The Amputee Coalition announced that it has signed its first peer support affiliation agreement with MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital.

The agreement allows MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital to use Coalition materials and guidelines for peer visitation and to have an official trainer on staff for training peer visitors. The Coalition will assist in integrating the program, training staff and providing materials, according to a press release.

The agreement will pave the way for other hospitals and rehabilitation facilities to incorporate the Coalition’s peer support program into their facilities. The Coalition will be seeking agreements with other hospitals around the country, particularly Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities-accredited rehabilitation facilities.

“Those who benefit the most from this relationship will be patients of the MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital because this will set the system in place to ensure that every patient who wants a peer visit will be able to get one,” Sue Stout, chief policy and programs officer of the Amputee Coalition, stated in the release.