The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

• No Cost or Fee to Apply • Approval within 48 Hours • Thousands Paid Monthly! • See Website for Application Deadline. Do You Have More than 20 lbs to Lose? - Apply Now! $2,000 WEIGHT LOSS GRANT Please visit www.weightlossgrants.org for full Guidelines, Terms & Conditions. www.weightlossgrants.org Serge Petrusic BSc, DCh, Chiropodist Visit kwfoot.com to learn more or call 519-884-4200 279 Weber St. N. Suite 17 Waterloo, ON N2J 3H8 519-884-4200 kwfoot.com ARE YOU TRULY GETTING CUSTOM MADE ORTHOTICS? An orthotic is a device specifically designed to realign and restore the natural foot function. Putting the foot into a correct position while weight bearing will improve your overall skeletal alignment (knees, hips, spine), often eliminating the specific cause of your pain not just the symptoms. Custom made orthotics are specifically designed for an individual; matching the contour of the feet and accommodating unique foot structure. They are used when they are medically necessary in order to treat conditions such as plantar fasciitis (heel pain), tendinitis, bursitis, diabetic foot ulcers, foot, ankle, and knee pain. There are two categories of prescription orthotics, functional and accommodative. Functional orthotics are usually designed to control abnormal motion, provide support and to realign the foot into optimal position. These are usually crafted from semi rigid materials and used to treat flat feet, heel pain, pigeon walking, etc. Accommodative orthotics are softer and are meant to cushion and offload. They are often used to treat diabetic ulcers, painful calluses and to offload prominent bones. If orthotics are necessary a practitioner should fully examine the foot, and capture the foot in a three dimensional image with either plaster cast or with a 3 dimensional laser scanner. This cast and appropriate prescription are used to make the device that should improve the foot mobility and lead to more comfort. If you require a consultation in regards to your foot issue you can call us and set up a visit with our Chiropodist. No family doctor's referral is necessary and our services are covered under most extended health plans. Thursday, November 16, 2017 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • 7Serving your community since 1856 By Joy Struthers Chronicle Staff The new Patient and Family Advisory Com-mittee (PFAC) at the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) is already hard at work -- and its goal is to improve health-related experiences throughout the region. "More than ever, patients and caregivers need to be strong advocates," said Coreen Duke- Carroll, chair of the new com- mittee. Duke-Carroll said that 15 community volunteers were appointed to the committee; all of them are patients, caregivers or family members who have dealt with health-care issues in the local system. Duke-Car- roll has worked with different health-care organizations for more than 20 years and ended up being a patient herself. After losing her sister to tragic circum- stances, she chose to stop work- ing and provide end-of-life care for her mother. "I've gone through it, been through it, worked within the system for many years," said Duke-Carroll. She thinks there are many areas that need to be addressed by the committee. "Right now, the priority is to pick one thing to focus on at a time. We're meeting next month as well to develop and focus our needs and strategies. The first thing we wanted to focus on was communication," said Duke- Carroll. Jenny Flagler-George, man- ager of planning at the LHIN, said it is fair to say communica- tion is a key topic and one the group chose to address. "What we really want to do is make sure what the PFAC addresses and what it does achieve is guided by the people in the committee themselves," said Flagler-George. She said the perspective of people who don't work in health care, but experience it, is really important. As of the end of October, every LHIN is required to have a committee made up of patients and family members. "What's great about having your own individual PFAC is they can address the local needs of what is happening at that LHIN," said Flagler-George. They will not only talk about the problems patients and caregivers have had, but what worked well for them. "Not everyone is coming in with negative experiences," said Flagler-George, who also said there is a good mix of people on the committee. "For example, some folks around the table said this is where communication happens really well -- when they were leaving the hospital or when a family member was leaving to go into palliative care … there was someone there to help with the transition. There was infor- mation and support there with- out having to ask," said Flagler- George. She said they are also trying to identify gaps in communica- tion and at what stage of the pro- cess people needed support the most. Flagler-George said they are not expecting the committee to know everything that is going on; but, if they identify a point of interest, she can tell them about projects and initiatives that already exist, as well as consider new things. One idea they are working on is a change day. "Change day is a global initiative that encour- ages organizations and individ- uals to make a public pledge to change something," she said. This is a public project that can be shared through social media. New group gives patients a voice