INDUSTRYNEWS
ABC Seeking
Nominations for its
Board of Directors
The American Board for Certification
in Orthotics, Prosthetics and Pedorthics
(ABC) is seeking nominees for two
positions on its Board of Directors.
The open positions are for Director
and Public Member Director. Each
position entails a four-year commitment
beginning December 1, 2013.
The selected directors will be voting
members of the board and will
participate in overseeing general
management of the organization’s
affairs, including policy development,
governance and budgetary matters.
Nominees for the open director positions
must be ABC certified orthotists,
prosthetists or pedorthists and must
have a record of volunteer involvement
with ABC or the former Board for
Certification in Pedorthics (BCP).
Nominees for the open Public Member
Director position represent the interests
of consumers, O&P patients and other
public groups. Ideal candidates will have
some experience related to the O&P
profession.
All submitted nominations will be
evaluated by the ABC Nominations
Committee and the ABC Board of
Directors. This selection process follows
norms for certification boards and is
fully compliant with the standards of
the National Commission for Certifying
Agencies, NCCA.
The deadline for submission of
nominations is June 1, 2013. For more
information or to formally submit
a nomination, please contact Steve
Fletcher, CPO, LPO at sfletcher@abcop.
org or (703) 836-7114, ext. 216.
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Pedorthic Footcare Association www.pedorthics.org
The Diabetic Amputation
Prevention Project
(DAPP) at Barry
University’s School of
Podiatric Medicine
The School of Podiatric Medicine at
Barry University has received funding
from the State of Florida Department
of Education to establish the Diabetic
Amputation Prevention Project (DAPP) at
the University’s Paul and Margaret Brand
Research Center.
The goal of this project is to provide
preventive care for highest risk diabetic feet
that results in economic savings to the State
of Florida through prevention of wound
recurrence and subsequent amputation.
The preventive care implemented for this
study focuses on therapeutic/protective
footwear and insoles, increased clinic
visits to monitor health of feet, incentives
given to encourage compliance with
prevention protocols, and patient education
on the risks associated with diabetic foot
complications. The project will conclude
June 30, 2013.
The project’s design includes a
retrospective study to assess current
amputation prevention models
implemented in wound-care clinics, as well
as a prospective study. Potential participants
will be identified as those patients at
wound-care clinics that are determined to
be at highest risk for wound recurrence,
i.e., those patients that present with a
minimum of one-week healed forefoot
wound.
Shoes and insoles will be provided to the
participants based upon podiatric and
pedorthic assessment, and participants will
return to their respective clinics monthly
for follow-up for the duration of the project.
Barry University podiatric medical students
will be engaged in the study; these students
will be provided with advanced training on
the construction of therapeutic/protective
footwear for the diabetic patient as well as
other areas of podiatric training including
screening patients for loss of sensation,
management of foot complications and
treatment of diabetic foot ulcers.
The researchers at Barry University’s School
of Podiatric Medicine hope to be able to
secure future funding to develop additional
programs that will help to reduce, and
ultimately prevent, complications of the
diabetic foot.
“The preventive care implemented for this
study focuses on therapeutic/protective
footwear and insoles, increased clinic visits
to monitor health of feet, incentives given
to encourage compliance with prevention
protocols, and patient education on the risks
associated with diabetic foot complications.”