Re: Questions from ee

March 3, 2005

ee-

> When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

I don't have the exact date on this- and I think there's an article

on it at the ponseti_links site (though the article I'm thinking of

maybe about the clinic in NYC that was also named after him), but

that's still out of commission for a few days- in late 2000 or early

2001 when they hung up the quilt in the hallway they had those gold

letters put on the wall.

> Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

His 91st birthday is June 3rd, 2005.

March 3, 2005

Some answers..

The following is from an article published by the Des Moines Register

in Dec. 2000. (Claire was featured in it, and is being held by Dr. P

on the front page picture..)

" He retired at age 70 because a university rule said he had to. ...

The retirement rule was lifted two years later. He returned to

work, focusing on his clubfoot treatment.

Twelve years passed, and Ponseti appeared to be headed back into

retirement at age 84. He stopped by the office a couple of times a

week, treating a few babies from Iowa and nearby states.

Then the hospital's web site posted information about his method.

Parents frantically researching their newborns' deformities latched

onto the hopeful message, then passed it around on internet sites.

The phone started ringing. Appointment books bulged. Families flew

in from as far away as Singapore, Belgium and India.

Ponseti practices full time now and shows no sign of handing the

reins to younger doctors and staff members. He has treated hundreds

of babies in the past two years. "

Here, too, is a good historical article about Dr. Ponseti. Be sure to

see the links on the side to other articles:

http://www.iowalum.com/magazine/feb03/exclusive/ponseti.html

The Clinic was named for him in 2001. Here's a press release about it

http://www.uihealthcare.com/news/news/2001/10/01ponseti.html

March 3, 2005

ee,

Going back to an old UI Healthcare article, UIHC named the POnseti

Clubfoot Clinic on September 28, 2001. The article mentioned is

from the dedication pf NYU's clubfoot clinic in April 2001.

> > When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

>

> I don't have the exact date on this- and I think there's an article

> on it at the ponseti_links site (though the article I'm thinking of

> maybe about the clinic in NYC that was also named after him), but

> that's still out of commission for a few days- in late 2000 or early

> 2001 when they hung up the quilt in the hallway they had those gold

> letters put on the wall.

>

> > Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

> His 91st birthday is June 3rd, 2005.

March 3, 2005

ee,

Going back to an old UI Healthcare article, UIHC named the POnseti

Clubfoot Clinic on September 28, 2001. The article mentioned is

from the dedication of NYU's clubfoot clinic in April 2001.

> > When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

>

> I don't have the exact date on this- and I think there's an article

> on it at the ponseti_links site (though the article I'm thinking of

> maybe about the clinic in NYC that was also named after him), but

> that's still out of commission for a few days- in late 2000 or early

> 2001 when they hung up the quilt in the hallway they had those gold

> letters put on the wall.

>

> > Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

> His 91st birthday is June 3rd, 2005.

March 3, 2005

Just fyi, for those interested... some more excerpts from that

article.. it's such a good one. It was written by Tony Leys at the

Des Moines Register. (I had called him before going to Iowa to an

appointment and proposed a story, and he and a photographer met us at

the hospital.)

About Dr. P's first retirement and work:

_________________

Everyone knows he can't continue indefinitely. (Dr. Stuart) Weinstein

and U or I colleague Frederick Dietz are prepared to take over for

Ponseti -- but they aren't in any hurry. He has been counted out

early before.

University alumni spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up a

permanent faculty position honoring the doctor after he retired.

Weinstein was chosen for the chair.

Then the old man came back.

Weinstein, 54, laughs about serving for more than a decade as the

designated Ignacio Ponseti professor while the actual Ignacio Ponseti

still works down the hall. " He'll probably outlive us all. Maybe

he'll have a chair in my name someday. "

____________________

Ponseti beamed quietly when asked about the sudden burst of attention

after so many years.

Is the new wave a patients final vindication of his work?

He hesitated in answering. " I have helped so many people, " he

said. " That has been vindication enough. "

Of course, he added, it's nice to see the growing number of surgeons

traveling to Iowa to learn from him. He figures 100 doctors around

the world [this was 2000] now use his method. But that is not all his

doing.

" The patients, the parents are so emotional about this. That has

pushed the doctors to come look. "

Families say their babies are lucky to have him. He knows he is lucky

to have them.

" It's curious, isn't it? " he said. " At 86, one is supposed to be

quiet at home and so on. But it is a good prescription for people my

age. If you are well, you should do what you like to do. "

________________________

Just thought some of you would be interested .. The headline

was " Doctor, 86, works magic on babies' feet " and had a quote from me

at the top: " It was clear to me right away that this was the place

for my baby to be " .. and indeed it was..

and Claire

March 3, 2005

Thank you!

s.

Re: Questions from ee

ee-

> When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

I don't have the exact date on this- and I think there's an article

on it at the ponseti_links site (though the article I'm thinking of

maybe about the clinic in NYC that was also named after him), but

that's still out of commission for a few days- in late 2000 or early

2001 when they hung up the quilt in the hallway they had those gold

letters put on the wall.

> Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

His 91st birthday is June 3rd, 2005.

March 3, 2005

Thank you. We were talking about him last night and I started to wonder more

about him. There are so many articles and links I could weed through them for

days before I zeroed in so I thought a few of you might shorten my search. I

really appreciate it!

s.

Re: Questions from ee

Some answers..

The following is from an article published by the Des Moines Register

in Dec. 2000. (Claire was featured in it, and is being held by Dr. P

on the front page picture..)

" He retired at age 70 because a university rule said he had to. ...

The retirement rule was lifted two years later. He returned to

work, focusing on his clubfoot treatment.

Twelve years passed, and Ponseti appeared to be headed back into

retirement at age 84. He stopped by the office a couple of times a

week, treating a few babies from Iowa and nearby states.

Then the hospital's web site posted information about his method.

Parents frantically researching their newborns' deformities latched

onto the hopeful message, then passed it around on internet sites.

The phone started ringing. Appointment books bulged. Families flew

in from as far away as Singapore, Belgium and India.

Ponseti practices full time now and shows no sign of handing the

reins to younger doctors and staff members. He has treated hundreds

of babies in the past two years. "

Here, too, is a good historical article about Dr. Ponseti. Be sure to

see the links on the side to other articles:

http://www.iowalum.com/magazine/feb03/exclusive/ponseti.html

The Clinic was named for him in 2001. Here's a press release about it

http://www.uihealthcare.com/news/news/2001/10/01ponseti.html

March 3, 2005

OK - this is making me cry! And I've never met the man. I honestly don't

think I've ever heard a story about a doc that compares to this.

Kori

At 07:51 AM 3/3/2005, you wrote:

>Just fyi, for those interested... some more excerpts from that

>article.. it's such a good one. It was written by Tony Leys at the

>Des Moines Register. (I had called him before going to Iowa to an

>appointment and proposed a story, and he and a photographer met us at

>the hospital.)

>

>About Dr. P's first retirement and work:

>_________________

>

>Everyone knows he can't continue indefinitely. (Dr. Stuart) Weinstein

>and U or I colleague Frederick Dietz are prepared to take over for

>Ponseti -- but they aren't in any hurry. He has been counted out

>early before.

>

>University alumni spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up a

>permanent faculty position honoring the doctor after he retired.

>Weinstein was chosen for the chair.

>

>Then the old man came back.

>

>Weinstein, 54, laughs about serving for more than a decade as the

>designated Ignacio Ponseti professor while the actual Ignacio Ponseti

>still works down the hall. " He'll probably outlive us all. Maybe

>he'll have a chair in my name someday. "

>____________________

>

>Ponseti beamed quietly when asked about the sudden burst of attention

>after so many years.

>

>Is the new wave a patients final vindication of his work?

>

>He hesitated in answering. " I have helped so many people, " he

>said. " That has been vindication enough. "

>

>Of course, he added, it's nice to see the growing number of surgeons

>traveling to Iowa to learn from him. He figures 100 doctors around

>the world [this was 2000] now use his method. But that is not all his

>doing.

>

> " The patients, the parents are so emotional about this. That has

>pushed the doctors to come look. "

>

>Families say their babies are lucky to have him. He knows he is lucky

>to have them.

>

> " It's curious, isn't it? " he said. " At 86, one is supposed to be

>quiet at home and so on. But it is a good prescription for people my

>age. If you are well, you should do what you like to do. "

>

>________________________

>

>Just thought some of you would be interested .. The headline

>was " Doctor, 86, works magic on babies' feet " and had a quote from me

>at the top: " It was clear to me right away that this was the place

>for my baby to be " .. and indeed it was..

>

> and Claire

>

March 3, 2005

ee,

Thanks; there are many parents (and our children) and doctors who

have each done alot to help other new parents and spread this

important information. The support continues to be shared in more

and more internet forums and sites around the world every day.

It is amazing to look back almost 6 years now and see what has

happened from just a small beginning of a few parents on the internet

who searched and found what Dr. Ponseti had been trying to tell

everyone for 50 years.

By the way, will be 6 years old 2 weeks from now on March 17th

(St. s Day) and yesterday started his 3rd year of little

league baseball. He plays soccer, basketball and has snow skiied

since he was three. His activities and capabilities have been no

different than any of his prior 5 brothers and sisters. Allyson and

I will be forever grateful that Dr. Ponseti didn't just stay retired

20 or so years ago.

Whatever each of us can do to help will be of value. As Dr.

Herzenberg said in 1999 at Amazon.com at the beginning of the

changover to the Ponseti method; " ... Generations of Clubfoot Babies

will thank us. "

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-

/0192627651/qid=1109887953/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-6525559-

9612608?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/orthopaedics/clubfeet/egbert.html

> GlacierI have questions - how old was Dr. Ponseti when the

university forced him to retire? (about 70? anyone know for sure?)

How much time passed until he convinced them to let him return?

>

> When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

>

> Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

>

> BTW I've been reading a lot of your file posting tonight and

they are awesome. Thanks.

>

> s.

>

March 3, 2005

,

You've always seemed like the voice of reason here , you have such a

wealth of information, you've dedicated yourself so intently to this crusade.

Are you one of (or the one) who founded this group? I noticed last night it

started Dec. 29, 1999. I discovered it in early February - maybe 5 weeks after

it started - and am forever thankful for the help it provided back then.

I'm just thankful for the whole thing, beyond words.

ee

ee,

Thanks; there are many parents (and our children) and doctors who

have each done alot to help other new parents and spread this

important information. The support continues to be shared in more

and more internet forums and sites around the world every day.

It is amazing to look back almost 6 years now and see what has

happened from just a small beginning of a few parents on the internet

who searched and found what Dr. Ponseti had been trying to tell

everyone for 50 years.

By the way, will be 6 years old 2 weeks from now on March 17th

(St. s Day) and yesterday started his 3rd year of little

league baseball. He plays soccer, basketball and has snow skiied

since he was three. His activities and capabilities have been no

different than any of his prior 5 brothers and sisters. Allyson and

I will be forever grateful that Dr. Ponseti didn't just stay retired

20 or so years ago.

Whatever each of us can do to help will be of value. As Dr.

Herzenberg said in 1999 at Amazon.com at the beginning of the

changover to the Ponseti method; " ... Generations of Clubfoot Babies

will thank us. "

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-

/0192627651/qid=1109887953/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/103-6525559-

9612608?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

http://www.vh.org/pediatric/patient/orthopaedics/clubfeet/egbert.html

> GlacierI have questions - how old was Dr. Ponseti when the

university forced him to retire? (about 70? anyone know for sure?)

How much time passed until he convinced them to let him return?

>

> When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

>

> Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

>

> BTW I've been reading a lot of your file posting tonight and

they are awesome. Thanks.

>

> s.

>

March 3, 2005

ee,

Not to toot my own horn TOO loudly (LOL), but I'm the " founder " of

this list. Jakob was just shy of 2 years old (he's now 7!!!!), and I

was just learning how widespread the Ponseti Method was getting. I

had met Joy and Rose a few months prior to this time, but other than

that, I wasn't aware of anyone else who had come to Iowa City for

treatment. In fact, it wasn't until the middle of December of 1999

that I even heard of Dr. Ponseti.

For those who care to hear the whole story, when Jakob was born in

February 1998 with bilateral clubfoot, we got referred to UIHC and Dr.

Weinstein. We went through all of his casting appointments and the

early days of the FAB alone. In fact, we didn't even see any other

clubfoot families before, during, or after any of our appointments

until the day Jakob got out of the FAB for good in September 2001.

In December 1999, A mother I knew from a local breastfeeding group

met a family at some kind of church function who was staying at the

RMH here in Iowa City. She told me about this family since she knew

all about us (this local mother's daughter was born 2 days after

Jakob). I called the family at the RMH and we visited for several

hours right before my family went out of town for Christmas. During

our visit, she told me about talking with (who I knew nothing

about at the time). I came home and emailed who told me about

the many people who were starting to come to Iowa to see Dr. Ponseti.

Over our Christmas vacation, I couldn't get the idea out of my head

that something needed to be done to promote the Ponseti Method. I

knew about the other Yahoo list (Clubfoot), but meither the people

there nor the people at the ParentsPlace clubfoot board were very open

to hearing about the Ponseti Method as most of their children had

already had surgery.

When I came to OneList (it has gone through a couple name changes

since then), there was a 20 character limit to group names. In

hindsight, I realize it's a bit of a misnomer, but it seems silly to

change it at this point

So that's my story and I'm stickin' to it

> ,

> You've always seemed like the voice of reason here , you have

such a wealth of information, you've dedicated yourself so intently to

this crusade. Are you one of (or the one) who founded this group? I

noticed last night it started Dec. 29, 1999. I discovered it in early

February - maybe 5 weeks after it started - and am forever thankful

for the help it provided back then.

>

> I'm just thankful for the whole thing, beyond words.

> ee

March 4, 2005

ee,

It was McLaughlin who started this list the end of December

1999. had been on one or two of the other message groups

before that and saw a need to set up a Ponseti specific support

group. I first got to meet and in January 2000, when I

brought to the U of Iowa for a nine month checkup.

and I had lunch with Dr. Ponseti in the U of Iowa cafeteria after

our kids checkups.

Actually we all owe a lot to the early internet parents who started

a clubfoot group before all of us at Parentsplace in December 1997.

They indicated that they had met on a generic birth defect message

group at Parentsplace and decided to start a clubfoot specific

support group. Those early parents did not know about the Ponseti

method, but set up the initial internet clubfoot chat groups that

provided information and support that helped all of us be able to

communicate. Many of those original internet parents are listed at

Hodsoll's web site. Most of their children were born from

1995 to 1998. Some of those early parents and leaders were Dr.

Mardie, Judge Judy, Hodsoll, Carmel Burns and others. We

all owe a lot to them.

http://www.angelfire.com/on4/clubfoot/clubfoot.html

They also started the other Yahoo groups clubfoot group in October

1998. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/clubfoot/

We joined Parentsplace on June 7, 1999; about a week after our

got out of the casts and about 2 days after Lori Stime (Bay

Area) had posted the first message from someone who had been treated

by Dr. Ponseti. In 1999, I looked back through all of the messages

that had been posted at parentsplace back to December 1997 and

noticed that someone had mentioned information about Dr. Ponseti in

mid 1998 but no one on their groups at that time had been to him.

Almost every parent and child at that time on the internet were

dealing with the assumption that surgical correction was the main

and only method of treatment for the majority of clubfoot.

At that time, I counted that there were about 150 others who had

left messages at the Parentsplace site from Dec 1997 to June 1999.

The old Parentsplace links do not work anymore so I can't link you

to Lori Stimes original message on June 5, 1999. Dr. Ponseti's web

site at the Virtual Hospital was on the internet by at least early

1998. I think that there were a few others who found Dr. Ponseti's

web site, went to Iowa for treatment, but did not find out about the

existing message groups. We were the third parents that I am aware

of on those early message groups to have been to Iowa. Kassie E.

from L.A. was also on the parentsplace group in mid June 1999.

It is possible that there were some other Ponseti method parents on

the Yahoo Clubfoot message group before the summer of 1999. By the

end of the summer of 1999, there were about 10 internet parents who

had gone to Iowa. Through the fall of 1999, that number grew to

about 20 and then thought it would be a good idea for Ponseti

method parents to have their own message group. During the summer

and fall of 1999, the 10-20 of us on the internet began to think

that perhaps we could help find ways to get information on the

Ponseti method to more and more parents so that new parents could

know that the Ponseti method existed.

In the meantime, Dr. Ponseti and the U of Iowa, Dr. Herzenberg and

Dr. Pirani were all doing what they could to try to get more doctors

interested in the method.

It has been an amazing experience to see almost the whole medical

system change and accept the Ponseti method.

and (3-17-99)

> > GlacierI have questions - how old was Dr. Ponseti when the

> university forced him to retire? (about 70? anyone know for

sure?)

> How much time passed until he convinced them to let him return?

> >

> > When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

> >

> > Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

> >

> > BTW I've been reading a lot of your file posting tonight

and

> they are awesome. Thanks.

> >

> > s.

> >

March 4, 2005

I second that.

Thanks and !!!

Shook

Retail Operations Manager/Baking Instructor

Vie de France Yamazaki, Inc.

2070 Chain Bridge Rd. Suite 500

Vienna, VA 22182

x374

fax

March 4, 2005

Dear ,

I just wanted to extend a thank-you to you for your continued

commitment to helping us parents w/cf babies!! The data, information

and links you provide are just amazing! The time and effort you put

into this cause is inspiring!!!

When our daughter was born with cf - undiagnosed - you were one of

the first people to answer my desperate post. You told us about the

Ponseti Method (which we were lucky enough to have fallen into) and

gave me a link to this site...

Thank-you so much for putting me in touch with such a wonderful group

of people!

I am happy to hear that your Joshaua is doing so well, it really

gives us all something to look forward to!

& Grace

> > GlacierI have questions - how old was Dr. Ponseti when the

> university forced him to retire? (about 70? anyone know for

sure?)

> How much time passed until he convinced them to let him return?

> >

> > When did the University name the cf cliniic after him?

> >

> > Anyone know his birthday or how old he'll be this year?

> >

> > BTW I've been reading a lot of your file posting tonight

and

> they are awesome. Thanks.

> >

> > s.

> >

March 4, 2005

I'm so glad you did . I bet you never dreamed it would become THIS big!

LOL! I'm all the time thinking how close I came to missing the Ponseti Boat.

You (and the others) have my gratitude.