Category: Community Notes

I would love to tell you that my time in Haiti was a good, but the fact is there is still a huge need there. Especially in the area of the children. We did perform our normal mission work which was to educate the Haitian clinicians on new techniques, help do clinic improvements and implement a new telemedicine portal. However, we also like to visit the different orphanages to see if we can help meet some of their needs. It is also nice to just visit with the kids. We went to this one orphanage that would just break your heart in two. Evidently anyone can pick up some kids on the street, take them home and then call themselves an orphanage. That is exactly the scenario with this one orphanage. The problem is that the person running it uses the kids as a way to get food and money. Long story short, our friend, Laura Schick, RN is helping to make sure the kids are fed and money is spent on the children.

It’s a real sad situation in Haiti when it comes to the children. There is an 80 percent unemployment rate because there is no industry or jobs. This leaves families with the difficult task of finding their next meals. Sometimes, for the sake of the child, they have to give them up to an orphanage. Sometimes the children are just abandoned on the streets. Either way there is a continued need for support. I am not a big fan of giving a man a fish. I would rather teach them to fish and provide for themselves. However, the children are innocent bystanders and have no real control over their care. I was glad to have seen what I have seen because it makes me aware of the dire need of the Haitian people and their children. I know that I can’t save them all, but I sure as heck can help save a few. That is really my focus. Just save the ones that I can save and pray for the rest. This reminds me of a scripture in Mathew 25:34-40 NIV

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35 “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

You know what the most satisfying part about working at First Choice Physical Therapy is? It is the fact that it seems like everyone I talk to has either been here or knows someone who has been here and they all love us! People come to us because they are hurt and need help. When they leave after the final visit, most of them feel much better and are given a plan to stay better. Couple that with the care that they are given while here and there should be little surprise when I tell someone where I work and they reply, “I love that place!”

The whole team here wants to send out a big “Thank You” to all of you who have chosen us or allowed us to help you. From our Patient Liaison to the Front Desk to Insurance to Therapist to Therapist Assistant to the guy who does the web site…we really appreciate that you love us and we love you back!!

We hope we don’t need to see you soon, but we know you will remember that we are here the next time you do.

Two local physical therapists treat Haitian earthquake victims

By Donna Vavala

Following the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 and left 250,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 1.5 million people homeless, Scott Champagne, a physical therapist with First Choice Physical Therapy, responded to the need for medical personnel to assist with crush injuries, fractures and amputations by volunteering his services.

“My Initial visit was to Fond Parisien, where an orphanage was transformed into a primary surgery/rehabilitation site for the central portion of the country,” said Champagne. “Patients were flown in on military helicopters from Port Au Prince and the surrounding areas to Fond Parisien for surgery and physical therapy. My assignment was to a row of 10 tents labeled ‘unattended minors.’ These were children who lost parents, family members and limbs. It was my responsibility to get these children up and moving, as well as educating them on daily activities to improve their functional mobility. Little did I know it would become a calling. “

Champagne returned to Haiti again in 2011 and 2012 and was joined by Wade Rinehart, PT, DPT, the founder of First Choice Therapy. They started out in a tent with a dirt floor, in Jacmel, and have progressed to a clinic there.

Rinehart and Champagne, who pay their own way for the mission trips, have been focusing on treating patients and providing clinical support and training for Jacmel’s only physical therapist and staff through an organization called Community Coalition for Haiti that raises money to help their citizens receive medical help.

“Now we have a new building and have an orthopedic surgery suite with it,” Rinehart said. “We probably see between 40 and 50 patients a day during the week we’re there. We start at 7 a.m. and work until 6 or 7 p.m., or until there are no more patients.”

Champagne said that, although the Haitian earthquake was three years ago, their work is still vital.

“Ongoing therapist training is essential to the growth and development of this mission as we continue to see injuries/pathologies as a direct or indirect result of the 2010 earthquake,” said Champagne. “My calling is to continue this work and help facilitate the long term sustainability of physical therapy in Jacmel and surrounding areas.”

The trips have been an eye-opener for Rinehart.

“I tried not to go,” he admitted. “But Scott said he really needed my services in starting a clinic. I prayed about it and went down there. That experience changed me. It taught me to appreciate all the blessings I have. Even if you live in your car in the U.S., you’re still better off than living in Haiti. Their day to day (activity) is finding their next meal.

“Medical services are few and far between, and our goal is to teach them how to help themselves” said Rinehart. “We are trying to set up some telemedicine, but the Internet is really poor there.”

After work, there’s no free time. Rinehart and Champagne spend their evenings visiting local orphanages handing out candy and training therapists

This year’s trip to Jacmel is slated for Oct. 19 to 26.

“God’s working in a real way down there,” said Rinehart.

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If anyone would like to donate funds to this effort, Scott has set up an easy way to do so online. Just go tohttp://www.gofundme.com/Physical-Therapy-in-Haiti

It all started with Scott Champagne asking Wade Rinehart to come and assist in a collaborative effort to help Haiti after the earthquake. Wade could not turn his friend’s offer down and went to help out, in what he thought would be a one time trip. What started out as an “one time trip” has grown into a continued ministry. Scott and Wade are preparing for their 6th trip to Haiti to continue work they had previously started. There is a small clinic in Jacmel Haiti that has grown from a ragged dirt floored tent into a full blown Physical Therapy building with two surgical suites for Orthopedic Surgeons. God has placed it in their hearts to do this work so keep them in your prayers.

Scott has gone to www.GoFundMe.com
and established a way for our friends to spread the word about the Haiti clinic and to make donations. The clinic knows how to make good use of their limited funds to help their patients. Look at those wheelchairs!

If you have it in your heart to help, then please go tohttp://www.gofundme.com/Physical-Therapy-in-Haiti or just share this message with your own friends.

It is time for another trip over to Haiti. October 19-24 both Wade Rinehart and Scott Champagne are headed to Haiti again. Those of you that have been in either the clinic on the beach or in Lynn Haven may have seen our posters about past trips to Haiti. Scott started fund raiser on gofundme.com to try to help the clinic in Haiti. It is very awesome that he and Wade are able and willing to go over there to help those with injuries and to share what they know with the therapists that live there. Read Scott’s post below and then please head over to www.gofundme.com/Physical-Therapy-in-Haiti.

By: Scott Champagne

On January 10, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti leaving in its path ~ 250,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 1.5 million homeless. Reports coming out of Haiti in the days following the quake were of unbelievable loss and suffering as well as the need for medical personnel to assist those with crush injuries, fractures and amputations. In the weeks following the earthquake, I felt compelled to help in a tangible way those who were hurting, little did I know that it would become a calling.

My initial visit was to Fond Parisien where an orphanage was transformed into a primary surgery/rehabilitation site for the central portion of the country. Patients were flown in on military helicopters from Port Au Prince and the surrounding areas for surgery and physical therapy. My assignment was to a row of 10 tents labeled “unattended minors”. These were children who had lost parents, family members and limbs. It was my responsibility to get these children up and moving and to educate them on daily activities to improve their functional mobility.

Subsequent trips back to Haiti over the past 2 years has seen physical therapy become more structured as our “clinic” has progressed from a UN donated tent to a free standing structure in the coastal town of Jacmel. We have joined in a collaborative effort with Community Coalition for Haiti to provide clinical support and training for the physical therapist and support staff in Jacmel. Ongoing therapist training is essential to the growth and development of this mission as we continue to see injuries/pathologies as a direct or indirect result of the earthquake.

My calling is to continue this work. Please consider supporting this mission to facilitate the long term sustainability of physical therapy in Jacmel and the surrounding areas.

Scott Champagne, PT.

The beauty of reaching your goal!This is day two after the 40th BMW Berlin Marathon. My legs are still very sore after successfully completing the 26.2 miles, but it was all worth it! The whole weekend was a big celebration with over 40.000 other runners. The city of Berlin was certainly filled with the running spirit! A special shout out to our very own Brent Holtgrewe, ATC (Sports Enhancement Specialist), who was a big part of my lunch break training.

The soreness will disappear but the experience, the memories, and the medal will stay. Thanks for all of the support! I am a FINISHER!

Simon Haussmann, PTA

The marathon is just around the corner and the last several weeks of training have been very difficult for me. In my last post, I explained that it was difficult for me to train in the heat and humidity. Furthermore, injury has been looming around the corner for some time. In the past, I have been treated (by my colleagues here at First Choice) for plantar fasciitis. I seemed to have made quite a bit of progress prior to starting my marathon training, but recently after runs, I have felt tightness in my feet. My plan is to continue to train and implement the stretches I have learned to treat plantar fasciitis. I am still planning to complete the Berlin marathon!

Have you ever experienced tightness, pain, or swelling in your feet? If so, let First Choice be your guide in establishing the correct diagnosis and treatment plan to get you back into your training. Call today for an evaluation.

Simon Haussmann, PTA

We hope you have never injured your body enough to need a physical therapist, but beyond that we hope that you will consider and even request a referral to us by your doctor if you ever do have a need that we can help with. Our Doctors, assistants and techs watch over the patients in a caring manner that really makes you feel like you have been friends for years. We really do care about you and your health when you need us. Please be sure to browse our web site and learn about us, even before you need us!

If you have been here you have seen our big sign we covered the front entrance window with. Some of you may have already noticed that we have sprinkled 15 Bible verses throughout the images on the sign. These are only some of our favorites. We use others in different areas of the building. For those that have tried to remember the verses mentioned, so that you could look them up at home, here is a list in no particular order of the 15 that ended up on the sign.
Acts 19:11, 1 Corinthians 4:10, Matthew 9:18, Proverbs 13:21, Exodus 15:26, John 4:14, Luke 4:40, Psalm 29:2, Psalm 128:3, Psalm 103:3, Psalm 92:12, Ephesians 2:20, Ephesians 5:19, Isaiah 12:2, and Isaiah 25:9. If you click on the image you will get to look at a bigger version so that you can see where they are all written.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

What do you do when you’re this close to a marathon and feel like you have not trained as much as you should have?

1. Get realistic.

2. Do not give up.

I must admit that training for a marathon in the Florida summertime has been a lot harder than I expected. I had a great start into my training plan and worked up to about 35 miles per week. As you can see from my prior blog post, I admitted that I needed a breakthrough. I thought I had it, but as the summer heat and humidity progressed, I found it difficult to continue to train. Instead of using the training plan’s remaining recommended long weekend runs of 20, 22, and 24 miles, I am planning to use the next six weeks and six days to ramp up such that I can get one 18-20 mile training run in before the marathon. Also, since I’m not running to break any records, I might even consider not tapering my distance prior to the marathon to try to increase the chance of getting two longer runs in, build more endurance, and decrease the risk of injury. Regardless, I will continue to enjoy the experience of training for and completing a marathon!

Simon Haussmann, PTA