Report: Maryland Prosthetics Company Pledges Help for Boston Bombing Victims

Dankmeyer Inc., a prosthetic company with offices throughout Maryland, has joined a coalition that pledges to cover out-of-pocket health care costs for Boston bombing victims who require prosthetics, according to a recent report by Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ.

Mark Hopkins, the clinical director for Dankmeyer, told WJZ that "[if] the folks who are coming back from Boston require care, require any type of prosthesis, we are going to make sure that they are going to get that.”

One such victim is Timonium pre-school teacher Erika Brannock, who was at the marathon to cheer her mother. Another victim is Heather Abbott, a 38-year-old Rhode Island woman whose left leg was amputated below the knee. The injury will force her to use a prosthetic device.

“Although the prosthetic is something I’ll have to get used to, I think I’ll have a better chance of living my life the way I used to with that,” Abbott told WJZ.

According to the story, prosthetic devices can cost between $8,000 and $80,000 and many insurance companies limit the amount they will pay.

Dankmeyer has offered to pay for Brannock’s prosthetic services if need be.

“Even though it’s early in the lives of these folks post-amputation to be thinking about prostheses, we want to reassure them that the services will be there for them and they can set that aside and focus on the other aspects of their recovery,” Hopkins stated.

Friends and family of Brannock have also started a fund to help cover her other medical costs.