Winter 2023
Welcome
Welcome to Bellingham Physical Therapy’s first-ever newsletter! Over the past year, Bellingham Physical Therapy has gone through some new and exciting changes. We want to share those changes with you and keep you in the loop about everything that is going on at our clinic. We created this newsletter to share any news or exciting events we have in the future. We want you all to know how much we value being a part of the Bellingham community, and we look forward to providing unrivaled physical therapy services to all our patients.
Ownership Change
As you may already know, after 41 years as the owners of Bellingham Physical Therapy (BPT), John and Marcia McWilliams decided it was time to retire in January 2022. While we dearly miss John and Marcia, the ownership of Bellingham Physical Therapy has passed into the more than capable hands of Heather Kreizenbeck. Heather has been a Physical Therapist at BPT for more than 20 years, and she is committed to continuing John and Marcia’s mission to provide excellent physical therapy services to every patient that walks through our door. She has many exciting plans for the future of BPT, some of which we have already begun to implement. In the last year, we converted to an electronic medical records system, got a new phone system, started a personal training/wellness program, added new staff members, and updated our website. Stay tuned to see what is coming next.
Electronic Medical Records System
One of the biggest changes we have made in the last year is the implementation of an electronic medical records system. This system will allow us to streamline all our patient scheduling, chart information and billing so that our clinicians can spend more of their time treating patients and less time on paperwork. It also makes retrieval of patient information much easier and convenient for administrative purposes and for communication between physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. Each patient will also be able to create their own patient portal. In the portal, they can track their prior appointments, view upcoming appointments, make payments, complete forms, sign up for our waitlist, cancel appointments, and set appointment reminder notifications. We are excited to have implemented this system at our clinic and look forward to spending more time treating our patients; which is what we love to do!
Personal Training
2023 has seen the launch of a personal training program at Bellingham Physical Therapy. We believe that movement is an essential part of life, and we aim to encourage our patients to continue moving even after they are done with physical therapy. Our goals with personal training are to promote enjoyment through movement and provide education on safe exercise practices. Personal training will not be covered by insurance, but we offer training packages or pay-as-you-go options to make it affordable for most budgets. If you are interested in personal training, talk to your physical therapist, and book an appointment with a receptionist or online. Personal Training will be done with our certified personal trainer Jessica Wilcox, NASM-CPT. Jessica has been a member of the BPT team since 2016 and is excited to embark on this new journey. If you have questions about Personal Training or wish to learn more, visit our website, or email Jessica (jessicaw@bellinghamphysicaltherapy.com). Personal Training is the first step we are taking towards implementing a wellness program which will eventually include nutrition, and health coaching.
New Faces
Those of you who have been patients with us for a while may have noticed some fresh faces around the clinic. We have added several new members to our team including two physical therapists: Lane Williams-PT, DPT and Eric Eschelbach-PT, DPT, QMHA and a physical therapist assistant: Nathan Wright-PTA. Join us in welcoming them to the BPT family and do not hesitate to say hello. If you would like to get to know them or any of our staff better, go check out our staff bio page.
Website
Speaking of websites, we have been working on updating and improving our website. If you have not looked at it in a while, go to https://bellinghamphysicaltherapy.com and see the changes we have made. In between these newsletters, make sure to check in occasionally with “What’s New” on our website to stay up to date with what is happening at Bellingham Physical Therapy. We will be posting more content on our Facebook and Instagram pages, such as videos, news, updates, pictures, and fun events so make sure to find us on Facebook and Instagram.
A Call for Artists
We recognize that there are many talented artists in our local community, and we would like the opportunity to partner with some of them. Artists who partner with us will have the chance to display their art to many people at our busy clinic. The artists can include their contact information and a price for each piece on display. We will be happy to connect artists to anyone who is interested in buying a piece of their art. In return we get to keep our clinic full of beautiful local artwork. Artists who partner with us will loan us several pieces of their artwork to be hung up around the Bellingham Physical Therapy clinic for 6-8 weeks (about 2 months). We will then rotate to a new artist display for the following two months. If you are an artist, or know of an artist who might be interested in this partnership, please email Jessica (jessicaw@belllinghamphysicaltherapy.com) to discuss this opportunity in more detail.
Thank You
We hope you enjoyed reading our first ever newsletter! It is important to us to keep our community up to date with what is happening at Bellingham Physical Therapy. We hope to send out a newsletter every 3-4 months, so be sure to follow our social media pages and check our website for upcoming news or events. As always, it is our pleasure to serve and be a part of the Bellingham community. We look forward to providing you with excellent physical therapy services.
All the best,
The staff at Bellingham Physical Therapy