PODIATRY: STEPPING IN TO CARING FOR THE WHOLE PERSON

JOSEPH PARK DPM, FACFAS LESLEY ANNE BELLOWS MARKETING, MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS

The Podiatric Surgery Team at Riverside University Health System is offering comprehensive services that are nothing short of life-changing. After a discussion with Dr. Joseph Park, it’s clear that providing care for patients’ foot issues has come a long way over the past few decades. “What we have at RUHS is this system where we provide care for all patients with foot and ankle problems. That ranges from people with diabetic foot exams, all the way up to complex deformity and reconstruction.”

The podiatric surgery staff works in collaboration with multiple departments to help patients manage the challenges with their feet and basically everything below the knee. Providing the best care often involves a multidisciplinary approach, so while the podiatric team works primary on the foot and surrounding areas, internal medicine doctors help the patient to manage their diabetes, and vascular surgeons help improve blood flow to help things heal. Understanding that what they do is often tied to other areas of a person’s health, as well as their overall care plan, is an important and exciting part of what the podiatric surgery team does every day.

A large focus of the podiatric surgery team is helping those who haven’t been able to get the care they need. According to Dr. Park, “They’re just unable to find the time to go to the doctor’s office because they need to provide for their families. In doing that, they often neglect themselves, and by the time they see us, it’s in an emergent situation and we’re dealing with a limb salvage or life-saving situation.” While preventative care would be ideal, in cases where that wasn’t possible, RUHS’s podiatry staff can handle amputations, as well as complex surgeries to help people save their limbs, which is critical for quality of life.

“Mobility is life. If people don’t have the ability to ambulate independently, that decreases quality of life and longevity of life as well. People’s expected lifespan is dramatically decreased if they get an amputation,” notes Dr. Park. The podiatry team also works with patients after they are discharged, understanding that care doesn’t stop when the patient leaves the hospital. To ensure that patients are getting the proper home care, whether it’s a complex wound or a situation that requires a home health nurse visit, they coordinate that, as well as physical therapy to help them learn how to put weight back on their foot.

One thing about podiatry is very clear: there is a seemingly endless amount of challenges, as well as treatments. Dr. Park commented that while “infection and diabetes are a lot of what we do, but we also see people who have painful musculoskeletal deformities, like a bunion. We also see complexities such as a club foot that wasn’t treated properly when they were a child, and now they’re an adult and their foot is literally turned sideways. We can help them with everything, from the sports medicine side of things, all the way up to surgery.” Dr. Park believes that the variety of the day to day is the reason why most people pursue this field; they are rewarded with involvement in the full spectrum of patient care.

Dr. Park also noted that RUHS’s team is truly exceptional, in that all four of the attendings (Dr. Adrienne Estes, Dr. Rebecca Moellmer, Dr. Kelly Parks, and Dr. Park himself) are fellowship-trained, which is extremely rare in the podiatric world, as typically only 5 to 10% of this specialty have fellowship training. All four are also faculty at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Podiatric Medicine. Another example of the unique qualifications that the RUHS team has, is that Dr. Estes specializes in Charcot reconstruction. Dr. Park says that “many times a patient will come in for a second or third opinion, because they’ve been told that amputation is the only option. Sometimes, they do. But sometimes, we can help these patients and after multiple surgeries, and many months of care, they’re walking! Many times, we are able to save the foot!”

Admittedly, podiatric surgery has come a long way in the last few decades. Dr. Park observed that “in the last ten years or so, podiatric medicine and surgery is becoming more integrated with mainstream medicine. Most of our patients are very medically complex, so we’re working with diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease and everything in between!”

It’s clear that the podiatric surgery team has taken so many steps (pun intended) to elevate the quality of care that they provide to RUHS’s patients and they’re not finished yet. The team is expanding their services to include a limb salvage program, led by Dr. Molkara, and are also aiming to launch a residency program within the next few years. Dr. Park is looking forward to the future and said that “the team we have at RUHS is a unique group of individuals who are able to provide high level care. It is extremely rare to have this level of training in the podiatric world. It’s very exciting.”