Your Invitation Is Ready
We are looking forward to seeing you at our Grand Opening on Saturday, May 10th. There will be tours of the facility and at 4:30pm Panama City Beach Mayor, Gayle Oberst, will be on hand for the ribbon cutting.
Do you need more reason to come out? How about Cake? Light hors d’oeuvres? Sodas and tea?
You still need more? You guys are a tough sell! Ok, lets step it up with a little help from Hess Entertainment. We will have Garth Brook’s old tour bus and internationally known Elvis impersonator, Todd Harrington has agreed to give us a little bit of sample of his awesome tribute to The King!
Seriously, we will be there from 3:00 – 6:00. Swing on by. Stay for a few minutes and see the beautiful new clinic or stay the whole time and enjoy the afternoon with us.
First Choice Staff
Friend us on Facebook
The best way to keep up with our web site is to LIKE us on Facebook. Almost everything we post on our site we share to our Facebook page. We get lots of compliments on our web site. Some are for the way it looks and it’s ease of use, but most are for the fact that we post regularly and have a variety of topics to keep things both interesting and personal. Trying to remember to come by our site at least once a week might be a little hard for some of us (Me! Me!), so if you Friend us then you will probably see our shared posts when you log in to your Facebook account.
Another way to catch all of our notes, is to click on the orange RSS button at the bottom of the page. If you use an RSS reader then you will be notified in that program when we post something new.
Which ever way you choose to follow us personally, we would appreciate it if you share this note with your Facebook Friends to help them find us!
Stay healthy!
Growth Continues 2014
We opened at our new location on Panama City Beach on Monday. We are so excited. We have moved to 11501 Hutchison Blvd, which is in the Village of Grand Panama. They say location is everything. In this case we wanted to make this move not only to be more centrally located, but also to be in the midst of a professional center with lots of parking for our growing business on Panama City Beach.
Anchored by Bonefish and Another Broken Egg the complex has undergone a couple of changes since being completed at the end of the real estate boom and bust of 2006. Instead of a retail focus the complex owners are going for a professional services approach. Already there is Mason Title, RE/Max Advantage Real Estate, Finch and Finch (counseling and leadership training) and now a beautiful new First Choice Physical Therapy. Others have already signed on and are moving in as we speak (a prominent entertainment and promotions company) or starting their build out (cosmetic vein and skin disorders clinic). There have been talks that could bring in a bank branch and the corporate office of a local retail enterprise. If you know of someone in search of a fantastic location in a professional complex, they can contact us for a tour of our facility and to hear our story first hand.
Who is your “go to guy”?
We want to be your go to guy in Physical Therapy. Our owner, Dr. Wade Rinehart, is currently working very hard to get the new beach facility ready for the big move this Friday! That means another state of the art location for your therapy needs. We already have our town clinic beyond highest standards and now the beach clinic is raising the bar for physical therapy across the bridge. Come see us at either of our locations to get better quickly! Call us today at 248-1600.
Simon Haussmann, PTA
MVP Making Headlines
Just recently the Girls Soccer all-county team for Bay county was named. With not much surprise, but tons of excitement for ours girls, MVP Sports Enhancement was well represented by our athletes. Jordan Lewis, Taylor Hallmon, Stevie-Marie Mullins, Kelli Crowley, Annelise Mitchell, and Jade Ullman have all trained extensively to help them reach the top of their athletic potential and become the best soccer player possible. We are very proud of all our athletes with whom we spend countless hours training through blood, sweat, and tears and are especially proud of and excited for these girls because they are seeing the benefits of hard work and dedication. Some of the girls have already committed to continue their soccer careers in college which is a dream come true for them.
MVP Sports Enhancement focuses on the athlete as a whole, exposing weaknesses, and then finding and developing the athletic potential specific to the athlete. These athletes are just a few of the hundreds of athletes that MVP Sports Enhancement has had the privilege of developing across the nation and are perfect examples of the athletes we produce.
Brent Holtgrewe
Director of MVP Sports Enhancement
Do You Think You Are Rich?
This is probably not something most of us would admit to thinking on a daily basis, but we should! We are bombarded each day with advertising asking us things such as: “Will your 401K give you the retirement you deserve?”, “you deserve a luxury vacation”, etc. Given our nature as human beings, these advertisements lead us to discontent and a tendency to focus on what we DON’T have rather that what we DO have.
Studies show that if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. If you have money in the bank, your wallet and spare change in your car, your are among 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than 1 million people that will not survive this week.
In fact, Globalrichlist.com notes that if you have a NET income of $12,000./yr, you are in the top 14.46% wealthiest people on the planet! It is interesting that the US Department of Commerce will allow a person to make $1000/month and still qualify for welfare and food stamps. Therefore we can say that many of our “poor” in this country are among the wealthiest people in the world. There are 39 states in the US where welfare pays the equivalent to $8.00/hr and Hawaii pays its welfare recipients the equivalent of $17.50/hr. Just something to think about…..have a good day rich people!
Scott Champagne, PT.
There is hope
Have you ever gone throughout your day and wondered “is this it”? The routine of going to the gym, work/school, family routines, church, pay bills, another month passes, etc had me asking that question quite often. As a physical therapist, I had often thought there must be more that I can do with my training and clinical experience I have gained over the past 11 years.
That question was answered at around 12, 000 feet above the Caribbean on a flight returning from Haiti. The 10 days prior were spent as part of the relief effort in the aftermath of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that left in its path ~ 250,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 1.5 million homeless. The talk on the plane with other medical professionals was about the experience and looking forward to getting back in the US. However, I couldn’t help but feel that the plane was heading in the wrong direction. There was so much that needed to be done in Haiti, so many people that needed help, so many people that had lost everything including family members. My thoughts were forever changed from “is this it?” to “this is it!”. It is interesting how even natural disasters can be the doorway to your calling.
In 6 trips to Haiti since the earthquake, I have been fortunate to witness the structure of physical therapy evolve from under shade trees and in tents to a free standing clinic in the coastal town of Jacmel. In 2012 I became a Continuing Education Liaison for Community Coalition for Haiti with the task of providing clinical assistance and training for the physical therapy staff in Jacmel. It has been one of the most gratifying experiences to see a clinic develop from infancy into a solid and thriving entity that has touched more than 22, 000 patients in the years since the earthquake.
Missions to Haiti have also allowed me to see that the need is so much greater than physical pathologies. My eyes have been opened to the plight of the orphans and “Restavek” in Haiti. Restavek is a creole term which means “one who stays with” but commonly translated as “child slave or domestic servant”. It is estimated that 300,000 children in Haiti are Restavek and the age range usually varies from 4 to 14 years old. Due to poverty and illiteracy, 80% and 47% respectively, these children are typically given up by their parents to upper class families with the hope for a better future. The transaction is usually an agreement that the child will be sent to school in exchange for helping with household chores/duties. This is rarely the outcome and children become domestic slaves being forced to work long hours cooking, cleaning, fetching water and are often neglected, abused and even raped. One day a child and the next day a slave.
However, there is hope! Through advocacy and awareness as well as supporting orphanages such as All My Heart Haiti, The Hands and Feet Project, Restavek Freedom, Jean R. Cadet Restavek Organization and others, children can grow up in a loving environment, have an opportunity to go to school and hope for a better future.
James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”.
If you care to make a donation to increase the amount of support that we can supply, please go to http://www.gofundme.com/physical-therapy-in-haiti
Compete to Serve
Scott Champagne, PT
First Choice Physical Therapy
The winner is … Junior Achievement
This weekend five of our ladies represented First Choice Physical Therapy at an annual fund raiser held at Rocket Lanes for Junior Achievement. If you guessed that means they went bowling, you’re right! They had a great time and so did all the participants. Karen Mathers brought home (well, she really brought it to work) the trophy for highest individual score. Our team was made up of Mary, Anna, Allison, Karen and Emily. The big winner of the day was Junior Achievement of Bay County and we were happy to be part of their event. The team is already talking about doing it again next year!!
What is love?
Happy Valentines Day
Since it is Valentines Day I want to talk about “What is Love?”
“What is love? Baby don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me! No more!” Quote from a song by Haddaway.
Love was the most searched phrase on Google in 2012, according to the company. I wanted to do my own search about love and found a website called the guardian which I will attempt to summarize quickly for you. They had experts in the fields of science, psychotherapy, literature, religion and philosophy to give their definition of what love is.
The physicist says: ‘Love is chemistry’– Love involves chemicals like (pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin) all acting in biological order to produce a powerful neurological response.
The psychotherapist says: ‘Love has many guises’ – Defining love in its different entities as follows:
Philia-friendship love; Ludus-playful or flirting love; Pragma-mature love developed over time between couple; Agape-generalized love like a love for humanity; Philautia-loving oneself or self acceptance
and the ever so popular and troublsome ‘Eros’-sexual passion and desire. I think it was Bill Clinton who said “to eros is human”. Not sure though.
The Philosopher says: ‘Love is a passionate commitment’– all love is a kind a passionate commitment that we nurture and develop. That’s why it is more than just a powerful feeling. Without the commitment, it is mere infatuation. Without the passion, it is mere dedication. Without nurturing, even the best can wither and die. Deep right?
The romantic novelist: ‘Love drives all great stories’ – Love is the driver for all great stories: not just romantic love, but the love of parent for child, for family, for country. Mushy?
The nun: ‘Love is free yet binds us’ – Love is more easily experienced than defined. As a theological virtue, by which we love God above all things and our neighbor’s as ourselves for his sake. We express love in acts of kindness, generosity and self-sacrifice. Love’s the one thing that can never hurt anyone, although it may cost dearly. The paradox of love is that it is supremely free yet attaches us with bonds stronger than death. It cannot be bought or sold; there is nothing it cannot face; love is life’s greatest blessing. My favorite definition.
The Physical Therapist: Love is a four letter word that we use to answer other four letter words, that slip off the lips of patients who sometimes suffer from another four letter word – called pain. So when we tell our patients that the current pain we are inflicting is really just tough love, often times the patients’ response is, in a high pitched voice, sometimes, but not always in tune, “What is Love? Baby don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me! no more!”
A famous song that depicts love as being some sort of painful experience is probably not the best advertisement for a Physical Therapy company. However, Physical Therapy does not have to be painful. As a matter of fact, most of our patients experience quite the opposite. Our job is to get rid of the pain as fast and effectively as modern science allows.
First Choice Physical Therapy Contest-
So, on this day dedicated to love, I wish everyone a very happy Valentines Day. I have included a YouTube link below to 40 famous love songs for your listening pleasure. Tell us which one is your favorite and why and it could be worth a prize package from First Choice Physical Therapy.
Top 40 Love Songs for your listening enjoyment.
http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxapcT_Uy6khvJ4WiBWrzDCwCyveGLIwv
Surprise! Emily is in Haiti
Emily is a PTA at our Lynn Haven clinic. When she started working for us a few months ago and heard about Wade and Scott’s mission trips to Haiti, she was eager to go herself. She is there and just sent us a short message and photo. Fun moment and good exercise too.
Her message: Supporting Heart Health at All My HEART HAITI! Early morning work out! Great way to start the day! Everyone sends hello!!
We “Mustache” you a question…
Which Mustache is your favorite? Please Comment.
We sometimes get a little silly at work. It keeps things interesting for sure, but this was a particularly special occasion. In honor of Brett Frank’s 38th birthday we celebrated it with Mustache Friday. However, there are a few things we are serious about:
1. Getting our patients better. The mental paycheck on helping another person is priceless to us and we work hard for every patient every day.
2. Our ministry of healing. As with any talent we invest our talents in you. I believe we provide the best Orthopedic outpatient care in the world and we would love the opportunity to show you why.
3. Serving others. Everyone is serving someone. Who are you serving today? A servants heart is what we at First Choice Physical Therapy are all about.
4. Fun…Fun…and more Fun. Life is more vibrant when you’re having fun and laughing. Laughter has not been called the “best medicine” for nothing. We hope that we have brought a smile to your face today with our silly Friday antics.
To your good health,
Dr. Wade Rinehart, PT, DPT
Doctor of Physical Therapy
First Choice Physical Therapy
Panama City Living Magazine article
Our PTA, Simon Haussmann, and his wife Robin are found in a photo that shines God’s love and their love for Him and each other on page 46 of the January/February 2014 issue of Panama City Living Magazine. We proud of the character and life choices of all of our First Choice Physical Therapy family. It is very cool that members of that family have been singled out in the magazine and interviewed “About Love And Faith”. Click here to read the article on the magazine’s web site.