Two Therapists Join the CLPTRS team!

Clear Lake Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists (CLPTRS) just added a fourth location in Prairie Farm in April. But it’s not just the number of our offices that is expanding. Our staff is expanding as well.

We have two new therapists joining CLPTRS this month and we would love to introduce them to the community!

Tessa Traynor is joining our practice as a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT). She has recently finished her DPT degree and completed her clinical rotation at CLPTRS. We are quite pleased to bring her onto our team permanently!

Tessa always knew she wanted to work in the healthcare field because helping others has always been important to her. When asked how she chose a profession in physical therapy, she said, “I fell in love with the PT field when I saw some family members go through physical therapy. They experienced a significant increase in their quality of life. That’s when I knew I wanted to be a PT so I could offer the same to others.”

Tessa enjoyed her clinical rotation at CLPTRS because founder and owner, Emily Monson, treats the entire staff like family. Tessa adds, “Emily was great to work for and learn from. She prepared me to work in a clinic setting.”

Tessa graduated from Barron Area High School and pursued her bachelor’s degree in human performance from UW-Eau Claire. She studied abroad in Limerick, Ireland, and explored much of Europe. She then moved to La Crosse to get her DPT. In 2020 she married her husband, and they now live in Amery with their two dogs.

Our second new staff member is Madison Zimmer. She has been helping at CLPTRS for a couple of years as an aide and is wrapping up her student internship with us. She will soon become a PT Assistant for our team.

Madison chose physical therapy as her area of study and profession because she enjoys learning how the body works in a musculoskeletal aspect. She feels physical therapy is a rewarding profession because she helps people reach their goals.

Madison’s favorite aspect of working at CLPTRS is the team of people she works alongside. She’s looking forward to continuing to serve her community. She says, “Working in the town where I was raised is very rewarding. I like that I have a personal connection to most patients who walk through the door.”

Madison graduated from Clear Lake High School. She then attended Chippewa Valley Technical College, where she received her associate degree in applied sciences. She spends a lot of her free time outdoors with her boyfriend, Bailey, and her dog, Goose. Since she graduated from high school, Madison has helped coach varsity volleyball and basketball for CLHS. She loves to travel and has a goal to visit all 50 states!

When you receive therapy from CLPTRS, you interact with our friendly and professional staff from your first phone call to the end of your time in physical therapy. Please call us at 715-263-4110 to use our service and discover our quality staff who are always working in a caring way to restore human performance.

Workers’ Compensation and Physical Therapy

At Clear Lake Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists (CLPTRS) we are certainly known for providing physical therapy to our patients before or after surgery or because of an accident, or athletic training services after a sport-related injury. But did you know that we also work with a variety of local businesses?

CLPTRS is a destination clinic for management and treatment of the injured worker. We have made this part of our practice an added part of education and training for all of our provider staff for best practices and industry support. One of CLPTRS’s goals in treating our community members is to help local businesses reduce the costs incurred through injury prevention programs and return any injured workers back to employment in a safe and timely manner. We call this Industrial Rehab.

A big part of Industrial Rehab is caring for those injured on the job. Workers’ compensation patients are one of the many demographics of patients we serve at CLPTRS.

Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system designed to provide benefits to employees who are injured or become ill because of their employment activities. Businesses purchase workers’ compensation insurance and provide wage replacement and medical benefits to employees.

February 3rd,  the CLPTRS staff had an all-day training session on how our physical therapist and athletic trainer can best serve those injured on the job. The training was conducted by OccuPro, a software company that CLPTRS uses.

OccuPro is a company that has developed software specifically for physical therapists and athletic trainers that treat those with workplace injuries. Their technology provides CLPTRS with aspects of patient care we need, such as return-to-work reports, programs to bill insurance companies, a network of locations that perform pre-employment testing, and injury prevention software.

Presented by Jim Mecham from OccuPro, our staff went through the course with physical therapists from Optimum Therapies, a PT provider with four offices in our surrounding communities.

During the training, our staff learned about the best ways to manage workers’ compensation cases. At CLPTRS, we take pride in being a leader in the area on ways to best manage this demographic. We place a top priority on working closely with both the patient, their physician, and the employer. This “teamwork” style of care is necessary to return injured employees to work as quickly and safely as possible. This benefits both the employee and the employer.

Through our Industrial Rehab services, we give employers the tools to keep their workforce healthy and safe. And we give employees tools to know how to remain safe and healthy on the job.

Please call us at 715-263-4103 if you are an employer who needs information or education on the following areas: on-site safety and injury prevention, on-location ergonomic assessments, post-offer/pre-employment testing and drug testing, early intervention rehabilitation.

CLPTRS to Open Fourth Clinic in Prairie Farm

When Emily Monson was growing up in Clayton, she never imagined she would serve her beloved hometown and surrounding communities with a physical therapy practice. She began her practice in Turtle Lake. A second location was then added in Clear Lake in 2009. The most recent and third location, in Amery, opened in July of 2021. And now, we are expanding to Prairie Farm!

As we continue to grow, a fourth office will be coming to Prairie Farm this upcoming spring.

CLPTRS is pleased to expand to this quaint town, nestled in the hills of Western Wisconsin. Several of our staff, including Kyle Larson, Tina Siebert, and Chloe Singerhouse have close ties to Prairie Farm. And they are excited for the opportunity to serve a community that means so much to them.

Kyle will be the lead physical therapist at this new clinic location. Kyle grew up and went to school in Clayton, WI. He was an avid athlete playing football, basketball, and baseball. Kyle became interested in physical therapy after being a patient at Turtle Lake Physical Therapy & Rehab specialists due to a basketball injury. After high school, he continued with sports in college and played football at UW-Stevens Point. He then continued to grad school at the College of St. Scholastica where he received his doctorate in physical therapy.

As our reach goes farther into more communities, we need more staff to serve these new areas. Our current locations in Turtle Lake, Clear Lake, and Amery also continue to grow in staff numbers. Part of CLPTRS’s company vision is to serve not only our communities through patient care, but to also provide employment opportunities.

Our practice is more than just the physical therapists providing care. It takes an entire team of “behind the scenes” office staff to keep appointments, billing, and customer service up to the high standard we set for ourselves.

As we expand the area of Western Wisconsin that we serve, we will be looking for the right people to add to our customer-focused and quality staff. We will need both physical therapist candidates and office support staff.

For physical therapists, experienced clinicians as well as new or upcoming graduates are encouraged to apply. For office staff, we look for those who can thrive as a part of our solid team of employees who are valued and appreciated for their strong work ethic.

Serving smaller communities through premium therapy care, giving back to the community, and a personal touch are what CLPTRS is all about. So, we are delighted to be moving into the Prairie Farm area soon to serve the community there.

If you would like more information about our new location or would like to apply to become part of the CLPTRS team, please call our Clear Lake office at 715-263-4103.