about me

My name is Kathe Hotz.  I am the owner and therapist for Lymphedema Solutions NW.

I absolutely love evaluating and treating lymphedema and lipedema patients, teaching how they can manage their condition and giving them the solutions they need to return to a happy, healthy life.  

I love seeing the look on my clients face after  seeing how much their arm or leg has shrunk after removing their bandages for the first time, how they can move better after 3 or 4 treatments.

• Reducing the lymphedema/lipedema is what gives people hope that they can manage their condition and it won't keep getting worse. 
• Its also nice now that the compression garments now come in colours.   Arm sleeves are now coming in all sorts of patterns for those that want variety.   
• There are alternatives to compression socks now for individuals that have difficulty putting them on.  There are also some equipment to help in putting on the compression socks as well as removing them.

I have been an Occupational Therapist for over 20 years.   I  worked at Legacy Good Samaritan inpatient rehabilitation unit-RIO for 15 years.   Following that I relocated to a a large inner city 750 bed hospital in Birmingham England for 2 years as a Clinical Specialist.  I became interested in lymphedema while working in a burn and wound care unit and worked on and off with lymphedema patients for 8 years.   In 2012. I took my Klose Training lymphedema certification course from Jodi Winicour, PT, CMT, CLT-LANA and Leslyn Keith MS, OTR/L, CLT-LANA.

•   In 2013, I took an advanced training course in Head and Neck Lymphedema from Heidi Miranda-Walsh OTR/L, CHT, CLT giving me more specific training in lymphedema from head and neck cancers. 
•  In 2014, I attended an advanced Elvarex fitting course taught by Guenter Klose MLD Certified Instuctor, CLT-LANA.   I do a lot of my own measurements for compression garments and coming up with solutions for my patients that do not always find compression garments easy to wear.
• In Feb 2015, I compleed a Breast Cancer Rehabilitation course taught by Jodi Winicour PT, CMT, CLT-LANA.   This course taught me a lot about not only treatments for cancer but also treating tissues complicated by radiation and breast reconstruction. 
• In January of 2017, I took and passed my LANA  examination (Lymphology Association of North America) giving me an additional certification in lymphedema.
• In October 2019 I co-presented on Lymphedema therapy in private practice at the National Lymphedema conference.
• In November 2021 we purchased a lymphatouch machine which we use concurrently with manual lymph drainage to break up the hard fibrotic tissue that can affect lymphedema, lipedema and dercums clients.

I work with multiple local and national vendors who provide compression garments.  They order garments based on my measurements, bill insurance and send garments to my clinic making it more convient for you.   I also work with the other lymphedma therapist in the Portland Metro area in a lymphedema study group to talk about current topics and practices we are using in our clinics.