“Footcare Nursing on the Rise: Paving the Path to a Recognized Specialty"

In this inspiring episode of Empower Her Entrepreneur, we sit down with Josee Hunter, Owner of Happy Feet Medical Footcare, to talk about the exciting future of Footcare nursing in Canada. 

We explore the movement to establish Footcare as a recognized nursing specialty by 2026, highlighting the vital work being done through collaboration between CAFCN, CNA, and the advisory committee leading this initiative.

Whether you’re a Footcare nurse, a healthcare professional, or an entrepreneur passionate about growth in healthcare, this conversation offers valuable insights into advocacy, collaboration, and the power of leadership in shaping the future of nursing.

 Tune in and be part of the movement shaping the future of Footcare nursing!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

Hi everybody, this is Janice Boudreaux, and we are here for another Empower Her Entrepreneur podcast. And we have a very, very special guest this week. We have a friend of mine, a colleague, and of course the amazing Josie Hunter, who owns Happy Feet Medical Foot Care and is doing some amazing things in the footcare industry. Not only does she teach, educate, offer courses that are webinars online, she even has her most recent blog that she's put out there to help all nurses nationwide get just a little bit better. Things are not always easy when we're starting out, especially in the footcare business. Some of us are new footcare nurses, and all the help that's out there is what you need. So I'm going to choose to Josie Hunter. And one of the reasons we brought her on is she's doing something really amazing in the industry right now. She is using her expert knowledge to help the CNA collaborate with the CAFCN to finally come out with something we really wanted, which was a certification process for footcare nurses nationwide in Canada. So here you go, Josie. On to you. If you could tell us more, maybe just a little bit about what's going on. I mean, all the ears are open. Everybody is like, I've even shot you tons of questions saying, what's going on? So give us more.

SPEAKER_01: 2:02

First, Janice, thank you for that awesome introduction. Thank you very much. I'm flattered. Um, and of course, uh, as good friends that we've been for the past few years, um, both of us growing up together in the foot care industry, uh, I must say that you're also a huge powerhouse in this industry as well. So, yeah, so I'm part of the advisory committee for the CNA uh to get our specialty of foot care nurses certified. So, what does this mean? I don't want people to be scared because it's not a policing certification. What it is is a way for us to differentiate ourselves from those who are practicing best practice and continuing their education versus some of those nurses that have done it and kind of uh relax their practice and don't uh uh partake in a continuing education that they probably should in order to uh elevate our our field. So, with this certification, what it's gonna do is it's gonna make it so that we can um move beyond our uh disrespect it, I would say. So, what makes certification uh of this specialty so important is that we really do need to move forward in our specialty and move past the limitations that have been set upon us by our fellow foot care professionals uh and the government itself. We need to be able to get those certificate uh those grants, those contracts from the government. We need to be able to um fight against those insurance companies for us to be covered under insurance policies. And we need to leave behind the nursing homes trying to um underpay us um and you know essentially just um treat us as if we're charity uh to their uh underfunded um healthcare system, right? So we need to move forward, and this is what the specialty will do. Um so also I'd like to say this is also a voluntary uh option. So you can choose whether to do it or not to do it. Um there's no forcing, but I must say that uh I am personally gonna, of course, go through with it. We've been working on this uh since before I even started foot care nursing myself. They've been working on trying to get this as a specialty.

SPEAKER_00: 4:27

Yes, I was on the board at the time and it was being discussed then. I think that was in geez, 2014. Yeah, yeah. So it has been a process that we know needed to happen to make the changes. Um, you've mentioned a couple things about how um not all education's the same. There's a lot of misconceptions over um our own colleagues and foot nurses saying, you can do this, you can't do that. Oh, yes, you can. Oh, don't do that. There is just so many people, and they're not even us as foot nurses, we're not even practicing sometimes to our fullest capacity with advanced skills because we're we're unsure of where we're at and what we can do. I think so true. Nationwide, this is where we need to go. Um, absolutely. Not only will I be getting it, I'll require all my nurses to have it. Um, this is it's quite amazing. It's it's finally happening.

SPEAKER_01: 5:20

It's a big step for our specialty. It's actually a way for us to um be able to gain garner the respect uh that we needed and we deserve, frankly. Um, you know, it's a way for us to know that we're not a luxury uh option. We are actually an essential part of preventative health within the healthcare community. So this is gonna help us uh validate ourselves. Um, so did you want to know how they're gonna go about? Yeah. So how they're gonna go about um uh certifying foot care nurses, I think is actually a phenomenal way because everybody has their own aptitude for communication uh and ability to put uh portfolios together. So it's gonna be a portfolio, it's not gonna be a test uh written. What it's gonna be is you could choose, they give you many different options of how you want to present your specialty and your abilities, and you could choose two out of the three, four to you know, um, just to um show what you're able to do. So you could use pictures, you could use self-reflection, um, you could write an essay, you could do a verbal essay. So it's very inclusive for everybody.

SPEAKER_00: 6:32

I love to hear that because, like me and you are kind of more video out there people. That's right. And there's a lot of shy people who um they're a little quieter. So sending a couple before and after photos, um, is that what you kind of mean? Like maybe being so I set up at my clinic and you know, I'm the best um goal practice with reprocessing, which is huge too. Yes. I'm sure this is a big part of that certification. Absolutely. Make sure we're all following the same things. So this is very inclusive for everyone.

SPEAKER_01: 7:02

It's very inclusive for everyone, uh, with any type of communication uh desires, right? So um, and it also is uh gonna um incorporate our hours of work, which I think is uh wonderful. Being a um a clinic owner uh and being able to have new nurses for uh in the foot care special, be able to graduate in and have that experience before they're actually certified. It's a way for us to be able to distinguish between seasoned nurses, seasoned FruitCare nurses, and those who are just beginning. Um it's also it puts the pressure off those who are just beginning because they know that even though they're out of school or out of the classes, um, they still have time to get that education in and the hours of working in without be feeling that they have to be just as good as the nurse beside them or the nurse next door in their town. Um so it's it's a wonderful way of uh new nurses getting introduced into the specialty instead of just kind of throwing them into the deep end, which I feel a lot of us nurses when we first started felt that way.

SPEAKER_00: 8:09

Yeah, and I could tell some stories back then. Oh, exactly. I mean, I think I remember my first patient, which was my husband, he still complains about it. But it it takes you an hour, right? And by the time you're really good at your drill, your podiatry drill, and you're using all your tools. And I mean, I can probably get feet done, um, nothing extra included, for 15 minutes. I go from an hour to one, but that's through so much practice and time, like yourself.

SPEAKER_01: 8:37

Well, time and practice, and you get a routine going and you and you stop having to think about exactly you your hands are just working and your mind is working at the same time, but they're doing two different things. You can't at the same time, asking. And you're con you're having a conversation, and your conversation, although is so fluid and wonderful, you're still doing your assessments as you're having that conversation and pulling things out of their lifestyle that from what you're talking about that you know is actually affecting their health or their feet. So, um, so yeah, so it is absolutely amazing how you grow with the profession.

SPEAKER_00: 9:14

So, one of the things I'll bring up, because I know it's it's the question, is I mean, I remember even sending you a nervous messenger is what happens to say us foot care nurses? I think it's the ones who've been around like us for a while. So if I've been around for 14 years, well, does this include me? Um, am I gonna have to go back to school? Am I gonna have to take more education, workshops, webinars? What am I gonna have to do? Yeah, probably not me, but maybe some out there. No, I didn't take any additional training. It is absolutely worried. What am I gonna do?

SPEAKER_01: 9:48

Absolutely valid concern for us nurses who've been working for quite a while and have a lot of um education under our belt. First off, that portfolio really will help us out because it will we'll be able to show our skill. But also the training that we do for other nurses counts as our education ourselves, right? And I don't know about you, Dennis, but for me, when I'm writing a uh a workshop or a webinar, um trying to get my hands on onto paper is actually really eye-opening for me because it really does outline what I'm doing without because like I said, we've been working for so long, our hands just know what to do. And to try to put that into words is not always easy. Um, so again, like I said, this CNA really does take that into account, and that could go towards your own hours of education as well. And that's yeah, so it is one of those.

SPEAKER_00: 10:44

I think we're good, right?

SPEAKER_01: 10:45

Exactly. So, yeah, so those seasoned nurses who are doing the mentorships and everything, too. Yes, that's all gonna count towards your education as well. That being said, of course, we always know there's more to learn out there. Um, even as ourselves educators and nurses that have been doing this for 30 plus years, um, there's always new techniques, uh, new courses, conferences itself goes towards those hours as well. Um, and so it is um it is really exciting actually, because it makes you excited for our industry, excited to learn new things. Um, you still you don't get stagnant in this little box of your own little area because we're all independent in our nursing, right? Um, before we started this specialty, we were used to a collaborative uh environment, whether it be a nursing home, a hospital. We worked with uh so many people. And then we went into the specialty, and all of a sudden it was just you and the client. Um, and it was very different, and we all had to adjust. Um getting back into making sure that we are all working together again uh is actually really exciting because together I think we can make something beautiful and amazing within this specialty and we can move it even more forward and forward. I mean, just look at how far we've come in the past 10 years uh for foot care. It's insane uh the amount that we've been able to accomplish as nurses uh for our clients just through advocacy, right? And knowledge. I mean, we saw what our clients needed and we made sure we were able to provide it. Um, so it's products, tools, all of those things. All of those things.

SPEAKER_00: 12:24

Look at the things we and you were using a decade ago. I just look, I'm like, how the heck? Sometimes I even wonder how I did foot care. Right. Like what's offered now to make things a lot easier.

SPEAKER_01: 12:33

Well, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 12:34

I'm hoping through this um registration that maybe people who haven't got any education. Um, I mean, there could be somebody who took it 15 years ago and really hasn't um easy words, up their game. Yeah. Simple course, they're not offering. So I'm hoping also that that may cause everybody to go up the ladder a little bit. Well, and that's and find their passion again.

SPEAKER_01: 12:57

You know, find your passion back to school because you could get stagnant, you could get upset, you could get frustrated, and you get lost in the everyday. But then to whenever I don't know about you guys, but whenever I go to a conference, everything, you just find that passion. You get so excited about your job, about your specialty, and it's uh it it just brings everything back in to wanting to learn more and do more and talk more uh and be more. So, you know, it's um it is. I find that this certification is gonna just help us always move forward uh and get excited about our specialty.

SPEAKER_00: 13:32

Do you is there any registration process or any time set when this may open? Um yeah, so you need to be a practicing footcare nurse.

SPEAKER_01: 13:41

Uh, I think if they have it's equivalent of two years of practicing before you can actually apply to be certified. Um, we'll have to uh verify that because of course we're still fine-tuning requirements.

SPEAKER_00: 13:55

You're working on it. I know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 13:58

But we're we're getting pretty close to nailing these things down. Um and then it's only once every five years that you need to recertify. So you have five years to build your portfolio, to include extra things, um, to find exciting things to talk about. Research is also included in all that as well. Um, so yeah, you have the five years, and then you just have to uh renew your certification at once every five years. So it's actually very, very reasonable um to be able to get your certification. Uh it yes, you have to put together a portfolio, but honestly, um, in order for us to be able to say, we're certified foot care nurses, look at what I'm able to do. We're doing that every day anyway. Um, I have a, I call it my brag book uh that I have out so that people can see what I'm able to do, because there's no other way for me to say, I'm great, right? Or um this is how much experience I have compared to somebody I feel that might not have as much experience, right? This is why I charge this much versus this lower price point, because I know what to do when I see A, B, and C, right? Or D E and F all the way to Z. Um, so this is why uh these certifications are great because I don't I no longer need to have to um justify, I guess, my price points or um feel like I have to brag myself up in order to have people know how great I am, right? So we are certified. And this certified right after my name is gonna say I am great. I mean we respect it. The CNA has certified pediatric specialty, uh surgical specialty, the critical care specialty in nurses, and all these specialties are recognized and respected within our healthcare system, right? Absolutely. When we need uh boom care, we go and get a certified uh wound care nurse. Yeah, right. So how come when they need uh something done with the feet, lower legs, they don't outreach and look for us foot care nurses? How many nurses out there don't even know that we exist as a specialty, which is baffling to me, but it's so true.

SPEAKER_00: 16:13

Everywhere. I because people say, What do you do? What do you own? Exactly. I'm gone for the weekend. I start to tell them and the blank look in their face. Yes, they're like, oh, so that's like you're like a podiatrist. I'm like, no, I'm not a podiatrist, I'm not a so trying to explain to them exactly I will have more comfort in saying there's something about saying, Well, I'm a nurse, but I took extra training. That's right. Like it's it's just a whole level, it's a whole extra level. It sounds better, it feels better. Because it's still puzzling when I'm explaining to them. And like you say, we've had to have this long list of all this great stuff we've done and uh the tools, how trying to prove ourselves, where this is the proof.

SPEAKER_01: 16:58

Yeah, the proof is exactly, and also when you think of it as well. Um, I don't know how other people have felt, but um, I'm gonna give an example of when COVID hit and we all had to kind of stop for a second and rewrite all of our policies and procedures, right? To make sure that it was now inclusive of uh COVID and infection control. We have to upgrade everything. Um, we are monitored by the Ministry of Health. And when I reopened my clinic, I I contacted my uh worker at the Ministry of Health, and he had actually said out loud on the phone, why is toenail polish so important in critical care um for during COVID? And I felt like putting my hand through and smacking them across the face because I'm like, you're supposed to be in charge of monitoring me, and I have to explain to you what I do in my clinic. And it was like eyes wide open at that point, because even the people who are supposed to um monitor us in our field don't realize our capabilities and our abilities to um help with preventative care, reactive care, um, just comfort care as a whole, right? We we truly are a holistic um uh specialty because there's so much that you can find out from a person's foot. Uh, regardless of what's going on with the rest of their body, you see it happening uh down at those lower extremities because they are the last place that our blood flow can get to. Um, and they show all the effects that is happening within our body. Um, we can see from one, and we're who else sees their patient every four to six weeks to be able to see the difference every night. Exactly. During COVID, when I reopened my clinic, I became the triage nurse for the doctors in my community because I was the one saying, okay, the edema is getting too bad. And I would uh write a referral to the doctor to let them know that they need to up the uh medications or you know, choose another course of action. I was the one that was monitoring the wound care. I was the so um, so so yes. So again, just to say we are damn important specialty and we deserve to be acknowledged for what we are able to do.

SPEAKER_00: 19:17

We have been waiting for it absolutely forever. I think it's gonna make a profound difference in being able to explain ourselves. I really hope that um my only suggestion, and I love that you're on the advisory committee, is I'd love to see the CNA work with the CAFCN and maybe get some marketing out there. People need marketing about who we are and what we do because we know we've got ostomy, we've got like surgical, like you're saying, we've got specialties. I know them and you know them like forever now. But maybe some education out there and some some marketing about the collaboration. That's right. And um, hey, in Ontario or you know, whatever province, um, make sure to see your certified foot care nurse professional out there. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 20:01

And you know what, though, by freeing up the uh the CAP and the CFCN um from this uh certification, they they've been pushing for this for so long, like you said, Janice, they were pushing for it when you were on the committee. We finally reached it. So now that we have this, we can they can move forward into a new uh thought, right? They can move to a new idea. And promotion is probably gonna be a uh one of the top ones up there because now that we're certified, right? Now it's time to let everybody know that we're certified. That we're out there, and it's time for that education. Um, we're always worried about where our money is going when we sign up with these associations. We don't always see the benefit because it's not day-to-day benefit, but what we've been investing in for years and years is just this, exactly this, right? This is what they've been working behind the scenes to get us. Um, and they've been doing an amazing, uh, thankless job uh for years and years. Um, and these ladies and gentlemen that have been working behind the scenes um have been giving us all this great uh platform to be able to jump off of and to be able to move forward with. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 21:18

And anybody out there, if they're we use the term CAFCN, it's Canadian Associations of Foot Care Nurses. If anybody is not a member, I would suggest you join. These are the people who are bringing us our biggest joy, which is going to be certification and finally recognition on our field. Um, being a part of this association has many benefits. Um, they resources, information. They're now doing a monthly meeting. Um, every area, right, Josie? They I'm pretty sure they still have it. They have Ontario, they have a chair. There's people for you to bounce ideas off of to talk to, get information. Uh, the conference is always a blast.

SPEAKER_01: 21:57

Always amazing. Yeah. They they they truly are a way to make an independent nurse have a community. They're a way for us to become a community again, for us to be able to work together. And like nurses, uh, we're more powerful when we're all together. And yes, um, soundboarding is so important within our specialty within nursing period. We can't just uh assume that uh everything we do is right, everything we know is correct. We need to be able to bounce ideas off of things, and that's how um we learn and that's how we progress, right?

SPEAKER_00: 22:31

So it's affordable, everybody. Come on. Oh my god, it's so affordable. Association I'm possibly in.

SPEAKER_01: 22:37

I know anything and it gives us the most benefit, right?

SPEAKER_00: 22:41

So it is, it is a it's a fun group of uh of women. It really is. I think that's even how I met you um all those years ago. Probably, yeah. It was at some type of conference. Is there anything else? Um, as we you know, shut down for a bit out of the podcast. Any other notes or I think you've covered it all. You've covered what the certification, you've talked about the portfolio. I definitely am having you back as soon as this opens to do a podcast just on portfolio, portfolio out. Absolutely. That would be a great podcast that you can speak to everybody and maybe give them some ideas and make them feel a little bit more comfortable. Is there anything else on your list that you can think that we need to know?

SPEAKER_01: 23:22

Yeah, well, you know, I just kind of want to summarize because a lot of people keep thinking, oh my God, another one, another reason for me to have to spend my money. Yeah, right. Um, and again, like I said, a lot of times it's hard to see the benefit when it's not immediate. Well, this one actually will be immediate, right? Because it's a way to differentiate the different levels of care that we're able to provide, right? So we could now differentiate ourselves from those who aren't uh practicing the best practice or up to speed in their education, right? It'll garner more respect, not within just our community, but in the healthcare community as well. And we know that when we work with our peers, um, yeah, business will come to us, but also uh the specialties will start recognizing us and respect us. Right. And again, more respect often equals more pay. Uh, so we know that foot care nurses have been the most underpaid specialty. Uh, and it's probably because we haven't been certified, we're not uh officially recognized yet. So with that um authentication of our specialty, I suspect we'll get more uh more uh increase in pay. And we say that's the clients that pay us absolutely, but if we have the backing of the community, if more doctors say you need to go see a foot care nurse, and again, a lot of our clientele are in the age where they're in retirement homes and nursing homes. And those retirement and nursing homes are always the ones trying to undercut us. So, where does that fall when the clients are trying to also get their care and see the price points? They'll go with their trusted uh home of what they believe they should be paying. And so if we could get those homes on board with us and seeing the benefit, uh, because again, with those benefits, it's not just foot care we're providing, we're providing comfort, which means that their um uh aggressive behaviors will be down, their comfort levels will be up. We're giving them uh one-on-one attention for nursing. So we could sometimes find these things that might get missed by nurses that have been overworked uh for years, you know, not just days, but years, um, for these nurses to give them a break so that we could actually walk in and we could help them out and say, you know, this is what I'm seeing, this is the edema that I'm seeing, probably needs a specialty for this. You know, so it's it's gonna be it's gonna be great to have the certification to be recognized. Um, and my big thing, and it's because it personally affected me in my community, is uh government uh grants. So grants have often been um given to the bigger um uh corporate or yeah, the care program. So the bigger uh companies, like in Ontario, there's Care for, um, there's uh Bey shore uh home health care. You know, and when I lost a few of my clients to grants from the government, and I called specifically and asked, well, these are my clients, so the best care they're gonna get is from the client, the care that they're getting from their nurse that has already been working with them for years. Um, why can't you give me this grant and then I'll be able to provide the care? And their their statement was because we can't give grants to all these little uh companies. We hate we just they you know, we're gonna give it to the bigger company because they're all throughout Ontario. But the problem is these bigger companies, all throughout Ontario, foot care is so at the bottom of their list that they rarely have nurses to provide the care. So, you know, the government grant goes to not because then nobody has the care to provide it. So I find that with this certification, I agree.

SPEAKER_00: 26:56

You know, we could it is a problem too.

SPEAKER_01: 26:58

We can leverage this. We could leverage this to um to get us into a position where we could help more people uh and have the government help us help people.

SPEAKER_00: 27:08

Yes, and both of our companies, I can speak for mine and yours, are 100% foot care, lower limb care. That's right. As opposed to, and that's great, other bigger companies, wonderful, they offer a million different specialties with home care and this and that. But there's something to be said when it is just we are just dynamic at what we do in foot care. We should be getting those grants. I can assure you, my company has never received one. That's right. Because they'll go to these large companies, exactly like you're saying, who half the time it's it's a turnover at the footcare nurses. That's right. They don't even have one one year. That's right. And then we're covering them for that year, which is fun. And then finally they hire one again. It is, it is. I hope all of this changes because we truly are the specialists in our field.

SPEAKER_01: 27:55

Absolutely. Yeah. And I I believe by certifying this blur, this will help us um stabilize our um our specialty and make it more uh recognized throughout Canada uh and within the healthcare community itself.

SPEAKER_00: 28:12

So I'm looking forward to it. Everybody who's been on the call, we got our inside information about what's been going on with the meetings with the advisory committee and Josie, as always. You are loved by many all over Canada. You're a fun foot nurse, you're friendly, but you offer goal practice care, which is extremely important. So it's nice to see that you're on that committee. And we're hoping we'll have Josie back as a guest, maybe towards the end of the year, beginning of the new year, and she can give us even more information um how we are progressing. This is like the best progression I've seen in a decade. So, everybody out there, um, make sure to follow Josie, see what she's doing, check out on her blog. And also, if you have time, check out C A F C N and grab your membership and become a part of something much bigger that's happening. And uh cheers to everybody. Thanks, Josie. Thank you.