BOC Certificant of the Year, Chris Casteel
Chris Casteel: ‘If you want to salsa dance, you have to put the work in’
by Theresa Flaherty
DETROIT – Certificant of the Year Chris Casteel, a former machinist and plant manager, “jumped naively” into his career as an O&P professional, but in the two decades since, he’s used his experience, as both an amputee and a health care professional, to help others.
“I had gotten laid off, so I thought, ‘Ok, let’s make people parts instead of car parts,’” said Casteel BOCO, BOCP, co-owner of Anew Life Prosthetics and Orthotics, who was recently recognized by the Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC) as this year’s Certificant. “But I naively jumped into this thinking, it’ll all be cool, not realizing the deal with governmental regulation and insurance and the shell game that that is.”
Casteel spoke with HME News about the importance of managing expectations and paying it forward.