Re: DR . ZALTZ in Michigan

[Guest guest]

-

I live in MI. We did go to Iowa for treatment and have been seeing

Dr. in GR for follow-up checkups. A friend of a friend is

planning on using Dr. Zaltz - she actually works at Beaumont, closely

with Dr. Zaltz's department, and feels very happy with using him. (her

baby has not yet been born) I did end up emailing Dr. Ponseti about

Dr. Zaltz and here is his reply:

March 10, 2006

I don't remember Dr. Ira Zaltz. He may have been here for a short

visit. It is

impressive that he has treated 400 babies. I wonder how many plaster

casts he

uses. Most clubfeet are corrected with 5 or 6. Only about 10%

require 8 or 10.

Your friend should also make sure that Dr. Zaltz uses the shoes on the

bar once

the feet are fully corrected since that is the only type of brace that

will

maintain the correction. They might also be interested in the web site

www.global-help.org where one can click on Publications and download a

copy of

Clubfoot: Ponseti Management which is very informative.

There is a scarcity of people in Michigan who are properly using our

treatment

technique and if Dr. Zaltz would care to send me photos and other

information on

three patients he has treated, I would like to add him to our list of

qualified

physicians so I can refer patients to him. Perhaps your friends could

give him

my e-mail address and we could be in touch.

I would very much like to see Zach if you can make it down to Iowa

this summer.

I.V. Ponseti, M.D.

If you are interested, I could try and connect you with the gal who

actually plans on using Dr. Zaltz - she and I have emailed one another

some when she first found out her child was going to be born with

clubfoot.

Personally, and since you don't know me it may not count for much, I

wouldn't feel entirely secure using Dr. Zaltz. I've seen it so many

times (from this group) where somebody seeks out a Dr. who claims to

be using the Ponseti method, they tweak it a bit (using fiberglass

instead of plaster, etc.), and never seem to get the same results.

You'll have to really do your research (which obviously you are) - and

make a decision that you ultimately feel comfortable with. I wanted

to add that the " 400 babies " that Dr. Zaltz " corrected " came from the

gal I've been corresponding with, NOT necessarily from Dr. Zaltz

himself. I'm not sure how accurate that number is.

Please feel free to email me: hwazy@...

Holly

Zachary 7/27/02

Unilateral Right C/F

Treated by Dr. Ponseti

DBB Nights Only

>

> I was wondering if anyone has any information on Dr. Zaltz in Royal

> Oak, Michigan. Our baby boy is due to arrive in 2 weeks and has

> bilateral CF. We have been planning to have Dr. treat

> our son as he is the only Dr. in Michigan Ponseti recommends.

> However, Dr. is 2 hours away and we are battling with our

> insurance company to cover him b/c he is out-of-network.

>

> Dr. Zaltz claims to follow the Ponseti Method w/ the exception of

> using fiberglass casts instead of plaster. Our concern is that he's

> not on Ponseti's list...

>

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much!!!

>

>

[Guest guest]

I don't know anything about Dr. Zaltz. My son, now 2.5 yo, has been

seeing Dr Craig out of UM. I'm not sure if your insurance covers it

or not. Dr. Craig used Ponseti method with plaster cast with my

son. My son had bilateral CF, now has perfect feet, only wearing

DBB at night.

>

> I was wondering if anyone has any information on Dr. Zaltz in

Royal

> Oak, Michigan. Our baby boy is due to arrive in 2 weeks and has

> bilateral CF. We have been planning to have Dr.

treat

> our son as he is the only Dr. in Michigan Ponseti recommends.

> However, Dr. is 2 hours away and we are battling with our

> insurance company to cover him b/c he is out-of-network.

>

> Dr. Zaltz claims to follow the Ponseti Method w/ the exception of

> using fiberglass casts instead of plaster. Our concern is that

he's

> not on Ponseti's list...

>

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much!!!

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

I don't have any personal experience with Dr. Zaltz but I just did a

quick search on the group and came up a little bit about him in the

archives, you might want to look at msg. #28409. Not exactly a

" fantastic " report about him, but not bad either, although mostly sort

of second hand information. The one thing that stood out to me was

that his reasoning for not getting on Dr. Ponseti's list was that it

was too time consuming (again, this is just heresay). That just kind

of rubs me the wrong way, maybe says something about his dedication?

But there is also a post from a parent recommending a Dr. Mendelow

(post#28485) in MI. Does anyone know anything about him?

>

> I was wondering if anyone has any information on Dr. Zaltz in Royal

> Oak, Michigan. Our baby boy is due to arrive in 2 weeks and has

> bilateral CF. We have been planning to have Dr. treat

> our son as he is the only Dr. in Michigan Ponseti recommends.

> However, Dr. is 2 hours away and we are battling with our

> insurance company to cover him b/c he is out-of-network.

>

> Dr. Zaltz claims to follow the Ponseti Method w/ the exception of

> using fiberglass casts instead of plaster. Our concern is that he's

> not on Ponseti's list...

>

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much!!!

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

Congratulations on the pending arrival of your baby boy. I don't

know anything about Dr. Zaltz but my son has been treated by Dr.

Schechter at Children's and we are quite happy with the results. As

most people here can tell you, we've had our share of doubts,

especially after getting the brace and finding it wasn't set up to

Ponseti recommendations. Come to find out, the orthotist who set it

screwed up...the actual prescription was correct all along. (So my

advice there is, no matter who your doctor is, make sure you

question things when they don't seem right!) Fortunately this did

not cause any relapse and we were able to get it corrected with the

help of the people here

We have emailed Dr. Ponseti pictures of 's feet and went to

Dr. in Grand Rapids just to reassure ourselves that everything

was ok. They both said 's feet look great. He had 5 serial

casts, no tenotomy, wore the FAB for 23/7 for 3 months and is now

down to 16-18/7.

If you want to email me privately I would be happy to help if you

decide to see Dr. Schechter.

Kaci (mom to , bcf, 12/17/05, FAB 16/7)

>

> I was wondering if anyone has any information on Dr. Zaltz in

Royal

> Oak, Michigan. Our baby boy is due to arrive in 2 weeks and has

> bilateral CF. We have been planning to have Dr.

treat

> our son as he is the only Dr. in Michigan Ponseti recommends.

> However, Dr. is 2 hours away and we are battling with our

> insurance company to cover him b/c he is out-of-network.

>

> Dr. Zaltz claims to follow the Ponseti Method w/ the exception of

> using fiberglass casts instead of plaster. Our concern is that

he's

> not on Ponseti's list...

>

> Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks so much!!!

>

>