10C profile 2014
Advertising Supplement to the Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine, Saturday, April 26, 2014
Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab & Foot Care Center By Duke Harrington Feature Writer / Photographer
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ruce MacDonald had been in the business of making and selling shoes his entire adult life when something unexpected occurred to him. “I rea l i zed I d id n’t act ua lly k now any t hing about t he foot,” he s a id . “T he hand-sewn, hi-end product I had made for most of my life really isn’t a good shoe, orthopedically.” That revelat ion ca me not long after MacDona ld, 63, was forced to shut down his MacDonald Footwear factory in Skowhegan after losing too many orders to cheap, overseas labor. Starting over f rom scratch, MacDona ld took work for other companies, even selling tractors for a time, while learning everything he could about every muscle and all 26 bones in the foot. Chinese companies might be able to undersell him w it h mass-produced, generic shoes, MacDonald knew, but they could not hope to compete with American ingenuity and craftsmanship. Finally, in 2006, four years after shuttering his 92-person plant, MacDonald founded Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab with four workers, operating out of a leased garage in Leeds. The company grew quick ly and w ithin a year MacDonald moved it to Livermore Falls, where he took over a former roller rink at 175 Park Street. That provided enough space for an 8,000-squarefoot manufacturing facility and, later, a 2,000-square-foot retail showroom. A lt houg h la rgely founded to fill doctor prescriptions for specific shoe and brace needs, including diabet ic shoes and inserts, custom orthotics, braces and other durable medica l supplies, w a l k-i n c u s t o m e r s n o w account for 43 percent of Pine Tree’s business -- up from 10 percent when the storefront opened in 2008. For each and ever y retail customer, Pine Tree provides a free foot analysis. According to industry statistics, the average American takes 8,000 steps a day, with one and a half times his or her body weight coming down on an area of the heel bone about the size of a nickel with each step, reverberating up through the knees, hips and lower back. And yet, only 17 percent of people with pain attributable to the feet ever see a doctor. Pine Tree will make a referral to a doctor when one is required, but fills
every other foot need, including modification to any of the quality brands they have in stock. “We came to Livermore Falls for manufacturing, because t here were shoe workers living here who had the skills, who we felt we could train to work on orthopedic appliances,” said MacDonald. “But then we thought we’d try and serve people in the area as well. Economics 101 might tell you that Livermore Falls isn’t the best place for a shoe store, but today we draw people from all over, from Bangor to Boston.” That draw ing power, sa id MacDonald, is largely due to Pine Tree Orthopedic’s workforce, which now numbers 14.
Whether you need to customize one of many brands available in Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab’s showroom at 175 Park Street in Livermore Falls, or require something custom made, company president Bruce MacDonald, pictured, says his eight-year-old company can meet your needs. “We stock comfort shoes in all sizes and widths and for any lifestyle or activity .We’ve got a shoe that will make your feet happy again, from high-end hiking boots to casual clogs and sandals.”
“No one is exactly like us in Maine, because we put a lot of money into education,” said MacDonald, noting that in addition to himself and his son Todd MacDonald, who serves as Pine Tree’s operat ions ma nager, t wo ot her company employees also are certified pedorthists.
Bruce MacDonald, founder and president of Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab in Livermore Falls, stands at the door of the 40-foot-long trailer his company trucks to more than 50 businesses statewide, bringing safety shoes and inserts and other foot care items to aid workers with a host of foot, leg, and back problems such as plantar fasccittis, the microscopic tears and swelling of the fascia of the foot usually located in the area in front of the heel bone.
“No one else has four certified pedorthists on staff in one location in Maine,” he said. “And whatever someone n e e d s , f r om p r e s c r i b e d orthopedics to simple shoe modifications, we can do it right here, we don’t have to send it out to someone who has no connection to the end user.”
Licensed pedorthist and third-generation shoe maker Todd MacDonald, vice president and operations manager of Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab in Livermore Falls, preps a hi-tech CNC ( computer numerical controlled) milling machine used to make orthopedic shoe inserts crafted to the individual needs of each customer.
In fact, Pine Tree Orthopedics boasts a turn-around time on braces of less than 48 hours, putting to shame the national average of four weeks.
Joleen Mills, a Livermore Falls resident with more than 17 years of experience in the shoe industry.
“We’re one of only t wo or three labs in the country that have this technology,” said MacDonald, “but apart from that, what we provide here is not just your basic, white ort ho. W hatever someone wants, for any lifest yle or activity, we’ve got a shoe that fits the bill, from high-end hiking boot to casual clogs and sandals. “It’s true, we don’t sell a cheap $19 sneaker,” said MacDona ld. “W hat we do prov ide is hig h-qua lit y shoes a nd inserts, along with custommade foot orthosis and shoe mod i f icat ions desig ned to a llev iate people’s pain, because we’re not walking on dirt anymore. We’re walking all day on hard surfaces the foot was not designed for.” Among Pine Tree’s employees, all of whom are cross-trained on a host of manufacturing steps, with many also logging time working directly with customers in the retail store, is
“W hat I rea l ly l i ke about my work here,” she said, “is k now ing t hat ever y single item I work on is helping someone live a better life.” And, while many Pine Tree workers, like Mills, and MacDonald himself, came from traditional shoe shops, others, like Mike Leary of Wilton, a former newspaper production super visor, arrived following a recession-fueled career change. “Ever y single thing I know about making custom shoes, I learned right here from three generations of MacDonalds” he said, while using a laser scanner to create a computer model for the creation of an individualized ankle brace. The first generation Lear y refer s to i s MacDona ld’s father, Robert MacDonald, who started out sewing shoes by ha nd at t he Nor w a l k factory in Skowhegan, soon after arriving home from the Marines in 1946. The elder MacDona ld advanced through the years, preforming nearly every job the shoe industry had to offer, from production line to front office. “I guess I was lucky, I took it one step at a time and always had bosses who t hought I knew something,” he said, modestly, while cutting the pattern to a leat her brace cover for an amputee victim.
Joleen Mills of Livermore Falls with more than 17 years of stitching experience in the shoe business is sewing the leather on a custom AFO. One of thousands made to precise, individual needs each year at Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab, located at 175 Park St. in Livermore Falls.
At 88, Robert MacDonald, who eventually became vice president of operations at Stride Rite Shoe, even opening the company’s factory in Haiti,
mostly works his own schedule. Of course, that sometimes means logging a full workday that starts at 3 a.m., if that’s when he happens to get up. “I’ve a lways worked seven days a week,” he said. “There’s a lot of people out there who need special shoes and it feels good to do this.”
A CNC (computer numerical controlled) milling machine, used to make custom orthotics crafted to the individual needs of each customer, is put through its paces at the Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab, an 8,000-square-foot manufacturing plant located at 175 Park St. in Livermore Falls.
In truth, the old Yankee work ethic all three MacDonalds share has rubbed off on each of their employees, down to the youngest, Jacob Jackson of Carthage, hired right out of high school.
During the construction process of an AFO (ankle foot orthosis) at Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab in Livermore Falls. Justin Jackson of Carthage trims to exacting specifications a brace made by draping hot polypropylene plastic over a positive mold of the patients lower leg and foot.
“He’s become one of the best shoe-modification guys I’ve ever seen. He’s got great hand skills,” said Bruce MacDonald, during a tour of the Pine Tree plant. “I’m all for onthe-job training, and this is intense, hands-on, training. “Really, we have a great staff w e r e ,” s a id M a c D on a ld . “They’re t he reason we’re making thousands of braces per year, and why we’ve been quietly growing each year.” For the MacDonalds and their staff, not to mention their legions of customers, shoe manufacturing in Maine is alive and well. “You live and breath it and once it gets in your blood it’s all you want to do,” said MacDonald, with a hearty smile.
Tanya Meisner of Livermore Falls works on trimming the custom orthotic , made to precise measurements, at Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab, located at 175 Park St. in Livermore Falls.
175 Park Street, Livermore Falls, ME 04254 Open 8-5 Mon-Fri & 8-2 Sat
Call us at (207) 897-5558 www.pinetreeorthopedic.com
Do you suffer from foot, knee or back pain?
We can help!
Free Foot evaluations, Large inventory with widths up to 6E(XXW) Large selection of Safety and comfort shoes and boots by:
Robert MacDonald, 88, in the shoe business since 1946, works on a specialized shoe for an amputee at Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab, run by his son Bruce and grandson Todd, in Livermore Falls.
Mike Leary of Wilton uses a laser scanner, the first step in creating a positive model of a patients lower leg and foot. Once the positive model has been finished it will then be used for manufacturing a custom AFO( ankle foot orthosis) which is used to treat many medical conditions of the foot and ankle. Thousands of these braces are made each year by Pine Tree Orthopedic Lab and shipped to doctors and O&P facilities across the USA. .
4 Certified Pedorthists on staff trained to help you today!
SPRING OPEN HOUSE APRIL 25 & 26 WITH DISCOUNTS AND GIVEAWAYS!