This past Sunday, July 15, I had the pleasure of participating in a radio interview on WOKV, Jacksonville, FL, the largest, most listened to talk radio station in Northern Florida. Here is the link to the audiostream:
http://wokv.media.streamtheworld.com/audio/save_leg_save_101730761.mp3
The show was hosted by Desmond Bell, DPM. Des, a former student “done good”, is the Executive Director of the Save a Leg, Save a Life Foundation http://savealegsavealife.org/ or SALSAL. From its modest beginnings as a way for Des and his wife De Anna, a nurse practitioner and wound specialist, to get local providers in the Jacksonville area up to speed in the area of wound care, SALSAL has grown into a nationwide organization with at least 30 local chapters spread throughout the US. As I mention in the interview, the scope of the organization did not really hit me until I was giving a dinner lecture to the local chapter in Seattle a few months back and over 70 health care providers of all specialties attended. I have seen this organization grow from its first small meeting in Jacksonville, where I don’t think there even were 70 attendees, to a significant national “player” in the area of limb salvage. Congrats to Des and De Anna.
In the interview, which was part of the weekly hour long show Des now hosts, we discussed; why diabetic feet become infected, what patients should look for when examining their feet, my thoughts on routinely soaking and the problems with MRSA and antibiotic resistance. Although my comments were directed to a “lay” audience, I felt that readers of this site might just be interested in the discussion we had. I really feel that this sort of outreach to the general public can only be helpful in promoting the message of proper foot care in patients with diabetes and driving patients to their health care provider before it becomes too late to save a leg, save a life.
