By Jamie Funk, Therapy Recruiting Resource
I am pleased to introduce Kelsey Martindale, a physical therapist who has been a key member of the therapy team at St. Joseph Villa in Salt Lake City for the past two years. “Kelsey is passionate about making the lives of our LTC residents better. She loves to work with neuro patients, especially those with Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders. She takes our core value of celebration seriously and likes to plan events and parties for our team outside of work. She is flexible, kind, giving, generous and considerate. She is part of what makes me want to come to work every day,” says Lisa Brook, our dedicated and passionate rehab director at SJV.
Kelsey graduated from the University of Utah’s DPT program and was inspired to become a therapist while working in a store selling running shoes. She enjoyed working with people on biomechanics and injury prevention. Simultaneously, she was going to a physical therapist for treatment and realized that PT would be a challenging career that would allow her to grow and continue to learn.
Kelsey loves her team at SJV. “I feel like we are all unique individuals who have a special way of working together. There is a fundamental undercurrent of serving each other and our residents. We can take on a task easily and meet our goals and expectations, but this ultimately is not the driving force of our job. We do well because of who we are as people, not because we are obsessed with matrix. Everyone has it in them and wants to be here every day,” she explains. “If I could change one thing about my job it would be to spend more time with my patients and less time in documentation — and to know what happens to the patients that we work so hard with once they leave SJV.”
Patient care, hugs, gratitude from patients, helping people know they are not alone, and knowing that she can make a difference even if it is small help Kelsey stay energized and passionate about her work. Kelsey has an amazing 6-year-old daughter who she loves to spend time with when she is not at work. She also enjoys traveling, watching sports and spending time with people she cares about. She says she is not a homebody! Her favorite Disney character is Mulan because she rose above everyone’s expectations of her and was strong, powerful and beautiful all at the same time.
Kelsey’s favorite thing about being part of our organization is that the people here want to be here. The culture of caring, celebrating and working together is present every day and in every meeting. “Celebration is valued here and our facility is especially great in all areas of CAPLICO,” she says.
Kelsey believes that she is the very best version of herself when she is at SJV working with her colleagues and residents.