Doctors John A. Lord and John K. Ford are no strangers to the confusion that can arise from a name. But when they opened their podiatry clinic together on S.E. 28th Street, they didn’t think they’d have any problems beyond inter-office mail.

Until, said office manager Erika Carter, the Mercer Island Foot and Ankle Center started getting mail intended for the Mercer Island Foot & Ankle Clinic. Uh-oh.

Sure enough, another podiatry clinic was also opening right around the corner on 78th Avenue S.E. The name was a bit too close for comfort, so Ford and Lord graciously changed the operation’s name to Island Crest Foot and Ankle Center. No bother that they were no longer the only such outfit in town.

“The more choices for people on the Island, the better,” said Dr. Lord (or was it Ford?)

In any case, having moved from Bellevue, Carter said the local name recognition her doctors already have gives them an advantage.

At Mercer Island Foot & Ankle, the other new kids on the block don’t seem too worried.

Dr. Mak Abulhosn said that as Seattle natives with great training and many services, he and his partner, Dr. Daniel Greenan, don’t feel threatened. “Through various avenues, people will find their way here and not the other one,” he said. With 22,000 Islanders, he said, there should be plenty of feet to go around.

A grizzly job

If you were reading the news or watching the “Today Show” last week, you may have seen a remarkably jovial and extremely bald guy wearing a contraption holding his neck and back together. He was describing in stomach-churning detail his bloody encounter with a Montana grizzly bear.

If you live on Mercer Island, you may have recognized the name of the cosmetic surgeon who pulled off the monstrous feat of stitching Johan Otter back together.

Once named Mercer Island Citizen of the Year, Dr. Nicholas Vedder would probably get Otter’s vote for surgeon of the year. Vedder and the team he leads at Harborview Medical Center made Otter a brand-new scalp to replace the one the bear had torn off, transplanting a thin muscle from the victim’s back and grafting thigh skin to cover it.

“He came in with his bare skull hanging out in the breeze — there was a big potential for infection,” Vedder said.

After getting the muscle in place, the doctors reestablished the blood flow by connecting the vessels in Otter’s scalp to those in his face. The sutures were so small the stitching was done under a microscope.

Get a kick out of sharing

It’s soccer season, and the Parks Department hopes that motivates Islanders to bring new or slightly used soccer balls to Luther Burbank Park to donate to needy children.

Diane Mortenson of the department suggests that kids even write on the balls, offering a name, address or message.

“It’s a good little way to say hi to somebody,” she said. “And you never know — you might just get a letter.”

Last year, Mercer Island and about 30 other cities sent more than 2,000 balls to needy children in the Puget Sound area and worldwide. The program is run through the Christian humanitarian group World Vision.

Mortenson would like to top the 200 balls Islanders donated last year. She noted that balls must be deflated, and said that hand pumps are needed as well so that the children who receive the balls can blow them back up again.

Balls may be brought to the Parks Department building at Luther Burbank Park from now until Nov. 19.