The IVO welcomes a new member

At the occasion of its Delegate Conference in Leipzig on 6 May 2016, the International Association of pedorthists (IVO) welcomed a new member and celebrated successful collaborations with other associations.

 At the conference on 6 May 2016, the delegates in Leipzig welcomed a new member into the IVO’s ranks. Dejan Tasner operates a pedorthics business and a p&o company in Maribor, Slovenia. He applied to join the IVO with the aim of building up a branch association in his country that unites all companies that provide pedorthic services. The objective of this strategy is to improve the quality of care while raising the level of awareness for the importance of high-quality foot care within the statutory health insurers and with the state and federal authorities. Mr. Tasner is hoping to enlist the support of the IVO — a hope that the delegates spontaneously gave a promise to uphold.

The meeting in Leipzig also discussed how to recruit other countries to become IVO members. The resolution was adopted to build on and expand the contacts that some individuals have already made to other countries with the goal of empowering growth of the international community of pedorthists.

 

IVO to represent podiatric topics at the ISPO World Congress 2017

At the ISPO World Congress taking place from May 8 - 11, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa, the IVO will be contributing all sorts of pedorthic and foot-related topics. This was agreed by Serge Mathis, IVO President, and Rajiv Singh Hanspal, ISPO President during sideline talks at the OTWorld in Leipzig. At the IVO Delegate Conference in Leipzig, the several member countries didn’t waste any time in declaring their willingness to proactively shape the program and approach potential lecturers on the topics. According to Serge Mathis, there will certainly be more profound networking with the ISPO in terms of collaboration during the congress.

 

IVO got the WHO’s ear

The IVO has begun communicating with the World Health Organization (WHO), in particular to inform the agency about the existence of the pedorthist profession and orthopedic shoe technicians as well as the field of pedorthics and orthopedic shoe technology.

The WHO is developing a list of the 50 most important assistive technologies, called the WHO Priority Assistive Products List (APL). With this aim in mind, the WHO conducted an online public survey early this year to identify the 50 devices people worldwide rely on most often improve the quality of their lives. The IVO has taken the initiative to contribute to this development. The IVO distributed information to all its members and encouraged them to participate and to invite the users of their services to participate.

At the final meeting in March 2016, Professor Klaas Postema, MD, PhD and Specialist for Rehabilitation Medicine from the Netherlands, was one of 60 participants present to discuss the short list of 100 products. The short list was generated from previous meetings, the survey and available research.

Professor Postema reported that, in total, four participants were focused on orthoses and footwear. If these four individuals had not been present, orthoses (including foot orthoses) would not have made it on the list. An additional three participants made a plea for orthotic/pedorthic footwear. If not for them, probably only diabetic footwear would have been listed. While the final APL is not yet published, all indications point to orthoses and footwear being listed.

The planned launch of the APL is on 24 May during the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva. “In summary, it can be said that the IVO contribution is likely to have led to a greater awareness for those that need orthoses and pedorthic / orthopedic footwear”, says former IVO president Karl-Heinz Schott. “That, in turn, will lead to a greater availability of those products and services in due course.”

 

News from the IVO countries

Rian Veldhuizen has become the new chairman of the NVOS Orthobanda, the IVO’s Dutch sister association that included pedorthists, shoe technologists and orthopedic engineers.

The new chairman of the IVO Japan is Kaoru KURIBAYASHI, Nagoya. Eduard Herbst, Master Pedorthist, of Kobe, and Kaoru Abe, CPO, of Niigata were elected Vice-Presidents.

The two French associations “Union des Podo-Orthésistes de France (UPODEF)” and “Chambre Syndicale Nationale des Podo-Orthésistes (CSNPO)” are planning to merge into one joint association at the end of May 2016. The new association will be called “Fédération Française des Podo-Orthésistes” [French Federation of Pedorthists].

In Germany, the “Verein zur Förderung des Forschungs- und Bildungsmanagements für die Orthopädieschuhtechnik“ [Registered Association for the Encouragement of Research and Education Management in Orthopedic Footwear Technologies] is moving into the next stage in building centers of competence for pedorthics. Once the members of the registered Association – single members, pedorthic companies, associations and companies from the industry - have earmarked their own funds, they will start applying for state subsidies to set up centers of competence at the master training schools in Hannover, Langen and Siebenlehn. For the future, the Association and the centers of competence aim to play a key role in the area of knowledge transfer from medicine and research into the craftsman's trades while organizing research projects for the craftsman's trades as well.

Picture from left to right: Katharina Körbes (IVO-Secretary), Lian Veldhuizen (Netherlands), Jonathan Strauss (Canada), Edi Herbst (Japan), Oliver Dieckmann (Germany), Serge Mathis (France, IVO-President), Franz Gerlinger (Austria), Koenraad Vansteenwegen (Belgium), Olaf Toornend (Portugal), Rob Verwaard (Netherlands), Beat Amann ( Switzerland), Hiraku Endoh (Japan), Dejan Tasner (Slovenia).