Looking Back, Looking Forward and Steve’s Story

By: Dr. Katie Wadland, PT, DPT, Board-Certified Geriatric Clinical Specialist

Owner: Healthy Aging Physical Therapy

Looking Back

Healthy Aging Physical Therapy started in 2020, at a time when healthcare, and daily life, felt especially fragile.

Older adults were losing access to care. Families were stretched thin. Healthcare systems were overwhelmed. I didn’t start this practice with the goal of building something large or disruptive. I started it because I knew I could help a small number of people in a way that felt safe, practical, and personal, by seeing them in their homes and reducing barriers to quality care.

While this mindset hasn’t changed much over the years, what has changed is the scope. In 2020, we helped 24 patients. In 2021, that number grew to 119. In 2022, 312. By 2023, we were helping 436 people, and in 2024 that grew to 528. This year, in 2025, we’ve already helped 565 people through individual therapy alone.

Those numbers don’t include the patients we’ve continued working with year over year, or the group classes we run each month. On average, we now teach about 50 group classes a month, reaching roughly 240 people each week—more than 800 individuals over the course of a year.

I share these numbers not as a growth story, but as a reminder of how influence tends to build quietly. Most of this didn’t come from doing more things. It came from doing things differently—letting outcomes, relationships, and word-of-mouth carry more weight than advertising or polished messaging.

What I want to share is how those differences have evolved into a consistent way of caring for patients, our own, unique “Healthy Aging way,” and what that looks like through one patient’s experience.

Meet Steve

Steve’s story is a good example of how this plays out in real life.

We began working with Steve in May of 2025. About a year earlier, he had undergone a total knee replacement and experienced a series of complications that led to multiple hospitalizations. Before all of this, Steve lived independently, walked with a walker, and managed his own daily needs.

By the time we met Steve, his situation had changed significantly. He had moved into an assisted living facility, was using a wheelchair for all mobility, and required maximum assistance for transfers. Home health services had ended, and he had been advised that he would need to transition to outpatient therapy.

This is a familiar, and often challenging, moment for many patients. Home health and VNA services play a critical role during periods of medical instability and true homebound status, helping people recover safely and stabilize after illness, injury, or hospitalization. As patients improve and no longer meet homebound criteria, those services appropriately come to an end.

At that point, many individuals have regained some function but haven’t yet returned to their prior level of independence. They’re often encouraged to transition to clinic-based outpatient therapy or continue on their own with a home exercise program. Some are able to make that transition. Others find outpatient-at-home providers like us. And many, simply, fall through the cracks.

In Steve’s case, clinic-based outpatient therapy wasn’t a realistic option. Getting in and out of the car safely and consistently just wasn’t feasible. He was no longer driving and didn’t have regular access to transportation, which is what led to his referral to us for outpatient-at-home care.

Steve began working with one of our physical therapists and stayed in skilled therapy for as long as his insurance allowed. Over time, he made steady, meaningful progress. Strength improved. Transfers became easier. When Steve was discharged from skilled physical therapy in early November, he was no longer using a wheelchair. He was walking with a rollator and, at times, a cane. He had returned to working part-time. His level of independence looked very different than it had just months earlier. He had met his therapy goals - and demonstrated capacity beyond them.

By insurance standards, this was an appropriate place to stop, but as we find time and time again, function doesn’t always fit neatly into coverage timelines.

Next Steps (Literally!)

One thing we see often is that patients lose momentum after therapy ends—not because they’ve reached their limit, but because the structure and support that helped them improve suddenly fall away.

Steve and his physical therapist both felt there was more room to improve. While additional therapy visits weren’t covered at that point, Steve transitioned into our Wellness365 program to continue his work with our personal trainers. This shift allowed him to keep moving forward without the time limits or coverage restrictions that often shape insurance-based care.

The wellness setting also opens the door to goals that typically fall outside the scope of covered therapy - things like returning to hobbies, building higher-level strength and endurance, and focusing on overall health rather than just functional mobility and task completion. Steve’s training program evolved into a whole-body approach, combining strength, balance, and cardiovascular work. The focus wasn’t just on regaining function, but on building resilience and supporting his long-term health.

The result? Last week, one of our trainers shared a video of Steve climbing stairs, something simple to most of us, but incredibly meaningful for someone working toward independence again. It brought a smile to all of our faces that day.

While many patients experience decline after therapy ends, Steve has continued to gain strength and confidence. Not because he followed a perfect path, but because he stayed engaged and supported through transitions, with a team that could adapt his care as his goals, and his capacity, continued to grow.

Looking Forward

Steve’s story is just one example. Every patient’s path looks different. Some need short-term support, while others benefit from longer stretches of therapy, wellness, or a combination of both. Goals vary, timelines vary, and the right approach isn’t always the same from one person to the next.

What I’m most proud of this year is having built a practice that’s flexible enough to meet patients where they are—to adjust care as needs change, to support transitions rather than disrupt them, and to offer different options based on what works best for each individual.

That adaptability—and the ability to walk alongside patients through different phases of their journey—is what makes this work meaningful for our team, and what continues to guide how we care for the people we serve as the years go on.