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Owner and founder Brenda VanSalisbury was inspired to take her occupational therapy career and make it into a venture that would benefit patients in on a whole new level. Recently we caught up with her to find out why she created Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy and Balance Center and how she overcame several obstacles at its inception and more recently, COVID-19 mandated issues.
“I had been an Occupational Therapist for over 15 years and not fulfilled in my job. My wheels began turning on what I could do that was different and didn’t offer a pay cut as my present options did. So while on vacation with my husband, I told him my idea. I told him I wanted to open an aquatic therapy business and run it from our home. He looked me dead in the eyes and said, ‘Over my dead body! Not happening, not up for discussion!’ So, of course, I opened an aquatic therapy business and ran it from my home! LOL.
“I was in heaven, I was in warm water in the sunshine all day, and I couldn’t believe that my patients who had been plagued by pain for decades, were getting better, doing more, and living with less pain than they ever thought was possible. In fact, my patients were so happy that they couldn’t wait to tell their friends, family, and doctors.
“I had a stack of informative brochures on my table, and I couldn’t keep them stacked. My community rallied around me and offered tremendous support and encouragement. Within six months, I had too much work and had to hire my first employee. Then it became two, then three, and so on, and my business continued to grow. We were so busy, in fact, that I had to hire someone to valet the cars because I had nine in my widened driveway, and it was like a puzzle.
One day I had 32 people come to my house! Fast forward over 1.4 million dollars in revenue later, and the city of North Port shut my home business down. This was December of 2019. So, we ended up leasing space at the port charlotte YMCA. The YMCA staff were lovely to us, but the members did not take kindly to the intrusion in their pool. The water was 85 degrees and not the 93 we were used to. We knew we had to find a place of our own.
“In January, I entered into a contract on what seemed like the perfect solution. It was a former model home with a pool. Set up just like my house, which the patients would say was intimate and spa-like. Perfect, we thought. We were given a march closing date. We figured we could hang on that long. March came, and my loan was nowhere near being ready. Then COVID-19 hit, and the YMCA shut down, and the bank stopped all work on my loan. So, now, I’ve got no pool to do business and care for patients. I am someone who can think on their feet, so within two weeks, I had two commercials, a print ad, a radio spot, a Facebook ad, and a new landing page with an updated website all promoting my new homecare business, Outpatient on Wheels.
“We were unique in that we were an outpatient clinic in the home and not a home health agency; therefore, the patient did not have to meet the stringent requirements such as homebound status as they had to with the home health agencies. We were doing aquatic therapy at their pool if they had one, and if they didn’t, we would work on balance, gait, and general conditioning. Although this was only a small portion of my regular revenue, it kept my head above water. I tried not to feel too sorry for myself because I knew that businesses all over were closing their doors for good and that most of the country was out of work. I still had a business, so I held on to that to stay positive.
“I used my time well and created a new program for my business that is a land-based balance training program called Freedom From Falls, which is designed to increase safety and reduce the risks of falls. I do not close on the loan until June 3rd. The building had carpet, and I needed to put a new sink and install a ramp. Pretty simple, we felt. We set an opening date of July 6th.
“After I closed, I began the process of getting the county documents in order, such as a change of occupancy, which I needed to get my business license. The application for the change of occupancy got rejected. To make an extremely long and dramatic story short, the prior owner never brought the property up to commercial standards, and it was zoned a residential use property. It is now our job to
do this. We had to hire an engineer, architect, and general contractor to bring the property up to ADA standards. Getting to the initial permitting stage took months. So during this time, I and my COO Naomi Stiwich, who I refer to as my right-hand man, decided we would call our past patients and invite them to our opening and return as patients. This is in the heat of the coronavirus, so we don’t have high expectations. We got 107 patients to give us a resounding yes to opening week, more than a dozen snowbirds saying yes when they got back to town, and a very healthy maybe list almost 40 people long.
“In the meantime, our humble Outpatient on Wheels had grown to triple what it was when we started. So now we are in the home stretch. We expect to open October 19th. We have good reasons for this optimism, so we are planning on it. The community that rallied around me five years ago rallied around me again. Not only did I need them, but they also needed me. It had always been that way, and now when I open my doors, we can be reunited with our tribe. Of course, we have some changes due to the virus now. Everyone will wear a mask and have their temperature checks, and there will be six feet apart stations in the pool. We still have room for more patients, so we are inviting a new tribe to join us and help Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy and Balance Center bring the much-needed pain relief, strength, and delight as we have always done. We can’t wait for our bright future! Patients should call our clinic and see if they are a good fit for our program. One of our therapists is also a massage therapist, so we are giving gift certificates to her as a thank you for our new tribe. Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy has only just begun the most exciting chapter of its history. Although I’ve had a very long road, my gut tells me everything will work out, and I will have my happy ending. P.S, my grumpy husband George is now Freedom’s biggest fan!”
To schedule your appointment, please contact Freedom Rehab Aquatic Therapy and Balance Center today.
941-400-1505
freedomrehabaquatictherapy.com
17162 Toledo Blade Blvd.
Port Charlotte, FL 3395
Exit 179 North port’s Toledo Blade exit and minutes from US 41