Cascade Celebrates 25 Years of Serving Patients

Cascade is celebrating 25 years in business this year. Cascade team members are remembering the patients they have been able to serve, the relationships they have built with practitioners all over the country and the fact that they work for a company with a clear and worthy mission.

In late 1980, Don Buethorn, CPO, and his wife Candace opened the doors to their patient practice – Cascade Prosthetics and Orthotics. After just a few years in business, and with a handful of employees, Don designed and crafted the first DAFO custom brace in collaboration with physical therapist Nancy Hylton. It doesn’t seem long ago when the company operated from a renovated older home in Bellingham, Washington

Cascade has since grown into two companies. Cascade P & O Inc. continues as a patient practice, with five practitioners serving patients in the state of Washington. Cascade Dafo Inc. is the manufacturing company that continues to develop new DAFO braces and shoe inserts; this company works with practitioners nationwide, setting the professional standard in pediatric dynamic lower extremity bracing.

Stories are often best told by those who have lived the experiences. Following are some comments from several long-time Cascade employees. Their enthusiasm and memories tell it all.

Nghia Van La—Special Orthotics
“I have been with the company for 19 years. In those early days, when an order came in for a new brace, I would work on the order from start to finish. Making the mold, shaping and trimming the plastic and sewing the straps. Now, of course, we have many different stations where people specialize in different areas of production. I have learned good things from working with Don. He is always enthusiastic about trying to see what we could do with the materials to create a better brace. One time the company sent me to Vietnam for two weeks to do some AFO training with Vietnamese practitioners. That was very special.”

Karen Christenson—Workshop Coordinator
“After Cascade’s first employee, Nen Phan, was hired as a technician in 1983, I was hired in 1984 to manage reception and billing. I recall Nancy Hylton’s first six molds awaiting DAFO fabrication; they were stored under the lab oven. There were no names on them, but Nen could tell the orders apart just by looking at the molds. Since my first day on the job, it has always been clear that we are here for the patient. Don’s empathy for his patients spills over to those he has hired. It’s a way of life here, to go to bat for our patients with respect and empathy. Most of us working at Cascade have healthy families, and the patients and families we connect with are dealing with more than we can understand. It’s important to try making a difference in their experience.”


Canh Nguyen—Modification Supervisor
“I have worked at Cascade for 18 years. Early on, the business was based out of a converted house. We all wore a lot of hats in those days. It was like being a small family. Don saw patients in the living room. In the kitchen we kept the supplies and did the sewing. If we didn’t have any patient work, I might mow the lawns, or on breaks we would play soccer in the yard.

It’s easy now to see how the company has been successful. Don’s desire and passion fuels so much at the company. He loves his job. The design ideas come from Don, then the technicians, like myself, work together to expand on Don’s ideas. We figure out the specifics of how to make Don’s ideas real.

I am now a trainer in the lab. I help new people learn to do the job well. Vietnamese people are a big contribution to the company. Most of the people in the lab are Vietnamese.”

Leon Kinsley—QC
“As an employee, I find the generous nature of people here really stands out. Everyone’s care and dedication to creating top-notch products is exceptional. I have also been a DAFO patient for most of my life. As a patient, I have found people who work at Cascade to be very open. I appreciate their ability to accommodate me as a patient, and their work to find any way possible to make me comfortable and make my brace fit as it should.”

Bac Tran—Modification and Special Orthotics Supervisor
“I have been here at Cascade for 15 years. Before becoming a supervisor, I worked on every station in the lab. I love the modification process-- developing the shape of the plaster from the cast we receive, figuring out where to build it up and where to shave it down to make a good fit. It feels good to make a shape that looks good.

When I first joined, there were just 10 to 11 people, now there are 170 people, that’s a big change. I still really like the company. The energy and the people are all good. I am very grateful for the job, it’s a good company to work for.”

Vu Uong—Plastics Supervisor
“I work with the hot plastics as we shape the braces. I’ve worked at other stations, but I prefer the plastics. My station used to be all Vietnamese people, but now there are Americans also. I like Don, the owner, a lot. He gives me a chance to explore my ideas that can make the plastics and the station better. We have been making some changes lately to better fit the patients’ needs. We are doing a lot more with Softy’s, focusing on the comfort for the patient. We have a continued increase in innovations. I notice we keep improving how we do work in the lab.”


Tom Escovar—Technical Support Manager
“There are quite a few of us who have worked at the company for many years. Cascade just seems to be the kind of company you want to keep working for. I really enjoy talking with customers on the phone, helping them problem-solve how best to help their patients. I give a lot of credit to Don for this to be a great place to work. Don is great at keeping a focus—he looks past what might be the immediate issue or problem that needs to be solved, to see the patient that we want to help. As the company has grown up from just 11 people when I first arrived, to now over 170, it hasn’t lost its essence. Still, at the core, is everyone’s dedication to our patients. It’s our underlying concern in all that we do.”


Candace Buethorn
“I think I worked the front desk for the first five or six years of the company. We hired Nen Phan right away as our very first employee to help in the lab. He still works for us today. In those days, whatever needed to be done we just figured out how to do it. Even though we are much bigger now, we are still available to people to help them with specific challenging patients. It’s always been important to keep the personal connection we had as the original ‘Ma and Pa’ type business that we were in the beginning.”