VBNC Physical Therapy Nominated for an Economic Courage Award

Economic courage could be defined as a leader, a business, nonprofit and or organization that, while facing economic uncertainty and a radical retraction of “business as usual,” took extraordinary steps to provide a service, a product, and or a support service that made a positive impact to the community and or employees of their organization. These individuals took economic risks to continue providing a service, product and or resource in the face of unprecedented economic uncertainty. Showing the ability to adapt, change and thrive during uncertainty. The Thurston EDC awarded Economic Courage Awards at the Hootenanny on July 19.
Learn more here: https://thurstonedc.com/hootenanny/.

During the past year, VBNC Physical Therapy has shown Economic Courage and has been nominated for an Economic Courage Award.

We asked N. Daniel Rojas M., PT to answer some questions about the past year and how the business took extraordinary steps to impact our community positively. His answers are below.

What year was your business/organization established?

We opened doors on October 27, 2021.

How many employees do you have?

We have three full-time employees.

What does your business do? What services do you provide?

Our business is an Outpatient Physical Therapy clinic. We provide physical therapy services in many areas, including orthopedic (musculoskeletal, post-surgical) and neurological conditions. In the neurological field, we are specialized in vestibular and balance. Most commonly, vestibular and balance disorders include conditions such as vertigo, Meniere’s Disease, concussion, post-stroke disorder and others. Another big area we have developed a great protocol includes treatments related to different types of headaches. And if you wonder, yes, vertigo and headaches can be successfully treated through Physical Therapy!!

What specific niche does your business fill in this community?

VBNC Physical Therapy provides the community with the opportunity to receive a comprehensive vestibular and balance rehabilitation. We provide this service by offering all patients a one-on-one approach during the entire session. Our elderly population is greatly benefited through this as they get all the attention they deserve to enhance their quality of life through a unique protocol designed for each of them.

We also offer our services in both English and Spanish. We endeavor to create an environment that will be most conducive to performing our services in a manner that is comfortable for the patients.

What are some key elements you attribute to your business’s success?

We opened our business to offer each patient evidence-based treatment through one-on-one care during the entire session.

Through years of training and experience, we have developed a large toolbox to assist with diagnosis and carry out treatment for various orthopedic and neurological conditions (including different forms of vertigo).

We learned that the best way for us to efficiently utilize this great toolbox is by spending adequate time with the patient during their rehabilitation process. Thus, we offer each patient the privilege (I even dare to say, “luxury”) to consistently work with the same therapist during the entire session and for “every session”. Through this approach, we have the great advantage of monitoring each aspect of the patient’s progress and can develop a protocol that best fits the patient’s needs. Our patients demonstrate great results through this approach, which has been a big piece for the word of mouth advertising.

Our culture is to create a friendly environment. For example, we bring homemade cookies (sometimes cupcakes) each Friday. My wife (sometimes father or mother-in-law, not kidding) bakes fresh homemade cookies of different kinds every Friday (they are excellent bakers).

Patients express their preferences on baking styles and flavors, and we try to please them the best we can. Some patients, or their relatives, have already requested my wife to open her bakery!

Last but by no means the least, a significant portion of our success has come through the wonderful people that have (and continue to) helped us to build the structure of our business and implement various strategies in different fields such as accounting, marketing, taxes, business plan, among others.

When we opened our business, we ventured into an incredible journey we. Without the help of Washington SBDC and Thurston Economic Development Council, it would have been challenging. We realized a business includes more than just opening doors and having clients. There is a lot behind the scenes that has to adequately take place to provide the best suitable environment for our patients. We are still in this learning process and are happy to have such an incredible team supporting us on each step of our growth.