Sweet feet
GMH foot clinics offer more than toenail trims
By Elizabeth Barrett
September 22, 2007
Evelyn Elsasser loves pampering.
Especially when it comes to her feet.
That’s why the 88-year-old Brady resident drives to Gothenburg Memorial Hospital each month for the community health department’s bi-monthly foot care clinic.
“It’s nice to have someone do my feet and keep my toenails trimmed,” Elsasser said as her feet soaked in warm water mixed with anti-bacterial soap. “I get ingrown nails so it’s important to keep my nails trimmed.”
Deb Hecox, a registered nurse at GMH, said she looks forward to providing foot care at GMH and at a nursing home in Arnold because she enjoys visiting with patients while caring for their feet.
Even though most are elderly, she said anyone with foot problems is eligible for the service which costs $15 a visit.
“And if we can’t take care of it, we refer them on,” Hecox said. The clinic begins with a 10-minute soak to clean both feet followed by cleaning underneath and clipping toenails.
Hecox and the other nurses who provide the service also use emery boards and even a small drill to smooth the tops of nails and pare down calluses.
A quick foot massage with lotion or petroleum jelly ends the session.
One of the most important things about the clinic, Hecox said, is the service it provides to diabetics.
“A lot of diabetics lose sensation in their feet so foot care for them is huge,” she explained about a condition called neuropathy.
As a result, foot-care givers use a special instrument to touch and record places on a diabetic’s feet where sensation has been lost.
They also watch for sores or cuts, Hecox said, as decreased blood flow from the disease means slow-healing injuries.
Petroleum jelly is also applied at the end of a treatment as it’s the best to keep skin moisturized, she noted.
Perhaps the most common problem for anyone who seeks foot care, Hecox said, is fungus which can be treated by medicine or cream. Patients with such problems or others are referred to a foot specialist.
Foot care is especially important to older people, she said, because many can’t bend far enough to clean and trim their toenails. Others aren’t strong enough use clippers.
“And some can’t see well enough to take care of their feet and toenails,” Hecox said, noting that diabetics have to be especially careful not to nick themselves while clipping nails.
GMH nurses used to offer foot-care clinics at the Gothenburg Senior Center but Hecox said it became difficult to provide while sitting on the floor with patients seated in folding chairs.
In the outpatient rooms where the service is now available, patients sit on an examination table that can be raised and lowered.
“It’s much more comfortable for both of us,” she said.
One challenge to the service is handling patients with particularly sensitive feet.
“Ticklish feet can be a problem,” Hecox said. “We had to divert one man’s attention who sat there chuckling in his chair.”
Caring for people’s feet is a project.
“If they’re icky feet then I do what I have to to make them look better,” she said. “ I hope they feel better too.
“That’s our goal.”
Foot clinics are offered in Gothenburg the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month and in Arnold the first Wednesday of each month.
For more information or to make an appointment, call outpatient scheduling at 537-3661.
ebarrett@gothenburgtimes.com308-537-3636
Sweet feet
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