After breaking a bone in her hip, Puyallup resident Thelma Sacklin faced a long road to recovery. Following time spent in both the hospital and a nursing home, her doctor recommended that she visit the staff at AIM Physical Therapy. Delighted by the care she received at AIM, it came as no surprise that when her treatment plan came to an end, she wasn’t ready to say goodbye. And, not just because she would miss AIM’s caring and helpful staff (although she would), but because she wasn’t quite ready to continue an exercise routine at home on her own.
Thelma’s health insurance would not cover additional physical therapy treatment, but, at age 85, it was important to Thelma – and her family – that she continued to maintain a lifestyle that included regularly scheduled physical activity. It was good for her hip and general health, and also improved her overall quality of life. Because of this, Thelma decided that she would pay for continued care out of pocket, and she decided to enroll in AIM Physical Therapy’s Alumni Program.
AIM Physical Therapy Owner, Kurt Moss, says AIM started their Alumni Program as a way to continue seeing clients who were no longer in need of regular physical therapy services, but who still needed to be monitored as they continued to progress and bounce back from an injury, surgery or other physical issue.
For a nominal, monthly fee, clients can continue visits at AIM Physical Therapy during weekly exercise sessions that are monitored by AIM’s experienced staff. The sessions continue for as long as the patient needs, until they reach a point where they are able to manage the exercise routine on their own. “It’s a wonderful program that educates clients about taking personal responsibility for their health and well being,” says Moss.
For Thelma, the Alumni Program provides her with the encouragement, support and structure she needs to maintain a healthy, active lifestyle. “It’s harder to come back from injuries and other problems the older you get,” says Thelma, “but working out twice a week has really helped me a lot.”
Thelma sees the staff at AIM’s Puyallup office for one-hour sessions twice a week. For Thelma, a typical session includes everything from getting her heart rate up on a stationary bicycle, to working out her arms and legs with several different weightlifting activities. She says it’s a total body workout and that, “New exercises are added all the time, so I’m not always doing the same thing.”
Moss says he’s happy to see how many AIM clients have benefitted from the Alumni Program, and that it wouldn’t even exist had his patients not expressed an interest in continued care. “Clients began expressing a desire to continue coming to the clinic because they loved the atmosphere and the assurance that they were exercising correctly,” he explains. Moss says that the Alumni Program provides clients a means in which they can track their progress and “reap the benefits from their own personal exercise accountability.”
And accountability is a huge part of it. Thelma explains that there are days when she’d rather not go in for her workout, but says, “You have to have an attitude of ‘this will help me,’ and you go anyway. I’m always glad when I do.”
Of course, it’s always easier to go in knowing that AIM’s friendly staff is waiting for her. “The whole staff is friendly. I just think it’s a great place,” she says happily. “Each person who comes in needs something different, and the entire staff is very caring. I think they do a super job of taking care of people.”
AIM Physical Therapy offers the South Puget Sound community a variety of services designed to help them feel their physical best. Backed by an experienced, educated staff, AIM is able to help their clients recover from injuries, surgeries, chronic pain and more. And, with three locations across Pierce County in Puyallup, Tacoma and Dupont, an AIM Physical Therapy office is just around the corner. You can learn more about AIM Physical Therapy’s services by visiting their website here, or by following AIM on Facebook.
