Feet happy to move on

By Lia Bichel
SOUTHERN Health has made a big step forward in diabetes treatment with their new Happy Feet program.
Casey residents are among those in Melbourne’s south-east who will benefit from nearby important foot care services.
Happy Feet, an initiative of South East Diabetes, is a support for people with diabetes at risk of developing foot related conditions, Health Minister Daniel Andrews said.
“Complications related to diabetes mean people with the disease risk foot complications including ulceration, infection and amputation,” he said.
“Foot disease and amputations in particular have a significant impact on the quality of life for people with diabetes.”
Mr Andrews visited the service with Dandenong MP John Pandazopolous, Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan and Narre Warren South MP Judith Graley.
Mr Andrews said the treatments offered by Happy Feet included wound and infection management, functional diabetic foot assessments, vascular surgery and rehabilitation of advanced diabetic foot and leg conditions.
“It also provides education and prevention strategies to people at risk of diabetic-related foot conditions,” he said.
The program was launched at Monash Medical Centre Clayton in July 2009 and moved to Dandenong in March.
Southern Health Chief Executive Shelly Park said it was important for services to be provided where they were needed most.
“We are committed to providing the best patient outcomes across all our sites. Foot disease and amputations, in particular, have a significant impact on the quality of life for people with diabetes,” she said.
Since it began, the service’s Multi-disciplinary High Risk Foot clinic has provided 510 treatments and the Diabetic Foot Unit has provided 579 treatments for 98 patients.
The Happy Feet service is linked to other high risk foot services in Melbourne and community podiatry services to improve accessibility to specialised local services.