R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press | Foot and Ankle Surgeon Jake Eisenschink explains the effects of a recent procedure while a patient x-ray is displayed.

ESCANABA — A trusted podiatry business in Escanaba receives referrals from other offices and treats its patients using the expertise of three in-house doctors: the founder and his daughter and son-in-law, all of whom are foot and ankle specialists.

Dennis Leveille graduated from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine in Cleveland in 1984 and, after completing his residency program in the Detroit area, returned to his hometown to open his own practice.

When Dennis kick-started his business 40 years ago — on Aug. 1, 1985 — it was at 117 N. 22nd St., near the current Wendy’s in Escanaba, and the doctor was affiliated with St. Francis Hospital.

He grew the business, expanding to other cities in the Upper Peninsula. Though other podiatrists also worked with him, Dennis himself traveled between the offices in Escanaba, Marquette and Norway, performing surgeries at all three.

In 2002, with a location at 200 N. Main St. in Norway as well as on North 22nd Street in Escanaba, the name of the practice was changed from U.P. Podiatry Associates to Great Lakes Podiatry, the title in use today.

Not long after, the Escanaba base of Great Lakes Podiatry found a new home. It moved into a suite at 126 S. 25th St., where it remains as the business’s only location. Dennis scaled back to focus on the sole office as well as spend more time with family.

In 2011, Rachelle Leveille graduated from Escanaba Area High School, while Jake Eisenschink of Manitowoc, Wis., graduated from Lincoln High School. The two did not then know each other but ended up meeting at Des Moines University in Iowa while both were pursuing doctorate degrees from the College of Pediatric Medicine and Surgery.

Rachelle said that despite growing up around her father’s practice, she did not intend to follow in his footsteps.

“I never in a million years thought I would do this at all,” Rachelle said.

She explained that she shadowed a few different doctors, trying to find a path, and it was seeing the work of a different foot and ankle surgeon that made her realize it was what she wanted to do, too.

“I think I just needed the outside perspective,” she said.

Rachelle and Jake married in 2019, right after graduation and just before their three-year residencies under different doctors in lower Michigan.

In 2022, both Dr. Rachelle Leveille and Dr. Jake Eisenschink stepped aboard at Great Lakes Podiatry and have been working alongside Dr. Dennis Leveille, a Fellow in the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, ever since.

There are nine staff members total at Great Lakes Podiatry, whose jobs include reception, medical assisting, billing and surgical scheduling, and practice management. The latter position is filled by Mary Pat Leveille, Dennis’s wife and Rachelle’s mother.

The trio of podiatrists brings a variety of expertise to the practice and are able to bounce ideas off each other.

“(Dennis) and I trained at the same residency,” Jake said. “It’s fun, because a lot of the people that taught him taught me, so we’re able to kind of share stories and things like that, and have a lot of the same kind of thought processes on things.”

The industry has changed over the years, and now podiatric medicine no longer involves the “big, bulky hardware” that was common when Dennis first entered the profession, as Rachelle put it.

“We do, like, a lot of minimally invasive things, where we use small incisions to do things. That’s kind of the latest techniques,” Jake explained.

Certain injuries that would render a foot non-weight-bearing for three months years ago can now be repaired in such a way as to get people back on their feet in about four weeks, Rachelle said.

The types of issues that bring patients into Great Lakes Podiatry range from foot pain, ingrown toenails, bunions, hammertoes and diabetic concerns to fractures and sprains, trauma, broken bones and more major deformities.

The office has been performing “quite a bit” of total ankle replacements lately, Jake said, something people might be surprised to find in the Upper Peninsula.

In other fields of medicine, it’s common for locals to travel to Marquette or Green Bay, Wis., or farther for treatment. But in matters below the knee, people from elsewhere are being sent to Escanaba.

“We got a reputation that we’ll take anything on. … A lot of the other foot and ankle people seem to be referring to us quite a bit for more complicated things,” said Jake, noting that in the past few years, the practice has been seeing patients from Wisconsin and all over the U.P.

Great Lakes Podiatry is on call for OSF, helping local patients stay local.

“You’re not getting better foot and ankle care by going to Green Bay,” Jake said. “Just because (a doctor) gets hired in Green Bay doesn’t mean that they’re any better. We could have went to big cities and big hospitals and stuff, but we chose to come back here to be by family. So we’re here by choice.”

Great Lakes Podiatry has been hosting residents from down in Detroit that come up to train with Leveille, Leveille and Eisenschink. Each is usually up for about a month at a time, and the practice sees about three or four come through each year.

Dennis, now in his 60s, is stepping back slightly, working three days a week now, Rachelle reported. Ultimately, when he’s ready to retire, the plan is for the business to transition into the hands of Rachelle and Jake, but Dennis is still the owner at present.

Rachelle said one thing she enjoys about her work is getting to know the patients — their various personalities and the challenges that befall them — and the fact that the work changes day by day.

“It’s nice balance, I think, between clinic and surgery, too,” she said. “You can kind of make your own schedule that way.”

Jake called it a rewarding, gratifying profession.

“It’s the satisfaction of getting people back on their feet. I say people limp in, and I’m hoping that they’ll leap out of the office,” he said. “You don’t realize how important your feet are until you can’t use them anymore. … If we can help improve their feet, maybe we can improve their daily lifestyle of things, and not just concentrate on the feet, but more of a holistic approach to health and the body. Everything seems to kind of bounce back off of the feet.”

Great Lakes Podiatry accepts many forms of insurance and does not require referrals. Their office opens at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays, closing at 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. The phone number of the practice is 906-786-2385.

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Editor’s note: This story is part of a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series runs on a regular basis in the Daily Press.