Bayside's podiatry team is playing an important role in getting patients with complex foot health issues back on their feet.
Led by Advanced Podiatrist Anthea Lawson and Podiatrist Stephanie Finlayson, the team focuses on acute foot care, including foot ulcers and chronic pressure injures that fail to heal properly.
“You don’t realise how important your feet are until you can’t use them,” Anthea said. “We look after a complex cohort with conditions such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease, which can cause poor blood flow and nerve damage, which makes healing difficult.
“Without treatment, the person may need hospital treatment for IV antibiotics, surgical intervention, and in the worst case, they might present a risk of amputation.
“In addition to the outpatient service, we also see patients in the hospital with foot wounds before they are discharged in order to help give them the best chance to heal.”
Anthea and Stephanie said their job was incredibly rewarding - to improve lives and support patients back to good foot health.
Stephanie’s journey to her profession began with a personal connection.
“My grandmother was a chiropodist, an early form of podiatry, and when she became too old to reach her own feet, she taught me to how care for them. It became a special way of us spending time together and something that I loved to help her with.
“Then I realised that it could be a career with real job satisfaction, so I decided to train as a podiatrist and found that I had a special interest in high-risk footcare,” she explained.
Anthea said she shared the same passion and after graduating from university in Brisbane, moved to Singapore to build a unique skill set.
“It’s a niche field, but when you work in high-risk care, you see how critical our role is.”
Both Anthea and Stephanie said they were lucky to have trained in different settings such as Indigenous healthcare, inpatient settings and private practice. It allows us to bring diverse knowledge and offer our patients person-centred care.