This weekend will be the 5-year Anniversary of The Green Room Physical Therapy. I can hardly believe it. It’s been a whirlwind of challenges, ups, downs, learning, growing, changing, and throw in a pandemic while we’re at it, and I’m just so grateful that we’re still here and that we are what we are after 5 years!
In these 5 years, we have grown an amazing community of thousands of patients, many of whom we still see as needed for a variety of reasons since the very beginning-you all know who you are! In addition to that, we have an amazing team of therapists and Administrative professionals who are second-to-none. When I discuss The Green Room in our emails and on social media, I often use “we” and not “me” for this reason. None of this would have been possible without our amazing team. I am the one responsible to make the ultimate decisions, some smart, some not always so smart, but together, we all work it out, figure it out, and make the magic happen all together.
Around this time of year, I reflect on the beginning days of The Green Room. In the beginning, it was just me in the clinic. Answering the phones, scheduling the appointments, evaluating and treatment the patients, faxing the records, documenting the visits, collecting copays and printing receipts, cleaning the floors, equipment, and bathroom, opening and closing at the start and end of each day. Seeing patients some days from 7:30am to 7:30pm. Not taking a day off for the first 2-3 years or so. It was a lot, but I was on a mission. In my healthcare career, I was noticing that Physical Therapy was becoming a lot less about the one-on-one care and patient/therapist connection and more about “how many patients can we crank in and out of here in one day.” I could not find a staff PT position where I could feel comfortable with the quality of care that I would be able to provide. So, I decided to open a clinic that would from the beginning to the end of its existence ensure patients received individualized, customized, one-on-one therapy sessions. If I had to work 12-hour days every day in the beginning to ensure all my patients received their deserved time with me, their therapist, so be it. Thank goodness that these days, we have several other amazing Therapists to go around for all of our patients!
Now 5 years in, with two locations and a lot more staff since Day 1, the challenges are different. There has been a lot of learning on my part, and there will always be much more learning to do. I am truly a different person from the beginning of this journey to where I am now. And I plan to continue to grow, change, and adapt in the coming years, which in turn will hopefully help The Green Room continue to grow, change, and adapt to all the changes in the world and in healthcare as a whole. Moving forward, I will continue to grow the Green Room with these personal “why’s” in mind: The importance of one-on-one care, the importance of that human connection with our patients during their therapy journeys (lots of laughing, talking, chatting, joking, discussing, and sometimes even crying), educating patients to not only improve their current condition but to live overall healthier and better lives, and finally remembering to be grateful for our training and profession and the amazing impact we’re able to have on our patients and community despite the challenges of the current healthcare landscape.
So, thank you to everyone who has and continues to believe in The Green Room PT and what we have to offer, thank you to all of you who continue to refer their friends, family members, neighbors, and strangers, and thank you to our amazing team for helping to keep the dream alive another year and hopefully many more.
In good health,
Dr. Ashley Bertorelli, PT, DPT, Founder/Owner of The Green Room PT