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- Hi, my name is Lori Barnett.
I'm a podiatrist at Coordinated Health.
I've been here since 2001,
and I work in the Allentown campus,
the Bethlehem campus, and the Emmaus campus.
A colleague of mine had asked me to join Coordinated Health.
I was in my own solo practice and at the time,
I just had had my second child,
and felt that perhaps I needed to change
the way I was doing my work.
I loved the idea of the coordinated care
that Coordinated Health provided,
and was very happy to join Coordinated Health in 2001.
One of the things that we see as podiatrists
is a lot of dermatological problems,
so anything that's nail-related, skin-related,
to the more musculoskeletal,
which is ankle sprains or plantar fasciitis.
I also see anything from taking out a splinter
to hammer toes and bunions,
which are deformities of the foot.
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology
at the University of Maryland.
I graduated and then worked for a year
as a physical therapist assistant
in an orthopedic practice
doing ACL reconstructive post-op care.
During my tenure at Maryland,
I had a full tuition scholarship as an athletic trainer
for the Division I school.
I had a wonderful, great time doing athletic training
with the women's basketball team.
The women's lacrosse team had an undefeated season,
so athletic training really opened the doors for me.
From that point, I started looking at podiatry school,
and went to the Dr. Williams Scholl College
of Podiatric Medicine.
I did four years of podiatry school.
During my undergrad, I was an athletic trainer.
From podiatry school, I did a surgical residency
at Roseland Surgical Center with hospital rotations
at Saint Mikes in Newark.
From there, I started my own practice in Emmaus in 1991.
Helpful tips from a podiatric perspective would be,
basically, keeping your feet clean and dry,
good supportive shoes, ice always helps,
and anti-inflammatory skin helps.
Those are the first things you need to do
before you come in to a podiatrist's office.
Just get started on that routine,
and then we can take it from there.
I was a runner in high school.
My friend Sharon and I ended up starting
the women's cross-country team at our high school.
It was a lot of fun. We had a great time.
Unfortunately, I developed shin splints.
She developed a stress fracture,
and from there, we ended up, basically,
running through those injuries.
It gave me an interest in injuries,
and trying to get through those injuries.
That gave me the interest in athletic training,
and then into podiatry.
I'd like to say that I'm still a runner,
but I'm a walker with my dogs every day.
I'm mostly a cyclist.
My husband's a very avid cyclist,
and we enjoy cycling through the hills of Pennsylvania.
It's very challenging, but he pulls me through.
It's a lot of fun. We have a great time.
One of the things I think that's really important
when you do have a foot problem is to cross-train,
because you want to keep all your muscles
that are being used in shape.
They also help the rest of your body heal.
Plus, I do think that gives you a good mental attitude
towards getting over your injury, if you can cross-train.
What I mean by that is, if you're a treadmill walker,
that's not a really good idea when you have a foot problem.
So, if they can do a non-impact aerobics,
or modify an aerobics class to accommodate,
they usually develop new interests.
They find that they like cycling,
or they like something else to do,
Zumba, or yoga, or Pilates, or something like that.
One of the things, I think, that's different is
that while we each see our own patients,
we can cross-reference and really help each other
do the best job for each other's patient.
Coordinated Health provides what it says
in its name, coordinated health.
You walk in the door and if your shoulder hurts,
we'll refer you downstairs, or upstairs,
or on the next floor to the shoulder specialist.
If your foot hurts, we can get an X-ray right away.
Our radiologist can be consulted.
We have the access to each other's expertise,
and each person comes with a whole set of experiences.
It's really wonderful to be able to use those resources.
Everybody has their little specialties,
or their little interests,
so it's just great to be able to work with those people.
The best thing about being a podiatrist
is seeing people come in limping,
and leave healthy, and happy,
and able to get on with their life,
and not to have to see me again.
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