About 40 people had a foot amputated last year in Belize. It doesn’t
sound like a lot but for the Belize Diabetes Association it is 40 too many since
most of the amputees are diabetic – and most of the amputations were preventable.
And that is where foot care comes in along with the forty foot care assistants
who are being trained to diagnose crusts in nails, calluses, corns, and warning
signs of other foot problems that could end in amputation. Owen Bernard from
Jamaica is the facilitator.
Owen Bernard, Podiatrist
“We do not have enough podiatrists in Belize, or Jamaica and other
Caribbean islands so we have developed this foot care assistant course where
we have come up with a strategy to train people in foot care assistant and that
involves dealing with basic foot problems such as the thick crusts in nails,
the callus, the corns etc. – those sort of things. A lot of these problems
if you are diabetic and you have them it could lead to amputation.”
Anthony Castillo, President – Belize Diabetes Assoc.
“We at the association have been seeing quite a number of persons
being amputated, especially persons with diabetes. While at this point in time
there is no statistic to show why and how many persons receive amputation, we
believe at the association that there are much too many persons being amputated
due to the complications of diabetes.”
Owen Bernard,
“The whole idea behind this is to prevent amputation rate right across 
the Caribbean and worldwide indeed is very high. It is sad. Not because you
have diabetes it is not inevitable that you will lose a limb.”
Anthony Castillo,
“We believe that we do not need to have so much amputations and so
if we train our persons in exactly how to care for the feet, we will be seeing
less amputations related to diabetes.”
Owen Bernard,
“Younger people are developing diabetes and if you have diabetes it
could lead to one of the complications which is foot problems and the job is
to by having these foot care assistants is to prevent amputations.”
The training continues tomorrow morning – and in the afternoon
it will be your turn. Owen Bernard along with his newly trained assistants will
be holding a free foot care clinic at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Bernard
says the clinic will be opened to anyone who has a foot problem – whether
it’s crust in nails, calluses, or corns. And there’s no reason not
to do it, because it will be free.
Owen Bernard,
“We would encourage anybody out there who thinks that they may have
any corn, calluses, and those things and they want to have their feet inspected
we would encourage them to take advantage of this because at the end of the
day the students need to practice you see. They need to see as many people as
possible to expose them to it so when it comes for them to go into the field
they will be able to identify problems more effectively.”
Anthony Castillo,
“I would like to encourage person to come to our clinic from noon
tomorrow to all Wednesday to get their feet checked. When you have diabetes,
one of the complications is the loss of that feeling and that sensation, the
nerve in your feet and things happen to your feet and you are not aware. You
need to come to the clinic and learn exactly how to care for the feet so that
we can have less amputations.”
The foot care clinic will be held Tuesday afternoon and all of Wednesday
at the KHMH during regular opening hours. It moves to Orange Walk for Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday. Next Monday and Tuesday the foot doctor will be in Belmopan,
and next week Wednesday and Thursday he will be in Dangriga.
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