Congratulations to Claire and Cole!

Congratulations to Dankmeyer practitioners Claire Vallery and Cole Branche, who have recently passed Orthotics and Prosthetics certification exams! They obtained new certification titles:   Claire Vallery, CPO and Cole Branche CP, Board Eligible Orthotist. CPO indicates an American Board Certified (ABC) Prosthetist Orthotist, and CP indicates a Certified Prosthetist.

What does this mean?   Those titles represent a lot of hard work.

Each of our practitioners complete a rigorous post-baccalaureate or Master’s Degree in Orthotics and/or Prosthetics at a National Commission on Orthotic and Prosthetic Education (NCOPE) accredited university.   After school, students transition into an 18 month or 2 year residency program. After completing residency requirements, there are several written exams and an in person Clinical Patient Management exam to pass to receive certification.

Dankmeyer is an American Board Certified facility, and all our practitioners are ABC certified or working toward their certification via our residency program.

To learn more about ABC, please click here.

To learn more about NCOPE, please click here.

We look forward to seeing Claire and Cole continue to develop their clinical roles here at Dankmeyer.

-Mary Reedy, CP, Clinical Director

Welcome to Dankmeyer, Candice Lane!

Candice joined the Dankmeyer team in February and works in the front office area in our Baltimore-Washington office. Candice brings over 16 years of healthcare experience to Dankmeyer, working in various roles from hospitals to insurance companies. This has allowed her to learn a myriad of skills and focus her path on helping people. Candice places a high value on family, which includes her dogs. Candice is an incredibly creative person; she is an avid crocheter (who makes some of her own clothing) and has been a licensed cosmetologist for more than 10 years.

When you see her at Check Out, please say Hello!

Maryland Proclaims April Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month!

For the past several years, Dankmeyer has been at the forefront of working with the Governor of Maryland’s office to proclaim that April is officially recognized as Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness month. This year is no exception.

This year the effort was spearheaded by Jesse Yingling, Dankmeyer’s Purchasing Agent and part of our Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month event planning team. Jesse put in a request to Governor Wes Moore’s office during the early winter. Sheryl Sachs, CPO, who has been deeply involved in the So EveryBody Can Move (SEBCM) program with the Maryland Legislature, joined with Jesse to continue to promote and monitor the status of the proclamation. We received it yesterday, and here it is!

Sheryl, as part of her SEBCM efforts, has spent a lot of time with members of the Maryland Legislature - hosting visits at our Dankmeyer Baltimore Washington office, educating them and their staffs about limb loss and limb difference, working with various orthotics and prosthetics lobbyists, and other organizations and practices to bring about this powerful legislation - which was voted on and headed to the Governor to sign. (You can read more about SEBCM on our SEBCM website page here). Working on this legislation brought about an unexpected bonus, when during the floor session on April 3 for the Maryland House of Delegates, SEBCM House Bill sponsor, Delegate Martinez, announced that April is Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month to his colleagues. See the video here.

Thank you to Jesse and Sheryl for their hard work in making these things happen. Everyone in the limb loss and limb difference community benefits from the education and dedication of the people they have worked with. You can read more about events in the Maryland community for Limb Loss and Limb Difference Awareness Month on our website by clicking here.

Welcome to Dankmeyer, Claire Vallery, CO, Board Eligible Prosthetist

Claire Vallery is a Certified Orthotist and Board Eligible Prosthetist who joined Dankmeyer in 2024. She is currently a PhD Student at the University of Delaware in the Delaware Limb Loss Lab with a focus in clinical outcomes research. 

She earned a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a BA in Spanish from North Carolina State University. After she was introduced to the field during a summer spent with the Range of Motion Project in Guatemala, she attended Northwestern University for her Master of Prosthetics and Orthotics, completed her orthotics residency at the University of Michigan Orthotics and Prosthetics Center, and her prosthetics residency in North Carolina. 

When Claire is not seeing patients at our Baltimore Washington office, or working on new research as part of her PhD studies, she enjoys reading books, trying new sports, and hanging out with her husband and puppy. In college, she was on the club rowing team and continues to enjoy anything related to the water.

We are so happy to have Claire join our team. Say hello when you see her!

Celebrating Success at Dankmeyer: Congratulations to Amy and Jamie!

Sharing important staffing news!

As part of our work to provide the best O&P care, and to continue to invest in the growth and development of our Dankmeyer team, we had important staffing announcements in the last few months.

Amy Smith was promoted to the new position of Human Resources Manager. Amy is key in our efforts to centralize our HR functions. She is coordinating onboarding across all three offices, creating and monitoring growth and development programs, and working closely with other members of Dankmeyer leadership to identify the next great Dankmeyer hire! Amy also continues in her Marketing responsibilities and a number of data analysis functions - because she is very skilled at Excel, among other office tools. A native of Western Maryland, Amy started as a Patient Resources Representative at the Western Maryland office in 2014, and relocated to the Baltimore Washington office in 2016 as an Administrative Assistant. Amy’s skilled focus on organizing and executing a variety of Dankmeyer projects has led to her increased interest in the role that team engagement plays in our mission. We are excited to have Amy in this new HR role!

Jamie Dean started with Dankmeyer in 2014 as a Patient Services Representative at the Baltimore Washington office. Jamie was well known for starting Fathom Fridays, where she brought her service dog, Fathom, into the office once a month - much to the delight of patients and staff. Eventually Jamie relocated to the Eastern Shore office, and took on additional responsibilities to become a Patient Services Coordinator. While in Easton, Jamie began to explore the possibilities of becoming a Clinical Assistant and recently started an 18 month program to become a fully trained, ABC certified Clinical Assistant. An O&P Assistant performs patient management tasks, along with assisting in fabricating, repairing, and maintaining devices, under the supervision of a certified practitioner.  In preparation for this role, Jamie has taken classes in human anatomy, medical terminology, and orthotic fitting, and will continue her education both through in-house training and external courses over the next 18 months.  She plans to sit for the national ABC assistant board exams after her training is completed in March of 2025. For the time being, she will balance her studies and Dankmeyer training with her Patient Coordinator role in Easton. We are very excited that Jamie will be at the forefront of this new O&P role!