Tell us about Northfield Physical Therapy and how you got involved in the physical therapy industry?
“I had seven orthopedic surgeries by the time I was 23 years old. All those surgeries caused me to get an interest in rehabilitation because I had to rehab for all of the things I wanted to do like sports. I grew up in Northfield and have lived here my whole life. I attend St. Olaf for undergrad and the U of M for Physical Therapy school.”
“Our care is different than other clinics because we are a smaller clinic which allows us to give more one on one attention to each patient. Sometimes at larger clinics, you see the therapist initially and then for follow you work with their assistants. That was something I didn’t like when I was going through therapy. I want to be able to follow up and have consistency and continuity of care with my patients. It’s nice for our patients to always see the same therapist. We have quite a bit of experience here, I have been a therapist for 20 years Dave for 30, Daisy for 15 years, and Danielle for 2 – but she treats like it has been 20 or 50 years. That individualized care we can give is really appreciated by our patients.”
“We are really lucky to have the greatest help in the world, our office manager Sandy Simon and reception Bev Lovers. Renee Olson who does on-call work for us. Sandy Sjoblom and Karen Mater who are our front desk help. They are all really great with people and are familiar with healthcare. They keep us in line and do so much for us. It makes it nice when you have great people you work with.”
What was it about the rehabilitation that you went through that made you want to pursue it and make a difference?
“When I was younger I had my first surgery on my arm when I was 13. They didn’t do much for physical therapy back them, it was used more for people who have had strokes or in the hospital. It hadn’t yet exploded into the outpatient like it has today. I always liked exercising, so I started trying to figure things out on my own. As I got a little bit older and I had my second surgery on my knee, therapy had started to develop a little more by then. There was a friend of my brothers named Kevin Johnson, who ended up going into physical therapy. He was a hero of mine and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. So I went to him for some of my therapy and that is what really set me on the path to pursue physical therapy.
Your office has some really unique décor, tell us the story behind that:
“The red and white wall and tin are in honor of my mom and dad and our farm. The farm has been in the family for almost 160 years. We currently live on the farm. There is a barn from 1908 that my dad and I restored together that is the red and white color, and another shed on the property with a tin roof like that. I lost both of my parents in the past three years, which has been a hard thing to go through. So these are things to help me remember them by. The collar on the wall was used by my dad and grandpa on the farm, it even has an 80 year old horse mane hair on it.”
“The bridge photo is of a bridge out by our farm that is named after my dad because he was instrumental in preserving the old Waterford Iron Bridge and they built a new bridge there and they named it after him.”
Tell us about the space your business is located in and what it was like working with Bluewater Properties:
“The barn wall was an open wall that was originally the doors they used to drive vehicles into when it was the car dealership. We were really looking for something in downtown and wanted to stay centered. We were previously located in the backside of the co-op building for 8 years, as we searched for different spaces we also needed good parking. We originally looked at this space first, but we weren’t sure we could afford it. After looking at other spaces that just weren’t quite right we worked with Chris and got this space that we are in today.”
“They have been very good to work with, we have special needs with customers and patients who come in with walkers and canes. There was a concrete patio out front where there is now parking, it was a pain for snow removal and difficult for our patients to get across it because it made the entrance larger. Chris was able to tear that out and piece in asphalt so we were able to have parking out front – a handicap spot and drop-off spot for our patients and customers, and a nice sidewalk.”
Tell us what the future looks like for you in this space:
“We are fortunate enough to have a couple of really great therapists to work with – Daisy Christopherson has worked with me for almost 10 years, and another therapist who started with me back in 2009 who unfortunately moved away to Michigan. We were able to get two great therapists to take her place – Danielle Shetka and Dave Filson. This space is able to accommodate all four therapists and our on-call therapist Marcy Cramer, and Sigrid Austin who is a massage therapist and rents some space from us here. We also have a reception area out front and a nice gym area in the back – so this space really allows us to have everything and room to grow.”
If people want to use your services, how should they get in contact with you?
Contact our office at:
Phone: 507-645-8325
Mail: 618 Division Street South, Suite 103, Northfield, MN 55057
Fax: 507-645-8953
