Foot And Ankle Specialists Open Shop On Western: Bev Biz Beat

CHICAGO — Keir Foot & Ankle Specialists is one of the neighborhood's newest businesses, opening recently at 116th and Western in Morgan Park. The business is led by a pair of podiatrists who met while in medical school. One of them, Dr. Whitney Castle, is a Beverly neighborhood native who attended St. Barnabas and then St. Ignatius High School.

Dr. Sabrina Landers is originally from Virginia and moved to Chicago some years ago to manage night clubs. While here, she attended medical school because she said she wanted to do "something more" with her life.

Castle and Landers met while assigned to partner with each other in medical school and soon found by coincidence they both lived on Grand Avenue in Chicago and just five doors down from each other.

A friendship formed, and soon later a business opportunity. The two said Beverly/Morgan Park was the perfect spot to open a pediatric care business.

"We did research into the market and demographics and found there are a lot of podiatrists in the area but they are not here all at one time... some come in once a week or once a month, and we really wanted to become a part of the community," Castle said.

Keir has been open at 11628 S. Western Ave. since Sept. 16, which culminated a two-year planning process from conceptualizing the idea to opening for business, the doctors said.

The facility is all new, in a completely redone space less than a block south of Beverly Records. There's usually a good amount of street parking in the area.

Castle and Landers both said it feels "amazing" to see patients come in and comment on the facility and that some of the neighbors even took it upon themselves to rebuild their fence for them while they were getting ready to open.

"We wanted to work in a neighborhood where everyone looks out for one another and that's where we are," Landers said.

From the Keir's "About' section on Facebook:

"Keir Foot and Ankle Specialists promote the health and well-being of the local population by providing accessible, high quality podiatric care to people of all ages. Keir FAS is committed to providing services that will exceed patient expectations."

Products and services the specialists provide include work with athletic and sports related injuries, tendonitis/heel pain, athlete's foot, plantar warts, ingrown toe nails, fungal toe nails/painful calluses/corns, ankle sprains/ankle pain, bunions/hammer toes/flat feet gout, diabetic foot and ankle care, wound care, surgical consultations and custom made foot orthotics.