For many people, following the job description and guidelines is exactly how they do their job.
Helen Day, the owner of Consult Educate Treat physiotherapy and acupuncture in Kelowna, doesn’t fall into that category.
Day has been set up as a physiotherapist in Kelowna for 23 years; a length she never envisioned. “At that time, I didn’t really know what else to do,” Day explained of entering physiotherapy. “My father was an orthopaedic surgeon and there were a lot of medical people in the family, so I basically went into it because it was a related medical field.
“I did not like it at all in the beginning. I really struggled against it, it was the lack of really being able to feel affectional, and I didn’t feel the ability to really help my patients was there.”
But then the practice of physiotherapy itself evolved.
“Then new courses came out which allowed me to make a difference for them, and that made a huge difference. Since then it’s been a steady progression of, ‘How can I help people even more?’.”
Day’s role as a physiotherapist really began to branch out around the turn of the century.
She suffered a spinal injury in 2000, and through that developed a five-step program to treat people who are really suffering.
Shortly after developing the program she discovered that not only did it help treat pain, but the treated areas also appeared younger. She then applied those techniques to the face, and her 5 Faces program was born.
5 Faces is a healthy, natural alternative to cosmetics and procedures such as botox for bridging the disconnect between body and face.
As Day described, you can work out and eat healthy and your body will respond, but from the neck up there won’t be a change.
5 Faces has started to become recognized internationally as she has had clients travel from Cailfornia for treatment, and Day has appeared on radio shows in New York City and spoken about the program in several countries.
She has also penned the book Beauty Without Injections about 5 Faces, and she added once the program is learned, you can do it yourself.
Day’s ability to help other people through her career is what keeps her motivated on a day-to-day basis, and it’s thinking outside the box that has helped lead to her success.
“I have lived my life thinking, ‘Oh, I wonder if I did this, what would happen?’” She said. “’I wonder if I did this, how would it help this person?’ I’ve never taken my education as the standard, the ‘That’s it, never do anything else.’ I’ve wondered what would happen if I did this to that, what would I create? How would it be better, and how would I help people?”
When it comes to creative and research-based careers, Day highly recommends thinking outside the box and looking past the job description. She added the world is changing fast, so anything we can do to increase physical wellbeing should be done.
While Day knows she will someday leave the day-to-day process of physiotherapy behind, she has no intentions of ever ‘retiring’; her goal is to continue creating and re-inventing into her 90s.
Day’s creativity, desire to help others heal and ability to pursue solutions in unexplored areas are what make her a Woman to Watch.
Crowe MacKay’s Women to Watch program is a weekly feature that profiles remarkable women in our community. This feature series is a joint initiative between Crowe MacKay, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and the Kelowna Capital News. To nominate the exceptional woman in your life, email womentowatch@kelownachamber.org.
