lVO: Promoting international cooperation in pedorthics

Participants of the IVO-General Meeting (from left to right): Wang Bo (China), Ernest Tye (Australia), Franz Gerlinger (Austria), Dejan Tasner (Slovenia), Karl-Heinz Schott (Australia), Katharina Körbes (Generals Secretary IVO), Achim Oberle (Germany), Werner Dierolf (Germany), Beat Amann (Switzerland), Serge Mathis (IVO-President, France), Rian Veldhuizen (The Netherlands), Olav Toornend (Portugal), Koen Vansteenwegen (Belgium), Kaoru Kuribayashi (Japan), Peter Morcom (Canada), Eduard Herbst (Japan), Jonathan Strauss (Canada), Oliver Dieckmann (Germany).

 The “Internationaler Verband der Orthopädieschuhtechniker” (IVO) will in the future also operate under the new denomination „International Pedorthic Association”. With this term the content and the task of the association shall be better communicated also in the English language area. The delegates of the IVO agreed on that term during their general assembly in Cologne on 19 October 2017. Also the logo of the IVO is to be revised and modernized. The web page presenting the IVO was also revised and will shortly go online. With the help of the new web page more colleagues shall be addressed internationally and motivated to participate in the international association.

There is indeed an interest in pedorthics. This could be seen during the reports of delegates on contacts that they made to other countries. Dejan Tasner from Slovenia talked about conversations with colleagues from his neighbour countries Croatia and Hungary. Colleagues in those countries are mainly interested in treatment standards and guidelines. To offer this orientation could be the strength of the IVO in the future, according to Tasner. Karl-Heinz Schott talked about his contacts to Vietnam, where he is a lecturer of a pedorthic class. He said he tried to motivate his students to found an association in their country. Eduard Herbst from Japan told the delegates about plans to found an association for pedorthics in Thailand.
Wang Bo from China is already an applicant for membership. He received his education at the Bundesfachschule für Orthopädietechnik (Federal Technical College for Prosthetics and Orthotics) in Dortmund, Germany, and is now vice president of a newly founded association in China devoting itself to the treatment of foot problems.


ISPO
The cooperation with the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics is to be further intensified. During the development of the profession “pedorthics” the ISPO qualification framework was already used for orientation, Karl-Heinz Schott from the Australian Pedorthic Association explained. Jonathan Strauss said that one of the aims was to cooperate in the interdisciplinary study groups of the ISPO in order to further develop the treatment guidelines for the treatment of the foot together with colleagues from orthopedic technology.

IVO Congress 2018
The most important event for pedorthists next year will be the IVO-Congress in Toronto from 12 to 14 April 2018. Jonathan Strauss from the Pedorthic Association Canada, hosting the congress, said that its preparations were already in full swing. 80 percent of the area for the trade exhibition has already been sold. Some of the exhibitors will present their offers in Canada for the first time. Around 500 visitors will be expected to attend the congress. (More information about the IVO-Congress in Toronto you will find in a separate article in this newsletter).  

IVO-Congress 2021 in Cologne
During their meeting on 19 October 2017 the IVO delegates decided that the IVO-Congress in the year 2021 would be hosted by the Central Association of Pedorthics in Germany. The IVO-Congress will take place in line with the 6. ORTHOPÄDIE SCHUH TECHNIK in Cologne.
„We are happy that the long, excellent cooperation between IVO and ZVOS (Central Association of Pedorthics) leads to a common event in Cologne“, ZVOS-President Werner Dierolf is pleased. “Already now the world is a guest at the ORTHOPÄDIE SCHUH TECHNIK in Cologne – this will be even more so with the IVO-Congress 2021“.This, by the way, is also a chance for our industry. The special achievements of pedorthics in Germany will thus be even more visible on an international level.”
 „We feel honored that our trade fair has been selected as an attractive venue for the IVO-Congress,“ Jan Heuwinkel, project manager trade fair from Maurer Fachmedien, the event organizer of  ORTHOPÄDIE SCHUH TECHNIK, emphasized. „This way our trade fair and our congress will be even more international and our cooperation with this important international association will be strengthened.”