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Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence
There are more than 30,000 Department of Defense beneficiaries with some level of limb loss or dysfunction.
They include many wounded combat veterans, as well as people who've suffered car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and other severe injuries.
To ensure the Military Health System provides the most cutting-edge medical care for treating limb loss, the Defense Department operates three Advanced Rehabilitation Centers, or ARCs, throughout the country to address the complex needs of individuals with severe limb dysfunction, including amputation.
Located in San Diego, California; San Antonio, Texas; and Bethesda, Maryland, each ARC provides specialized and holistic care through multidisciplinary teams.
They go far beyond the typical range of care, to include occupational and physical therapists, and doctors that specialize in physical medicine rehabilitation, prosthetics, and orthotics.
"The whole structure of the ARC programs for patients with limb loss is holistic, designed to address all the needs of the patient to live a full life, and either return to duty or to life after injury and after the military, depending on what the individual patient's goals are," said Army Maj. (Dr.) Megan Loftsgaarden, a physical medicine specialist at the Center for the Intrepid, at Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas.
The ARCs' multidisciplinary teams also include nutritionists, multiple types of behavioral health specialists, pain management specialists, plastic surgeons, dermatologists and neurologists.
The doctors "really look at the individual and what their needs are, versus looking at the limb loss," said Stuart Campbell, a physical therapist and chief of global health engagement for the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, at Joint Base San Antonio, in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
The three ARCs work in partnership with the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence, which conducts research and provides clinical practice guidance to the ARCs.
In addition to focusing on the individuals with limb loss, the ARCs also support families and caregivers.
"All of the ARCs have Fisher House facilities," said Campbell, referring to the not-for-profit organization that operates comfort homes near military hospitals where military and veteran families can stay free of charge while a loved one receives care.
"So, when the individual is being cared for as an inpatient or as a more acute outpatient, their families have a place where they can stay right on the installation," he said.
Those family members can attend sessions and be involved in their loved one's care program and learn about what to expect.
ARCs
"Each one of the three Advanced Rehabilitation Centers have, for lack of a better term, their own personality," Campbell said.
The ARC in Maryland, known as the Military Advanced Training Center, is embedded within Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
MATC uses a sports medicine model where service members, retirees, and family members use sophisticated prosthetics and athletic equipment to move from injury to independence, Campbell said.
The ARC in Texas, the Center for the Intrepid, has its own facility on the Brooke Army Medical Center hospital campus.