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August 19, 2024
CHIPPEWA FALLS/LADYSMITH – A lot has transpired in the last six months in the healthcare industry in West Central Wisconsin.
As one system shut its doors, others stepped up to fill the gaps left behind.
One such entity is Lakeland Therapy.
And, Co-owner Andrew Johnson said there was no time to waste – the first Lakeland Therapy location in Ladysmith opened mid-spring, with the second opening two months later in Chippewa Falls.
Johnson said the locally owned clinics offer physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy treatments and serves patients across Chippewa, Eau Claire, Taylor, Rusk, Barron and Clark counties, as well as parts of Sawyer, Price, Marathon and Jackson counties.
It started with home health care
To get to the full story behind the start of Lakeland Therapy, Johnson said he first needs to talk about Lakeland Home Healthcare – “that’s where we started.”
With nearly 25 years of post-acute care under his belt, Johnson said he deals with anything from home health to hospice to palliative care – “that type of stuff.”
“(I do) anything post-hospital stay, post-skilled nursing stay and (providing) care to seniors in rural communities,” he said.
Johnson said a little more than a year ago, his wife, Shannon – who is a school physical therapist – was asked if she would like to pick up some part-time hours at Lakeland Home Healthcare in Cornell, which provides nursing home and therapy health services.
The owners – who Johnson said run two outpatient clinics – told Shannon they couldn’t keep up with demand.
At the time, Johnson said he was about ready to retire – but those plans would soon change.
Two months later, after discussing more with Shannon and looking at the market, Johnson said the two of them – along with business partners, Joe and Mary Joy Borton – took over Lakeland Home Healthcare.
“As a certified Medicare provider, we provided health care in a patient’s home – nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and medical social work services on an intermittent basis,” he said.
When the four owners took over last August, Johnson said they had about 10 patients – “now we have 120-130 patients.”
“We’re now averaging about 65 new patients per month,” he said.
Onto Lakeland Therapy
The next point on the timeline, Johnson said, was the closure of HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital and Prevea.
“That left a large hole in our community – still has, obviously – with the hospital space,” he said.
Johnson said the closures meant there wasn’t a strong outpatient clinic doing neuro-type therapy, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.
He said it also meant there wasn’t a healthcare space doing pediatric therapies – “unless you drove to Marshfield from Eau Claire, or you went to the Twin Cities.”
“Otherwise, it’s about a year’s wait for a child to get in,” he said.
The closures, Johnson said, not only led him, Shannon, Joe and Mary Joy to continue coverage for outpatient physical therapy in Ladysmith – but start conversations with Prevea.
“We got on the phone with their senior leadership, and said we would like to assume their lease in Ladysmith and also retain two therapists who live in that community,” he said.
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Johnson said, had a skilled home health division – and when the hospital closed, he said they hired many of the clinicians from the division, and therefore “saved quite a few jobs in the community.”
Johnson said he also worked with Prevea to take over their equipment, “so we could continue to provide a high level of therapy in an outpatient setting.”
In April, Johnson said Lakeland Therapy opened in Ladysmith (400 W. 9th St., Suite 4).
Soon after – in June – he said Lakeland Therapy opened a second location in Chippewa Falls (1446 116th St.).
“We started in rural communities, and we’re building out to the larger geography, so to speak, but our roots really stemmed in rural communities because they don’t have the care they deserve,” he said.
Services
Between the two locations, Johnson said Lakeland Therapy offers physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech-language therapy (SLP) and pediatric therapies – which treat a variety of conditions, including: arthritis, pre/post-surgical rehabilitation, stroke, lymphedema, balance and dizziness and pediatric PT/OT/SLP therapy.
Johnson said the team at Lakeland Therapy sees a higher level of need for neural diseases for pediatric patients.
“Physical therapy (for pediatrics) works on movement, gait – anything out there for a child that is (delayed) developmentally,” he said. “We see a lot of children with autism.”
In addition to pediatric physical therapy, Johnson said Lakeland Therapy also offers occupational therapy, which focuses on a pediatric patient’s fine motor skills – which he said can range anywhere from holding a fork, to going over home modification strategies or adaptive equipment recommendations and training.
Speech therapy for children is also available and can include treatments, such as augmentative therapy, cognitive rehabilitation, swallowing therapy, oral motor exercises and auditory therapy.
Physical therapy for adult and geriatric patients, he said, is also available.
Johnson said Lakeland Therapy recently added an Alter-G Treadmill to the clinic, which is great for athletes.
“It’s an anti-gravity treadmill,” he said. “If you could imagine getting into a pair of bike shorts you would (wear to) ride your bike. It’s got a zipper around it, and you step into this machine, we raise it and we can take the gravity down to 20% so they can continue to train.”
The treadmill, Johnson said, comes with cameras all around it so a patient’s stride and step can be monitored.
“It (can also help people) with arthritis or anybody who has knee surgery that needs to be less weight-bearing and wants to continue to move,” he said. “It’s a cool piece of equipment.”
Other physical therapy treatments available at Lakeland Therapy include:
- Taping and bracing
- Dry needling
- Manual therapy
- Vestibular therapy
Johnson said the staff can also assist geriatric patients with balance and help them realize their full potential.
“My wife has MS, and she’s involved in a lot of foundations around here,” he said. “We’re trying to assist them and get them more resources as well… We have a passion for anything like that.”
Johnson said Lakeland Therapy also has a slip trainer that was purchased from the University of Massachusetts, which is meant to help geriatric patients with their fear of falling.
“Wisconsin, unfortunately, leads the nation in (falls amongst) geriatric population and also leads the nation in deaths from falling…,” he said. “At our clinic, we can put people in a harness, and then they step on this slip trainer the physical therapist is using. The harness takes the fear out of falling and (shows) you how to position yourself to prevent yourself from falling.”
Community response
Johnson said since both taking over Lakeland Home Health Care and opening Lakeland Therapy, he and the team have received a lot of positive feedback.
“Home health has been outstanding – we can’t believe where we are today,” he said. “I’m biased – we have the best clinicians.”
Being locally owned and operated, instead of a national provider, Johnson said, has also helped with the positive response they have received.
“I believe we are the largest provider of home health in this area now, which is something that amazes me,” he said. “I never would have thought this (would happen), and it’s because of the care we provide.”
In Ladysmith, Johnson said Lakeland Therapy has filled a “huge gap,” and the community has been “very welcoming.”
“I would say the community response – based on the fact that the two physical therapists who were there, are still there – has been enormous,” he said.
Since opening the Chippewa Falls location in June, Johnson said a lot of marketing has gone into letting the community know Lakeland Therapy is now an option in the area.
To help do so, he said, Lakeland Therapy held a ribbon cutting in mid-August.
“It’s (was) a chance (for folks) to come see the clinic,” he said.
To learn more about Lakeland Therapy, visit lakelandtherapyclinic.com.
