Category: Community Notes

Good one, Vicki! My favorite from a list of quotes Vicki recently sent us.

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.” Stephen R. Covey.

I thought that quote was right on target and describes very well a skill our Doctors of Physical Therapy show everyday. They listen intently to our patients every visit. You can see in their eyes that they want to understand what the patient has to say about their pain or physical condition. After they get that information from the patient, the reply comes easily and naturally from their years of experience and their continuing education.

Come visit us and see how our Doctors of Physical Therapy can help you. While you are here we know you will also be very impressed with our efficient and caring front office staff!

Advocacy – The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea or policy; active support.

Although Mauritania declared slavery a crime in 2007 and thereby joining ALL nations in officially making slavery illegal, the practice continues in many nations under many disguises. Haiti has been tabbed as the poorest nation in the western hemisphere with ~ 80% of its population living in poverty and a 53% literacy rate. These two factors has led to a modern day form of slavery called “Restavek”. Restavek is a Haitian Creole term which means “one who stays with” but commonly translated as “child slave or domestic servant”. It is estimated that 1 in 15 children in Haiti is a Restavek and the age range is usually from 4 to 14 years old.

The common story played out on a daily basis looks something like this: families struggle with mouths to feed and children to care for. The parents, who may or may not be a part of the 47% of the population who are not literate, decide it would be in the best interest of the child to send them into the city where they can live with a family and help with daily chores in exchange for the opportunity to go to school and get an education. This is rarely the outcome. The children typically are not sent to school and go from being a child one day to slave the next. They are forced to work long hours cooking, cleaning and fetching water and are often neglected, abused and even raped.

There are an estimated 300,000 Restaveks in Haiti. Imagine your children, nieces or nephews being forced into this life. However, there is hope. Through the support of orphanages such as All My Heart Haiti, The Hands and Feet Project, Servants of All Ministries, Restavek Freedom and the Jean R. Cadet Restavek Organization, the lives of these children can be changed and the slavery cycle broken.

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.

First Choice Physical Therapy is an advocate for the orphans and Restavek in Haiti.

Scott Champagne, PT

We really have a lot of things happening here at First Choice Physical Therapy. One thing we are working on is a contest that will have a monthly winner. Top prize will be a First Choice Physical Therapy Goodie Basket. Maybe a Bucket or a Pail or a Tote Bag or …? Our Office Manager, Vicki Barwick, has made lots of these things over the years. We are hoping she will be the master designer for these each month. More details to come soon. It is a secret today, but we hope you love our contest’s theme! We think it is going to be a lot of fun! Keep your eye right here.

Be sure to take your insurance cards with you when you visit any facility that might need it. With the start of a new year, changes to our health plans seems to be the norm as opposed to things remaining the same. At First Choice Physical Therapy we will be taking extra steps to help our patients assure that they are not stuck with a charge they did not expect due to changes in their policy. Bring in your newest insurance card even if you think everything is the same. We will put a copy of that card in your file and we will be making a very strong effort to contact your insurance company in advance of future visits to verify coverage, copay amounts and deductibles.

Tired and overworked Santa Claus showed up for therapy today. With help of First Choice team, he will be on his feet by Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our patients, friends, and their families from First Choice Beach Team.

At First Choice Physical Therapy we strive to make our patients better. We also look for ways to make our community better too. One way is through sponsorship of local organizations. The Junior League of Panama City is a longstanding organization in which our Practice Manager Vicki Barwick and Dr. Brett Frank’s wife Lacey are members. The organization works to help clothe the children in the Bay County School System that are in need, as well as initiate skills and comaraderie among students in afterschool programs such as Girls On The Run and Kids In The Kitchen.

An up and coming event for the League is the Reindeer Race 5K and Santa Shuffle at St. Andrews State Park on Saturday, December 14th. Our own Brent Holtgrewe along with his wife Sandy and Emily Schmitt and husband Josh will be participating. If you would like to participate with your family or by yourself the closing date for registration is December 13th or feel free to just come out and cheer our First Choice family on.

The other day while sitting at a local mechanic shop, I had the opportunity to witness a beautiful soul. There was an elderly lady waiting for her car as I was and I sat and observed her interaction with others In the waiting area. Her conversation was salted with compliments, encouragement and optimism.

With each news story that was on the TV in the waiting area, she would find the good in each. One customer commented on the high gas prices and her reply was “it is a privilege to drive and gas prices are double what ours are in some countries”. Her response to an Obamacare story was “we are blessed to have quality healthcare in this country” and “clean living has it’s rewards”. She encouraged a young mother with “you are such a gentle and carrying mother”.

She didn’t really notice I was taking all of this in or the influence her actions were having on me and undoubtedly others. When she left, she wished everyone a wonderful holiday season and I couldn’t help but feel she made everyone’s day a little brighter. I felt encouraged to seek out the good in every situation and be more thankful rather than critical. This holiday season, may we all count our blessings and realize that our actions, comments and conversations can have an impact on people’s lives without us even knowing it…. just like that beautiful soul had on mine.

Scott Champagne, PT

Brent Holtgrewe and MVP Sports Enhancement is thrilled to know that we played some part of Krsiten Crowley’s training for the soccer season. Kristen play’s for FSU’s women’s soccer team in the ACC. FSU scored a 1-0 win over Virgina Tech to win the 2013 ACC Women’s Soccer Championship. You can watch Yahoo sports recap here.

One of the most important ways to stay healthy and injury free is to be active. A lot of injuries we see are from weekend warriors or clients doing more than they should from lifting a heavy couch, cutting down a tree, to running a marathon not because these are bad things to do, but because the person decided to be active after 15 years of inactivity sitting on the couch.

We at First Choice believe in practicing what we preach. We believe that it is important for us to stay healthy and be examples for our patients instead of creating a “do as I say not as I do” scenario. Over the past 2 years, we have established a tradition of Tuesday basketball at lunch. On any given Tuesday, one can drive down 390 and see First Choice’s finest playing basketball. This weekly tradition has helped us stay fit and have fun doing it while forming an extracurricular bond between employees that you don’t get at your typical place of employment.

An added bonus is that we have just started the weekly results from the games will be posted on our electronic sign. Typically we play 2-3 games, the first is worth 1 the second worth 1/2 and the third worth 1/4. This scoring system will level the playing field for the older guys who may get tired towards the end of the second and third game making the first game the one to win. We will keep a running tally all year to determine who comes out as the 2013-14 2on2 champion.

So the next time you are driving down 390 on a Tuesday, look for a couple shirtless bandits trying to stay active and young on the First Choice basketball court. What are you doing to stay active?

Brent Holtgrewe, ATC, LAT, PES

Just saying, the Mosley Dolphins Baseball Diamond Club knows how to put together a fundraising golf tournament. First Choice Physical Therapy sponsored a team for the event and we had a great time. Our team consisted of Rob Maddox, Harry Frank, Brent Holtgrewe and Don Cornelius. It was an absolutely beautiful day for golf. After the golfing was done there was lunch, the presentation of the winners of the Longest Drive, Closest to Pin and 1st, Second and Third place teams. Then came the almost never ending drawings for donated door prizes. You could also buy Dolphin Baseball t-shirts.

The golf was on Saturday, November 9, but the fun really began for the Dolphins with an alumni game on Friday night. It sounded like another great time, because as we all mingled before the golf game it was the only thing people were talking about.

I am sure the fundraisers are not over for the Diamond Club. We encourage everyone in the community to do what you can to support these great athletes. They have a goal of getting into the finals at the State championship again this year and they will need our help to get there. Go Dolphins!

They have a Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mosley-Dolphins-Baseball/153876621349046

We are proud to announce that we are a Coats for Kids drop-off location! A collection tub has been placed in the lobby of our Lynn Haven office, located at 2300 Jenks Avenue.

Or if you live or work on the beach, you can drop them off at our clinic located at 12234 Panama City Beach Parkway (Back Beach Road).

Our office hours are 7 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Close at noon on Friday. We are accepting donations of gently used coats until Dec. 6.