Your estimate of foot specialists is way off as is...

income for chiropodists in private practise. In fact, about 1/3rd of the DCh graduates of the Ontario Chiropody Program aren't registered with cocoo because they found that private practise chiropody wasn't providing a sufficient income for them to live on and I mean they were making less than $25,000 per annum of pre-income tax after overhead income.

Do a survey of the Ontario chiropodists who are not members of the OSC or the CFPM and you will find that the majority of their income, on average, is below $25,000/year and they are doing other part-time work!

There are actually more than 100,000 foot specialists in Ontario and the 350 chiropodists can't do anything about it!!!!!

Why don't you respond to the top ten myths ... I c & p from another post...
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Top ten chiropody myths exposed....
by Poor_DCh (no login)

1. Myth: since there are only about 350 chiropodists in Ontario;
therefore, there is severe shortage of chiropodists.

Reality: on the surface appears to be the case. If it really was, then
we'd be hearing and reading about the lack of chiropodists in Ontario.
We hear about the lack of nurses and physicians all the time. Well, in
Ontario there are about 100,000 RNs and about 30,000 MDs registered
with their respective colleges. There is such a severe shortage of MDs,
that a special programme was set up in Ontario to certify foreign
trained MDs and a new medical school was set up in Northern Ontario.
There is only one chiropody training facility in Ontario (and as of
July 2004, no other chiropody/podiatry training institution in Canada)
-about 20 students graduate every year compare to MDs with about 400
graduates per year.

The actual number of foot care providers at least 176,403 medical
professionals, other than chiropodists/podiatrists, which can and do
provide foot care in Ontario. Add to that figure 1000 beauty/hair
salons and about 50 orthotic companies and you have 176,453
professionals competing against the 450 chiropodists and podiatrists in
Ontario. There may be a severe shortage of chiropodists and podiatrists
BUT there is no shortage of foot care providers!!!!


2. Myth: Chiropodists provide the best foot treatments in Ontario. They
are recgonized by the provincial government as "Ontario's very own foot
specialists".

Reality: If this was the case, then chiropodists would have an
exclusive scope of practise. They don't. RNs, RPNs, HCAs perform nail
care, corn and callus reduction but chiropodists can't stop them. (Home
Care pays RNs and RPNs to go to peoples's homes to perform foot care
but won't pay chiropodists (Ontario's very own foot specialists).
Chiropractors and physiotherapists treat feet and also cast and
dispense orthotics and chiropodists can't stop them. MDs perform
surgery on feet (there is no extra charge above OHIP) but chiropodists
can't stop them. Beauty salons perform toenail pedicures and
callus/corn reduction/enucleation and chiropodists can't stop them
either. In fact, in 1991 the current Chiropody Act was passed but the
statement (that gave chiropodists a controlled act for callus/corn
reduction/enucleation with a scalpel) from the old chiropody act of
1944 was not included in the Chiropody Act of 1991. This opened the
door for anyone to go to a medical supply store buy scalpels, nail
clippers and nail files and to set themselves up as a "foot specialist"
or a "podologist" or "pedicurist" and chiropodists can't stop them.



3.Myth: Canadians are living more active lifestyles eg. walking &/
jogging, so these activities lead to biomechanical foot problems and
that's why there's such a demand for chiropodists to provide foot
treatment and especially orthotics.

Reality: again this sounds like a truthful situation on the surface.
You may see that more people are participating in 10Ks and marathons
but by percent of population the actual number is down. Also don't
forget that chiropractors, physiotherapists and even shoe stores are
casting and dispensing orthotics directly to the public. I spoke to one
chiropractor and he mentioned (probably a slip) that he did 20
orthotics/month. That's how many I do a year. I wonder how many
physiotherapists and shoe stores do a month? Another bit of reality is
that Canadians are not living a more active lifestyle, they're in fact
more obese than ever. So chiropodists will be needed to provide nail
care for obese Canadians sounds like a demand situation, right? Wrong,
people who can't reach or see their toenails simply go for a $20
pedicure or if they can't go out side of their homes safely, can phone
a nurse who will do a house call that is covered by Home Care when
prescribed by their MD. Diabesity is becoming a fact today and people
would rather spend money on food than on foot care too bad but it's true!!!


4. Myth: there are lots of other career opportunities to pursue for
chiropodists.

Reality: look at the career section of the weekend paper -go to the
library and check out old copies of the newspaper from 5, 10 and 15
years ago and you will see the same thing, "There are no other jobs
available for chiropodists". They're not needed in the shoe industry
-in Canada a chiropodist can get a job selling shoes (preferably
orthopaedic shoes) or work in a shoe warehouse operated by Nike or
Brooks or even YES! drive a truck full of Nike/New Balance/Brooks
shoes. Schools, colleges, big business hire nurses to be on site to
provide health services for their students/staff on site. But Canada
Post and courier companies will not hire a chiropodist to provide foot
care for their letter/package carriers.

5.Myth: Since chiropody is much in demand, chiropodists will make a
lucrative income and live a comfortable lifestyle.

Reality: Fee for chiropody treatment is not in demand. Chiropodists
employed at hospitals or community health centres make less than RNs
and the chiropodists work evenings and even sometimes weekends. Many
chiropodists in private practice found out that there is little demand
for their service in spite of increased hours and days of availability
and due to a true low income situation i.e., less than $25,000/year of
net income people have no choice but to quit chiropody for good. That's
why almost 1/3rd of the chiropody graduates are not registered as
chiropodists with the College of Chiropodists of Ontario.

7.Myth: Chiropodists provide the health care systems millions of
dollars in savings each year in reduced hospitalizations for infected
foot conditions and reduced amputations.

Reality: The "bean counters" at the government are trying to save as
much money as possible (and any way legally possible) if chiropody was
saving the health care system lots of money, then there'd be more
chiropody positions opening up in Ontario hospitals. Instead, chiropody
clinics are being shut down at hospitals. Why? The hospital management
has figured out that a RN provides more income for the hospital than a
chiropodist. For example, 3 chiropodists are let go, then RNs are hired
with that money and it opens up a hospital bed. The hospital bills OHIP
everyday that bed is occupied by a patient. Hospital beds are usually
occupied about 95% of the time. So when the administration considers
shutting down a chiropody clinic to open up a OHIP-billable bed,
administration definitely chooses this income producing route.

The "bean counters" have decided that NPs will not only save the health
care system more than chiropodists but the NPs provide more
comprehensive health care (they're almost like physicians -one MD told
me) at a lower cost than MDs and can prescribe many oral drugs, order
many diagnostic tests and refer to other MD specialists. Think aboug
it, 20 years ago there were approx 50 NPs and 30 DChs and today there
are approx 500 NPs and 350 DChs (in practice in Ontario). If you want
to go into a profession that is in demand, then choose Nurse Practioner!


8.Myth: Ontario chiropodists will be recognized internationally and
will be able to emigrate to another country if they wish and practise
there as chiropodists or podiatrists.

Reality: chiropodists from Ontario are not even recognized nationally.
They can't even re-locate (to practise as a chiropodist) within Canada
try to set up in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec and see what happens.
There's no way chiropodists can even try to re-locte to the USA,
England or Australia. Why? It costs the provincial government to train
and educate chiropodists. So it would cost even more to train and
educate podiatrists to international standards. Then the podiatrists
would leave the province and go to "greener" pastures. So it was in
Ontario's interest that the province set up a chiropody programme this
would insure that chiropodists would remain in Ontario.

9. Myth: The instructors tell the students that they are being trained
to do more than just clip and chip.

Reality: In actual chiropody practice, chiropodists can't order x-rays,
CT or MRI scans, blood tests, take swabs of wounds for culture and
sensitivity. They also can't prescribe any oral drugs. Due to a
restricted scope of practice, chiropodists lose patients to MDs, NPs
and community health care canters where the patient doesn't have to pay
for a foot treatment and receive a more comprehensive treatment e.g.
swab of a wound, order for an x-ray to rule out a fracture, a
prescription for oral antibiotics to reduce the gross inflammation due
to an ingrown toenail.

PTs and DCs and almost every orthopedic shoe store cast and fit people
with orthotics. So chiropodists are left with clip and chip chiropody
or better than "clip and chip" it's c'n'c' corns, nails and calluses
chiropody. Like it or not that's the truth! When chiropodists are
complaining that they are tired of doing "clip and chip" chiropody
other chiropodists will tell their comrades that they have advanced to
"cnc" chiropody. Cnc chiropody -wow that sound's like a high tech
leading edge profession doesn't it?

10. Myth: Most people have extended 3rd party health insurance and
prefer chiropodists over podiatrists because chiropodists' services are
not at all covered by OHIP.

Reality: During the past decade, being an owner/operator of my own
chiropody clinic and personally answering the phone 8am-10pm, 7 days a
week (the calls are call-forwarded to my cell phone) 95% of the calls
that I have answered are from people looking for fully covered OHIP
chiropody like the local hospital or the local commmunity health care
centre. When an attempt is made to explain that 3rd party health
insurance may cover chiropody the answer usually is either "not my
cheap health plan" or "don't have it so that's why I'm looking for a
fully covered chiropody clinic."