There are many people out there supporting our Veterans in thousands of ways, and, occasionally, I run across someone doing something really special. 

One of those people is Dan Horkey, from Port Orchard, WA. Dan has a company that provides decorative prosthetic “tattoos” for amputees.   Horkey has just been approved by the VA as a government contractor, which will provide Veterans who are receiving prosthetic care with his service, free of charge.  

We were so impressed with what Dan was doing that the NVF sponsored his exhibit last June to attend the Amputee Coalition of America’s annual conference in Atlanta, GA, so he could spread the word about this outstanding new service. 

Dan is the founder and president of Global Tattoo Orthotic Prosthetic Innovations (GTOPI), and can now work with veteran hospitals throughout the U.S. to offer his tattoos for prosthetics and orthotics.

An amputee and former prosthetic technician, Dan designed his first tattoo for his own prosthetic leg.  The colorful, self-expression turned interaction with new people from something that was often awkward and uncomfortable into something much more positive.  Strangers, who might have stared or avoided contact with Horkey before, now complimented him on his tattoo.  Where the prosthetic had been a social barrier, it now connected him to others. 

“I felt more confident,” Horkey told me.  “I stood taller.” 

That is the experience he hopes to share with thousands of Veteran amputees throughout the country. 

Horkey has developed serveral patent pending methods for applying artwork and custom color designs to orthopedic braces and prosthetic limbs. The artwork allows fellow amputees to express their individual personality through designs or tattoos to the socket or cup, part of prosthetic limbs.    Military insignia, tattoo design and even pinstripes are some of the designs his company has created for prosthetics. 

GTOPI has provided custom design work on prosthetics though the VA Puget Sound Veterans Hospital in Seattle and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

For information, and to see some of GTOPI’s prosthetic tattoo designs, visit their website at www.gtopi.com.