Health care professionals and community members gathered at Fernie Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic for an open house on Nov. 25.
“It’s a good time to remind everyone that we’re here and what services we offer,” said office manager Traci Bryant. “We just have some new faces here and a little bit of an update to our clinic, a little bit of a renovation so it felt like a good fresh time to showcase our practitioners and their talents.”
Jordan Vanderkelen and Stephanie McDowell are new practitioners with the clinic, arriving in May and June respectively. According to McDowell, both physiotherapists had spent “a few months in Fernie as ski bums before moving to Australia in the 2016/17 season and after that it became clear we wanted to call Fernie home.”
When it came time to move back to Fernie, Vanderkelen said the choice to join Fernie Physiotherapy was an easy one because of “experienced clinicians, good relationship with local medical community and great facilities!”
He also noted that McDowell’s specialization in women’s health was an added bonus that added “a new arm to Fernie Physio.”
McDowell explained that the Elk Valley has been fortunate to have women’s health therapists for some time now but that she’s found a gap in services for the Crowsnest Pass.
“Women would have to either drive to Fernie or out to Lethbridge for treatment, which isn’t easy with a new born, or for the elderly,” she said. “Since starting with Fernie Physiotherapy I’ve been able to help women located not only in Fernie and the Crowsnest Pass, but have also seen an influx of patients from Pincher Creek as well.”
Bob Maudie, owner of Fernie Physiotherapy, noted that while the open house was a great time to introduce community members to services offered at the clinic, it was also an opportunity for health care practitioners to connect and communicate.
Maudie used the example of a patient suffering from back pain to illustrate the importance of communication between health professionals.
“They’ll see their doctor, possibly a chiropractor or a massage therapist or all of us throughout that episode,” he explained. “The better that we can all communicate with each other, the better care the patient will get.”
According to Maudie, this type of communication between professionals is essential and the open house was meant to facilitate that, among other things.
Vanderkelen summed it up perfectly by saying “we are happy to be part of the Fernie community now and look forward to many years of helping people get back to the activities they love doing.”
