For years, the residents of Preston had to travel out of town for their physical therapy needs. Then, Physical Therapist Lisa Stensrud opened Fillmore County Physical Therapy in downtown Preston and began a thriving business serving the people of Preston and the surrounding towns.
When Stensrud decided to move out of state, she knew she couldn’t just leave her patients high and dry, so she began scouting for someone to take over her business. She had graduated from the Mayo Clinic’s Physical Therapy program with Brian McQuilkin, who is now a co-owner of Active PT, and thought he might be interested.
Stensrud reached out to McQuilkin about expanding Active PT to her office in Preston, and he welcomed the opportunity. The company currently has a main clinic in Rochester and locations in Spring Valley, Plainview, Wabasha, Lake City, Stewartville, and now Preston. A total of 10 therapists are employed at the clinics.
The Preston Active PT location is staffed by Rochester resident, Physical Therapist Adam Shaffer.
“We’re grateful to be able to expand and go out into the rural communities to service them,” said Shaffer. “This (the new clinic) is a good opportunity to be able to help out a community here.”
Shaffer grew up in Dubuque, Iowa and did his undergrad studies at St. Cloud University where he played football. “That’s what got me into physical therapy,” he said. “Having gone through PT, it’s something I developed a passion for.”
Shaffer completed his doctorate at Clark University in Dubuque and then moved to the Rochester area for his aftergrad at the Mayo Clinic, where he began his career as a physical therapist.
Over the past year, Shaffer transitioned to working for Active PT and has enjoyed the change. His first day at the Preston location was January 3. “This area and this type of setting is the reason I got into physical therapy and my passion,” he remarked. On his first day, he started seeing patients right away and was also able to tour downtown Preston and meet members of the community. “Everyone’s been a pleasure to work with. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better first day.”
Shaffer plans to always work at growing in his career. “The thing I liked about joining the team at Active PT is that we’re always pushing each other to learn more,” he said.
Active PT takes a collective approach working with other providers and doing what’s best for the patient. “We definitely want to keep patients active and doing things they love to do. We also want them to be able to return to the things the love to do (after injuries),” Shaffer noted. “We’re able to help with a wide variety of diagnoses.”
Shaffer has had experience treating a wide range of ages during his time at Active PT and plans to continue to see all ages at the Preston clinic. He is currently the only therapist employed there and will be open Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “We may expand the hours as the schedule increases with more patients though,” he added.
Former patients of Fillmore County Physical Therapy can seamlessly continue their care at Active PT by signing a simple form allowing their medical records to be transferred over.
“I’m taking over where Lisa left off,” Shaffer said. He is looking forward to working the the community of Preston and building a rapport with the people in town over the coming years.
Appointments at Active PT can be made by calling (507) 322-3460.
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