About us
Andrea Cleland opened her first podiatry practice at the end of 1981 and was one of only two private practicing podiatrists in Canberra at that time. This practice was situated at the Phillip Health Centre in Woden and in later years moved to the Woden Churches Centre (now renamed 'The Woden Centre').
Andrea met her husband and partner, Ben Balthazaar at a conference in South Australia. Ben Balthazaar moved out of his Sydney private practice to work exclusively for the Running Clinic in North Sydney and specialise in sports podiatry and biomechanics. He joined Andrea's practice in Canberra on a part time basis, travelling between Sydney and Canberra for two years before beginning full time work in Canberra in 1990.
The business expanded to open a branch in the Homeworld centre in Tuggeranong, but in 1998, Andrea and Ben closed this practice, choosing to concentrate their efforts on providing the highest levels of podiatric service from the Woden location. This proved a successful move, and in 2003, the practice expanded it's Woden premises to include a specialised biomechanics suite and treatment rooms.
In 2004, the practice again expanded its services, to include the sales and service of medical compression stockings, beneficial for travel and circulatory conditions.
Over the years, Andrea and Ben have employed podiatrists from Victoria, New Zealand, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland and Canberra locals under the name of Footcare Associates. They are committed to continuing education programs to encourage staff to employ up-to-date techniques for treatment. Footcare also participates in clinical placements for Podiatry students from various universities with the aim of inviting new ideas and techniques into their practice and continue to provide high quality podiatric treatments to the Canberra region.
