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Fortis Therapy Center, a physical therapy nonprofit, has opened its first inperson clinic in Frog Pond Business Park.
The therapy center was first established as a mobile clinic by coexecutive directors Meredith Kapchinski, PT, DPT and Matt Marchant, CPT, CES in 2019. Operating as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, Fortis Therapy offers affordable physical therapy and fitness consultations for children and adults. Its new location has a private treatment room, an open fitness room and a pediatric therapy area, and mobile appointments are still available on an asneeded basis.
The organization recently extended its services to include Project Walk, a 12-week, gait-training therapy program that helps children learn to walk unassisted. The program is the first major program undertaken by the new clinic and is free to eligible, pediatric patients, thanks in large part to a grant from the Moody Foundation.
Fortis Therapy is one of only two clinics in Texas that offer this kind of locomotive therapy.
“The whole idea of Fortis came about because I wanted to make therapy truly about the child,” Kapchinski said. “That’s why we went the nonprofit route, so that we could provide therapy fully designed for them, their parents and their goals. It’s a way for us to not only do what we specialize in but also give back to the community.”
“Nonprofits are outside of insurance,” she explained. “Insurance companies get to control and deny visits… You’re spending your time documenting rather than actually treating children.”
Fortis Therapy’s cash rates are on a sliding scale, and some consultations are even pro bono.
While Kapchinski specializes in pediatric physical therapy, coexecutive director Marchant focuses on the fitness side. The two were recently joined by Kyle Marchand, PT, DPT, as Fortis Therapy’s new director of outpatient orthopedics.
“There are just so many things we can do that people don’t know about, helping to treat people where they are,” Marchand said. “This team should be in every school in the nation. Children growing up not learning how to properly work out and exercise… that’s a huge problem that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.”
Kapchinski said she hopes to see the clinic, and physical therapy in general, become a front-line health resource.
“Ideally, physical therapy should all be preventative,” she explained. “When people are hurting, they don’t always need to go to their [general practitioner] first. Surgery shouldn’t be the first consideration either.”
“Going forward, we want to grow out of this space with more kids and trainers,” Kapchinski continued. “We’d love to be able to offer occupational and speech therapy and get even more complex equipment.”
For more information, visit fortistherapycenter. org. To donate, visit their Facebook page at @ fortistherapycenter and click the PayPal link on the left-hand side.
