He’s Begun a Campaign to Save Soles : A podiatrist steps up his efforts to collect 1,000 donated pairs of shoes for patients who cannot afford proper footwear.

Michael Levi is no Imelda Marcos. But he’d like to have a shoe collection to rival the former Philippine First Lady.

Levi, a Santa Monica podiatrist, is a volunteer at the Venice Family Clinic. There, he treats the southernmost extremities of homeless, low-income and uninsured patients. He has found that most of his patients’ problems stem from old, ill-fitting and, in some cases, the lack of shoes. So he kicked off a campaign to collect footwear to donate to needy patients.

“The response has been phenomenal,” he said, amid about 300 pairs he collected in less than a month. Levi wrote letters to the patients in his private practice and queried shoe stores on the Westside to donate whatever extra sneakers, heels, loafers or sandals they can spare.

His original goal was to collect 500 pairs by May, which is National Foot Health Month, but he has set his new goal at 1,000 pairs.

Levi has been volunteering at the Venice Family Clinic one evening a month since 1988. He gives about 25 patients a new lease on their feet each visit. His wife, Lori, a first-grade teacher in Hollywood, accompanies Levi on each visit to help translate for his Spanish-speaking patients.

Because neither Medicare nor Medi-Cal will cover a podiatry visit, Levi said, in addition to his work at the clinic he takes about three or four patients in his Santa Monica practice each week.

Many of his clinic patients could have avoided a lot of pain had they had proper shoes. He recalled one homeless woman with an ulcer that had eaten through the tendons and was nearing the bone of her foot. She didn’t own a single pair of shoes and had no feeling left in her feet, he said.

Foot pain is a particular problem for people who make their living on their feet. Another of Levi’s patients, Rosa Orozco, said she came to Los Angeles relying on her strong work ethic to earn a living. She had been trying to ignore the pain in her feet, but it was making it almost impossible to endure a long day at work as a maid. Levi salvaged her soles--and her job.

Orozco had severely infected toes, which made it difficult for her to walk. Levi performed a quick procedure to remedy the problem she has battled for years.

“I was amazed that I was walking the day after the procedure, that I could work,” Orozco said.

Levi also examined the feet of Orozco’s children. Many foot problems, such as ingrown toenails, hammertoes and poor circulation caused by diabetes, are hereditary. Levi said that most of the problems his patients have are extreme because foot care is last on their list of priorities, even though most of them are laborers who rely on their feet to make a living.

In addition to advice, an occasional medical procedure and a pair of shoes, Levi gives some of his patients custom-made shoe inserts that are donated by local laboratories.

Mary Crowe, a Venice bartender, couldn’t afford to see a specialist, but the sharp pain in her toes that she had felt for almost two years was making it hard to stay on her feet for a full shift, she said.

Levi said Crowe had a neuroma, an enlarged nerve that could be corrected with inserts. He arranged to get her some.

An indication of how many of the Venice Family Clinic patients have foot problems is the long waiting list to see Levi and Joseph Salz, the other volunteer podiatrist. Crowe said she had to wait more than a month to see Levi.

Donations of children’s and adults ‘ shoes in good condition are being taken at Levi’s office at 2021 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 304, and at the Venice Family Clinic at 604 Rose Ave.