Collaboration for Rehabilitation.

I WELCOME the opportunity to express my appreciation for the wonderful cooperation and assistance that the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration has enjoyed in our many close relationships with the National Academy of Sciences—National Research Council. Our associations with the Committee on Prosthetics Research and Development and the Committee on ProstheticOrthotic Education have been long and fruitful, and the contributions of these committees have been substantial in the development and coordination of the research and informational programs for the fields of prosthetics and orthotics. VRA is glad to be associated with the National Institutes of Health—which is another agency of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare—and with the Veterans Administration in supporting the CPRD program; and, naturally, we look with special pride on the CPOE program since we are its primary support. In our search for the judgment of the most knowledgeable people in each field which we support, the members of our National Advisory Council on Vocational Rehabilitation and the consultants on our Medical Advisory Committee have come to respect the professional competencies of the engineers, physicians, therapists, prosthetists, and orthotists who serve on CPRD. The professional advice and recommendations available to the Academy—Research Council on this basis assure impartial excellence in judgment and accessibility to professional skills that are not readily available from any other source in this country. I have been particularly impressed with the extensive informational program that CPOE has developed, especially the brochures, films, and slides for use in schools of medicine, physical therapy, and occupational therapy and for the work that has been initiated in the development of new amputee clinics in several of our State programs. There are special reasons why the functions of the Committees continue to hold special significance to our total rehabilitation program: State-Federal, research and demonstrations, and training activities.