St. Anthony's 2009 Triathlon

As the first major race on the U.S. calendar, St. Anthony's Triathlon has kicked off the triathlon season in North America for the past 26 years. On race day the athletes swim through the brisk waters of Tampa Bay, bike along glimmering waterways and quiet harbors and run through picturesque neighborhoods and past cheering spectators. This race contains the world's top professional triathletes as they compete for $60,000.

Gainesville Prosthetic's Sean Mello competed in his first Triathlon this year by finishing the St. Anthony's Triathlon in 2 hours and 28 minutes! Due to the weather, the swim portion was cancelled, but Sean was able to complete the 40K bike in 1 hour 15 minutes and the 10 K run in 1 hour 4 minutes. He finished 2nd overall in his group. We are proud of Sean and his continued efforts of supporting the Challenged Athletes Foundation to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics.

CAF Triathlon

Established in 1997, the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) is a unique organization that recognizes the athletic greatness inherent in all people with physical challenges and supports their athletic endeavors by providing grants for training, competition and equipment needs. It is the mission of the Challenged Athletes Foundation (http://www.challengedathletes.org/) to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities so they can pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics. The Challenged Athletes Foundation involvement in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. This year, the CAF held it's 15th annual San Diego Triathlon Challenge, which is a half-Ironman distance event featuring world-class challenged athletes, professional triathletes, celebrities and other able-bodied participants on one of the most breathtaking courses in the country. Over the past thirteen years, this event has helped raise over $16 million to support thousands of challenged athletes.

Gainesville Prosthetic's very own, Sean Mello competed in the event this year. Sean is a 42 year-old veteran who in May 2003 was injured at a military training event on the water that lead to his right transtibial amputation. Prior to his accident, he was an active person who enjoyed running, biking and diving amongst other activities. Following his accident, Sean began running again with the aid of a prosthesis designed for running. In 2007, the idea of biking again began to surface in Sean with it culminating after a September 2008 meeting with the Florida chapter of CAF. Here, Sean was told about the San Diego Triathlon Challenge to be held on Sunday, October 26, 2008. Shortly after his meeting, Sean was introduced to a member of the Operation Rebound group. Operation Rebound provides unparalleled sports opportunities and support to our troops and veterans of any branch of service and first responders who have suffered permanent physical injuries in the line of duty. With only 5 weeks to go before the triathlon and a bike from Operation Rebound, Sean formed a team for the relay triathlon, in which he would be competing in the bicycling portion of the race. After finishing the 56.2 mile bike race in 3 hours and 34 minutes, Sean affirmed he was hooked on bicycling! Gainesville Prosthetics is very proud of Sean and his many accomplishments and will be supporting him as he trains for the St. Anthony's full marathon in St. Petersburg, Florida on April 26, 2009. When asked what was next for Sean, he revealed his vision to be in the Hawaii Ironman in four years.

Camp No Limits

Over the weekend of November 22-23, 2008, a camp for children with amputations was held in Live Oak, Florida, called Camp No Limits. The vision of Camp No Limits is to be the leading camp for young people with limb loss, and their families, in the United States and abroad and to be recognized for camper satisfaction, amputee education, peer support and age specific physical, recreational and social skill development. At this time there is no other camp available for children with limb loss and their families with the therapeutic programs that Camp No Limits has to offer. Camp No Limits has developed a daily schedule of programs and events that are offered to campers and their families. Event opportunities vary depending on the camp location and season. Camp No Limits offers four programs in their daily schedule. These include Education and Therapy, Sports and Recreation, Creative Arts and Music, and Evening Programs. Paul E Prusakowski and DeAnna M Clough both attended as volunteers to help out at the camp. A good time was had by all as the children enjoyed arts and crafts, kickball, tennis, baseball and many other outdoor adventures. For more information about this camp which is held in 5 locations throughout the United States, please visit their website at http://www.nolimitsfoundation.org/.

Gainesville Prosthetics sponsors UF Physical Therapy 5K

The 6^th Annual UF Student Physical Therapy Association Turkey Trot 5K Fun Run was held on Sunday, November 9th on the University of Florida campus. Gainesville Prosthetics was the lead sponsor for the event, and brought out a team of 12 runners and walkers to compete. Three members of the Gainesville Prosthetics team received medals for finishing first in their respective age divisions, but more importantly, it was a beautiful morning and a great time was had by all!

The funds raised at the event will support the Student Physical Therapy Association's Nicaragua Project.

We've moved!

After nearly ten years in the same office, we finally moved into the type of office space I'd always envisioned for the practice in 2008. The new 6000 sq ft facility is much more comfortable and we are continuing to make it better every day. One very unique aspect of the new building is that our fabrication area is completely separated from the clinical workspace. This completely eliminates the dust, odor and noise that is typically associated with orthotic and prosthetics facilities. We are sure that you will enjoy all the new upgrades and we'll show you around the next time that you come in.

O&P Clinical Technologies is now Gainesville Prosthetics

Although my practice has always offered high quality orthotic and prosthetic care, the name Gainesville Prosthetics best emphasizes my true passion and commitment to amputee rehabilitation and prosthetics. By changing the name, I believe this clarifies my practice's position as ultimately specializing in advanced limb prosthetics and tending to the unique needs of the active amputee.

The Florida Challenge

Prior to opening O&P Clinical Technologies, Paul Prusakowski was actively involved in the disabled sports movement in the US. This exposure was incredibly inspiring and led to the concept of holding an exhibition race at the University of Florida track in conjunction with the Florida Relays. With the assistance of the athletic department of the University of Florida, this event provided a venue for a dozen world class athletes with prosthetic limbs to compete at a prestigious collegiate level track event. We created educational materials that were passed out to over 5000 attendees to help raise awareness of the great potential of athletes with physical challenges. This event showcased many awe inspiring athletic achievements by these dedicated sprinters.

Grand Opening of O&P Clinical Technologies

After four years of working at Shands Hospital, I opened O&P Clinical Technologies, which was the first step toward fulfilling my vision of the ideal patient care facility.



This practice was set up with computers in every room to allow me to use the Internet and software that we were developing to better help educate patients and document our clinical progress. Keep in mind that this was before the Internet was really a household term and electronic medical records were nonexistent. The small office housed both my clinical practice and a few computer programmers who worked to develop the software and the global portal for Orthotics and Prosthetics information at www.oandp.com. This was just the beginning of the dream!



State Representative Bob Casey, MD , Paul E. Prusakowski, CPO and Albert Reed