(mellow music)
- My name is Ray McCarroll.
I'm a podiatrist at both the Easton
as well as at the Schoenersville campus
in the foot and ankle department.
As a podiatrist, I treat not only ingrown nails;
plantar fasciitis;
tendon problems, such as Achilles tendinitis;
the flat foot deformities;
cavus foot deformities, or high arch foot deformities;
as well as trauma, such as ankle fractures,
fractures of the foot, and [rare] foot.
Originally, I wanted to be a podiatrist
because when I was a child,
I did typical things like every other child.
Every day, I went to see the podiatrist, and he said,
"I need to stop work at 3:00
"because I'm fly fishing in the afternoon."
I thought, "This is a great profession,"
because I was very much into fly fishing at the time.
Unfortunately, I fly fish now five times a year.
I chose podiatry over general orthopedics
because I like working more so with small bones.
I also like the fact that I didn't have to work
specifically with life-and-death matters,
as I have a hard time doing that
as I largely work with children as well.
I did my undergraduate training at IUP,
and then spent four years
at the podiatry school in Philadelphia.
Then, I pursued four years of surgical education
at the University of Pennsylvania Health Systems
at Presbyterian Hospital.
In those four years, we spent time working
both with trauma, pediatrics,
as well as reconstructive surgery
for the average individual who sustained both injuries
as well as malalignment,
or deformities that occurred over time.
One of the most common things
that we have to educate our patients on,
especially our diabetic patients,
is that as you get older,
you'll actually lose the sensation in your feet.
One of the most common problems that we see,
especially in diabetics,
is loss of a toe or foot due to that lack of sensation.
What we always ask people to do is inspect
the bottom of their feet daily,
as they could step on a tack, a thorn,
a splinter, a toothpick,
and they won't even realize it until four or five days later
when there's a raging infection,
and now there's risk for limb threat.
Acquired flat foot deformity is something
that we see very, very commonly.
It's usually caused by a tendon imbalance,
or a tendon rupture.
It's very common for people to lose the ability
to turn their foot inward.
They'll actually notice that their toes are
pointing more outward.
They'll also complain about knee complaints,
as their knee turns or rotates outward,
creating arthritis in the knee,
as well as medial meniscus problems.
That type of flat foot can be addressed
both with bracing, orthotics, physical therapy or,
in the most severe cases, surgical intervention.
This is something that really affects people's
quality of life,
because as we're getting older now,
we're working and doing things much more actively
than what we did in generations past.
Unlike many other areas where
there's a team of physicians
dealing with one individual problem or set of problems,
there's still often a need to go outside
to another big referral center,
such as Philadelphia or New York.
Here at Coordinated Health, we have physicians
that cover the full scope of practice
in both podiatry, as well as foot and ankle surgery.
There's really no individual problem
that cannot be addressed with our team.
One of the things I really enjoy at this point
is the fact that my son is now old enough
to start playing tennis.
He's now a member of the Racquet Club.
We actually go out at least
two or three times a week to do that.
He's actually getting good enough now
that he does beat me up a little bit,
and I'm starting to feel my age.
Other than that, my daughter's very avid in cheer leading,
and I am the official cheer leading dad.
I don't do so much of the stuff with their uniforms,
but short of that, the rest of the stuff falls to me.
I do enjoy hunting.
I've been to various areas, including Alaska,
Africa, northern Quebec, Colorado,
as well as here in Pennsylvania.
I always try to make sure that I at least get my dad out
once a year to blow the dust off of him,
and get a little cardiovascular exercise.
The best thing about being part
of the foot and ankle department at Coordinated Health
largely revolves around each
of our own individual interests.
Some of us like certain procedures.
Others of us like other procedures.
The nice thing is we can actually refer
within our own group to provide the patient
with the best experience and the best surgical hands.
There's no issues at all with, "It's my patient.
"It's his patient. It's your patient."
It's actually all about the patient.
Another advantage is,
with all the different specialties
here at Coordinated Health,
it's not uncommon to actually have a patient
come in and say, "My knee's hurting and my foot's hurting."
Very often, they're related, and other times, they're not,
but we have the advantage
of actually setting up an appointment immediately.
There's also a very good chance that,
with that same day or within 24 hours,
they'll actually see that other specialist,
and there won't be any loss in continuity of care.
I think overall I get the most satisfaction in my job
when I see somebody limping into the office
as an initial patient, and then by the time they leave,
whether it be two days, two weeks, or two months later,
they're actually walking normally
and returning to their normal quality of life.
(mellow music)