People who experience homelessness often have foot issues because they are on their feet all day. Upstate Medical University’s Helping Hands for Forgotten Feet was formed about 10 years ago to provide monthly foot care and health screenings to women and men experiencing homelessness. Now it has received a 2022 Hope Award from the Rescue Mission Alliance.
Upstate won a Community Hope Award for its monthly clinic held at the Kiesewetter Shelter on Dickerson Street in Syracuse.
Helping Hands for Forgotten Feet (HHFF) is one of Upstate’s Service-Learning groups. Run by four student leaders, a group of eight first- and second-year medical students meet monthly at the shelter to run the clinic with the help of Barbara Feuerstein, MD, associate professor of medicine, who oversees the program, and several local podiatrists who volunteer their time. Feuerstein, an endocrinologist at the Joslin Center, does a general health screening that includes a diabetes screening with the help of the students.
Ryan D’Amico, DPM, of Syracuse Podiatry, who has volunteered since the program’s inception, said the program is important because many of the patients never realized there are solutions to their foot problems.
“We can show them that caring for their feet, their foundation, will have a profound effect on the rest of their body,” he said. “It’s gratifying to see a patient limp into the clinic and sometimes you’re able to make such an impact, they almost dance out.”
Feuerstein and D’Amico both stressed how grateful the patients often are. As helpful as it is for the patients, it is also a valuable experience for the medical students.
Read more on the Upstate foot care program and its impact on the community.
