Foot care clinic for
Edinburgh’s homeless
“People who are homeless tend to
have specific foot health problems.
Many walk for miles every day but
don’t have access to foot healthcare
or good quality footwear, and may
not have a change of shoes. Also,
most people are out in all weathers,
they spend large amounts of time
standing on hard pavements, and
often they have no place to dry shoes
or socks. These difficulties can lead
to quite significant foot problems.”
A
team of kind-hearted
podiatrists from QMU gave
up their time on Christmas
Day and Boxing Day to run a foot
care clinic for homeless people in
Edinburgh.
When the rest of Scotland was
opening presents and tucking into
Christmas dinner at home, Evelyn
Weir, Lecturer in Podiatry at QMU
and lead podiatry volunteer for Crisis,
and 12 podiatry students, offered a
twelve-hour long specialist podiatry
service for single individuals who live
on the streets.
The QMU team volunteered with the
‘Crisis at Christmas’ project run by
the charity Crisis which helps single
homeless people.
As well as offering some much
needed foot care for the winter
months, the Christmas Day and
Boxing Day Crisis events offered
homeless people services such as
hairdressing and massage, along
with opportunities to try arts and
crafts, as well as providing breakfast,
a hot Christmas meal, and supper on
each day.
Evelyn Weir has spent the last twenty
years volunteering with homeless
charities and was delighted that a
team of students offered, for the
second year in a row, to support her
work at Christmas. She explained:
12
QMYOU / Health & Rehabilitation
Evelyn and her team of students on
QMU’s BSc (Hons) Podiatry provided
a podiatry service to a high number
of male and female homeless people
each day. This included providing
relaxing foot baths, offering general
foot care treatments and advice, and
the supply of new warm socks for
everyone.
Evelyn said: “The podiatry service
was again very popular over the two
days this year and we were in high
demand. I was really heartened that
some of our students volunteered
to support this project. I was also
overwhelmed by the generosity of
our sponsors – Algeos, C&P Medical
and support from QMU senior
management. Sponsors provided
absolutely everything on our project
wish list – from essential medical
supplies and instruments to new
winter socks.
“We had two fantastic days. The
students worked really hard, non-
stop at times on Christmas Day,
and we all enjoyed the experience.
We are already planning for projects
throughout the year and for
Christmas 2015!”
Dr Fiona Coutts, QMU’s Dean of
Health Sciences, said: “This is a
great learning opportunity for our
podiatry students. Not only do
they develop both their clinical and
interpersonal skills, an opportunity
like this enhances their student
experience. Once again, this project
is an excellent example of Queen
Margaret’s mission of improving
quality of life.” ❒