic Users Group in the Mid-Ohio Valley made it to Louisville Thursday evening. Keating and I met them on the trade show floor. They were so helpful! Keating and BruceESockets were both dressed up in their pirate costumes. I had extra props for photos - and boy did everyone love them! Thanks to Steve and Martha for helping me out with Keating!
I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse of our experiences at the 2017 Amputee Coalition's Annual Conference. Next year the conference will be in Tuscon, Arizona. July 23-25. If you would like to go, let me know via email at NancyMiller@MIllerPO.com. You can also click the button below for the official page on the Amputee Coalition's website.