Recently it was announced that in 2015, PFA will hold its Annual Symposium in conjunction with the APMA Annual Scientific Meeting,July 23-26 in Orlando, FL. As a regular exhibitor at the PFA and past exhibitor at the APMA, I saw this as a win / win for both the Podiatrist and the Pedorthist. The Podiatrist would benefit from an enhanced representation from orthopedic footwear manufacturers in the exhibit hall and the opportunity to attend footwear centric education tracks. The Pedorthist would benefit from the opportunity to further their education as an allied healthcare professional specializing in foot care. Ultimately patient care would benefit.

However, after reading one particular discussion thread in a Podiatry group, it would seem that my win /win assessment is misplaced at best. For various reasons, several APMA members argue that the PFA should not be allowed to join the APMA meeting. It would appear that the main bone of contention is that there is a genuine concern that the APMA membership should have been consulted prior to this decision being made. And it is hard to argue with that point. An association’s duty is to represent its membership’s wishes. If the majority of the membership feel that this is a disingenuous move by the APMA then the author of the thread has a valid point and a cause for reversal is called for.

Unfortunately, LinkedIn discussion threads by nature rarely encourage rationale debate as they are invariably one sided, and this is certainly the case here.  I don’t believe that the Podiatry profession as a whole considers Pedorthists as part of a problem where, “billions of healthcare dollars are wasted on treatments from unqualified providers.” These comments in a public forum, even though they are being explicitly directed toward APMA members, are, in my opinion not only wide of the mark but they are also an unfair portrayal of the Pedorthic profession and most importantly, I don't believe them to be representative of the APMA membership as a whole either.