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The Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Takes Part in National Effort to Help Area Homeless

"Our Hearts to Your Soles" Program Provides Free Foot Screenings, Footwear to Residents at Helping Up Mission in Baltimore City

(Baltimore, MD - March 8, 2006) — Mercy Medical Center's Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction recently took part in the first national effort to help relieve the foot problems experienced by area homeless. “Our Hearts to Your Soles,” founded by Pittsburgh teen Matt Conti in 2005, teamed up on Thursday, March 8, 2007 with Mercy foot–and-ankle board-certified orthopedic surgeon Dr. Clifford Jeng to provide free foot screenings and footwear to residents of the Helping Up Mission, located at 1029 East Baltimore Street. Similar events took place across the U.S. Matt founded “Our Hearts to Your Soles” as a school project after he did an internship with his father, Stephen Conti, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Pittsburgh’s Allegheny General Hospital (AGH). Seeing first hand the severe problems caused by wearing improper footwear, Matt was inspired to form this non-profit organization that provides free shoes and foot screenings for the homeless. This is the third outreach event — the first to take place nationwide in multiple cities — that Matt has coordinated since he started the organization. Matt is a senior at North Allegheny High School in Pittsburgh. Dr. Clifford Jeng is an associate of world renowned foot and ankle surgeon, Dr. Mark Myerson, Director of The Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy, the only center of its kind in-hospital in the United States.

For more information about Our Hearts to Your Soles, visit www.heartstosoles.com. For more details, call The Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy at 410-659-2804.