Firstly, I would like to start by saying how touched I have been by the huge and generous response to my late Father’s charity appeal for unwanted glasses. Thank you.
Despite being overshadowed by the Covid-19 Pandemic, many of you have continued to donate. I have received an overwhelming response and collected over 70 . I plan to continue our appeal throughout the summer months, so please call us and we will arrange collection.
Your response to my appeal and Our National response to the Covid-19 crisis is a testament of how charity and care for and towards each other is an essential part of who we are and that ultimately we are all connected and need each other.
Like many, we are struggling to know what to do and how we can help our fellow brothers and sisters. In today’s article I would like to share what we are doing.
We closed during the first round of the ‘lockdown’ on 28th March 2020, whilst continuing to offer remote telephone consultations.
- We will triage staff and patients for COVID symptoms using an infrared thermometer and make available masks and hand gel for use by everyone.
- The therapist will be wearing PPE which includes a disposable face mask, face shield and apron.
- The clinic will only be manned by the therapist on duty to reduce social contact.
- We will create a 15-30-minute gap between each patient to ensure they do not meet and avoid any waiting time.
- During treatments, we will continue to follow our high clinical standard of care, cleanliness, and cross-infection policies. As we have always done, treatments will be carried out using medically sterile instruments and wherever possible use of single-use disposable consumables.
- We will take card payments and encourage contactless mobile device payment methods.
We appreciate it is important to continue providing our service to ensure everyone remains comfortable. In the immortal words of Freddie Mercury ‘The show MUST go on’.
Therefore, we reopened during the second round of ‘lockdown’ on 20th April 2020 to treat ‘key workers’, painful foot conditions and clinical emergencies and have adopted a robust Covid-19 cross infection policy to safeguard our staff and patients:
Footcare Tips
Although proper footcare is always vital, it is even more important now to remain comfortable and maintain your daily exercise and key worker duties. I will be publishing a more detailed article on our website this month but for now here are some basic steps on how you can look after your feet and what to look out for;
Wash and examine feet daily and dry carefully especially between toes.
Use moisturiser and exfoliating gloves to manage dry and hardskin. Do NOT use corn plasters. They contain acid and can cause severe injury and infections.
When indoors wear comfortable indoor slippers or if busy on your feet, wear shoes. Remember this is the longest we have been at home.
When going for daily walks, use comfortable lace up walking shoes or trainers and wash/dry your feet when you come home.
Trim your nails every two weeks following the shape of the end of your toe. Do not cut too low or down the sides to avoid ingrown toenails.
There are some international reports that COVID patients are presenting with blisters and rashes on their feet. If you are at all concerned about this or anything else on your feet please contact us.
We will continue to give remote telephone and video consultations Free of Charge to anyone who needs advice on a foot problem or how to remain comfortable.
Our best wishes to you and all during this challenging and life-changing period.
Be safe, remain home and stay active.
Thanks for reading, Firoz