DESIRÉE DECOSTE

STAFF WRITER

Foot care is often at the back of peoples minds and as they age however proper attention to one’s feet is a bellwether to better health.

The Prince Edward County Community Care for Seniors Association (PECCCSA) supports seniors to live at home and have been offering foot care clinics since 1983 with current locations of clinics being in Picton, Wellington and Rossmore.

Community Care has 863 clients on the roster for foot care with 70 people accessing foot care at the Rossmore clinic location alone.

Problems such as toenails hardening and being more difficult to cut combined with restricted mobility are among the challenges for seniors in our community.

For people living with diabetes, proper foot care is even more important as they have reduced blood flow to the feet which makes it harder to heal from an injury or resist infection.

Thanks to Lanny and Catherine Huff and the Huff Family Fund, a grant of $7,000 for a debridment machine and associated instruments are allowing the senior’s advocacy group to continue to provide high quality services for the community.

“Thank you to the Cornerstone Church for providing this beautiful room where we have been for the past four and a half years and thank you Huffs for providing the funds for us to enhance our instrumentation in this room,” expressed Debbie MacDonald Moynes, Executive Director for PECCCSA. “We’ve been able to standardize our instrumentation and our three clinics in the county. So it makes it wonderful for our patients and it’s a risk free environment for our practitioners and our patients.”

Foot care for seniors is provided by registered nurses (RN or RPN) with special training in health care of the feet. Nurses must complete a specialized foot care course in order to provide this service to seniors and others.

“We have six highly trained foot care nurses in pec that do the foot care for us. My experience recruiting nurses is they either love foot care or they run screaming in the other direction,” said Barbra Proctor, Chair of the board for PECCCSA. “But the nurses who love to do it really, really find it to be a wonderful vocation and it’s so helpful to the people we serve. Having this clinic in Ameliasburgh is so important for the people we support because in the winter time driving to Wellington or Picton from up here can be a real burden.”

A value added aspect of foot care is the client has a 1/2 hour private session with an RN every six weeks when health counselling can occur. Attendance at the Foot Care Clinic also gives the senior an opportunity for positive interactions with others in the waiting room and with the reception volunteer.

Foot Care Clinics are currently operated regularly in Picton, Wellington and Rossmore with the Cornerstone Church providing rent-free space for the Rossmore location since April of 2015.

“I am glad that we as stuarts can help out and give you guys here a room at the church,” added Henk Deboef, representative of Cornerstone Church.

The first visit for maintenance foot care is $30 with subsequent appointments being $25 a visit. Most seniors attend every six to eight weeks.

Other services offered by PECCCSA include delivery of hot and frozen meals, transportation to medical appointments and shopping, noon-time dinners for seniors in central locations, help with Income Tax, reassurance programs, caregiver support and respite, homemaking, yard work and home maintenance.

The agency is partly funded by the Ministry of Health and is supported by donations and community fundraising efforts.

The PECCCSA were also the winners of the Quinte Area Business Achievement Award in the not-for profit category.

For more information please call Prince Edward County Community Care at 613-476-7493 or visit communitycareforseniors.org

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