How do you network with your O&P colleagues?

I think the O&P listserv is a good way to keep in touch with other practitioners across the country. I ask questions that I need answers to, and if there’s a [question] that I could help with, I try to answer it as well. 

The listserv is nice if you have a patient who’s going to a different part of the country and may be in need of a referral. You can find someone for them in an area you’re not familiar with. 

Just recently I had a patient of mine in Texas who was in need of some funding help for his prosthesis. Not being familiar with the Medicaid laws or other funding that are available in Texas, I posted it on the listserv. The response time [was] almost immediate, so I was able to get some resources [for my patient].
Frank Ikerd, CPO, Owner
Advanced Orthotics and Prosthetics
Joplin, Mo.

Mostly through conferences; that’s where you get a lot of your contacts. We usually have at least one practitioner that [goes to each], we split it up, and one typically goes to either the AAOP one in the spring, and [another goes] to the ACPOC, which is the pediatric [conference]. We typically try and rotate the practitioners who go to the conferences, so that all of them gain the experience. 

There are social events [at the conferences]; you’re looking to get back in touch with those people you worked with previously. I think it’s important that when you leave a place, you leave on good terms so you don’t burn bridges. You definitely want to try and touch base with people who have been valuable contacts. It’s easiest [to do that at conferences] because they’re all in one place.
Aaron Best, CO, BOCO
National Rehab Equipment
Moon Township, Penn.

For one of the guys I’m in contact with, I’m in Michigan and he’s in Toledo. He’s not a resident director, and I am (for NCOPE), so I’m taking his resident and having him come up here for his residency. 

Sometimes a manufacturer will come in and do an educational inservice, and I’ll invite the prosthetists from Battle Creek, and one from Toledo and one from Ann Arbor, and have them [attend]. I try to make it worth the time for the manufacturer to come in, by bringing in a few extra people.
Joseph G. Springer, CP
Springer Prosthetics & Orthotics Services Inc.
Lansing, Mich.

I’d say the most successful networking we’ve been able to do is at the trade shows. We’re an exhibitor there, and [when] the customers come up to us, we’re able to finally put names with faces [of customers we’ve only met over the phone]. Usually, [the customer] will have a friend that he’ll bring over to the booth and he’ll say, “Hey, I want you to meet so-and-so.” [Getting referrals that way] happens quite a bit. 

We usually go to the two big ones, the AOPA show and the Academy show, and we’ll do a couple of the regional shows, and usually the Hanger show. We’re in California, so we used to do the WAMOPA show in Nevada. We’ll only do the trade shows about three or four times a year. 

[Trade shows help] especially with foreign customers; we’ll get people from South America, Canada, Germany, Australia, who will come and see us at the trade shows. Since they often can’t get us on the phone, that’s the first time they will really come in contact with us. 

It’s a fairly small [part of our overall sales], maybe 5 to 10 percent, but they’ve become fairly important customers, because when they do order, their orders are large. And as a small company, we try to pay attention to that.
Seth L. Rogers, Plant & Business Manager
Foresee Orthopedic Products
Oakdale, Calif.