Page 37 - BusinessWest September 4, 2023

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FootCare
At right, a nurse at FootCare by Nurses teaches three new nurses how to touch and treat feet.
Continued from page 35
they fall.’”
More importantly, “it gave me great joy to bring
dignity and function to these humans who have
put so much back into the community,” she added. “These are really incredible people. It doesn’t mat- ter how wealthy or poor you are or where you live — your feet still need to be taken care of.”
By 2016, she had become very busy and realized
“There was this gap, and a huge opportunity to do something that is so meaningful, and it’s just a delight.”
KATE CLAYTON-JONES
she couldn’t provide all the care on her own.
“I knew, if I’m going to take on the responsibility of taking care of all these people, this needs to be a
real business, with people who want to do this work,” she told BusinessWest. “I will train these nurses, but it needs to be a business that solidly sits on its own foundation.”
In doing so — the business has expanded from three employees in 2016 to 42 today — Clayton-Jones said she’s not only taking care of the community, but
providing good jobs for nurses on schedules that work for them, which is especially important if they have families.
“They can start a quarter after nine, after they drop off the kids, see six or seven people, and pick the kid up by three o’clock,” she said, adding that “foot care is not an emergency — it’s prevention.” So if a snowstorm strikes, appointments can be easily moved to a different day. In short, she’s providing nursing jobs with predictable, and not burdensome,
schedules.
“I wanted to give them autonomy and responsibil-
ity and quality of life while also a joyful, meaningful job that’s not just about trimming toenails, but restor- ing the best function to an older foot.
ment, and
“It turns out feet are really, really important,” she added, noting that 40% of cardiac flow is related to foot and
leg move-
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SEPTEMBER 4, 2023 37
FootCare >> Continued on page 39