Streamline Physio Turn 4!

Happy October!

Somehow this month we’ll be celebrating the 4th anniversary of Streamline Physical Therapy, now Streamline Physio. While it often feels like we’ve been here forever, sometimes I can still hardly believe how far we’ve come. It’s been a rollercoaster of challenges and growth; absolute blood, sweat and tears. In retrospect, opening a practice during a pandemic was a bold move.

In these past 4 years, we have grown an amazing community of hundreds of people, many of whom reached out to find me after a year-long hiatus that I spent treating as a traveling PT after leaving my last job. To my founding members and clients, thank you. Thank you for believing in me and my vision. Thank you for taking a risk and believing in something better. Thank you for trusting me with your health and wellness; together we grow. 

In the last 18 months, Streamline has surpassed a pretty major milestone. We grew past just me, adding Mariel, our amazing Client Care Coordinator last July and this summer Dr. Amanda came on board. These professionals are second to none and they challenge me to be not only a better clinician, but also a better woman and leader. It is because of them that Streamline is ‘we’ and not ‘me.’ Streamline is bigger than me; to have a greater impact, to reach more people and change more lives has always been the goal. None of this would have been possible without our amazing team. While I am the one responsible to make big boss decisions (some smart, some not always so smart), together, we all work it out, figure it out, and make the magic happen. 

I’d like to say that I am a reflective person, but really I don’t consider myself particularly inspirational in any profound way. I do sometimes look back at the beginnings of Streamline. Earlier in my career and certainly as a student I would have never in a million years thought that I’d be running my own practice. I didn’t even want to manage a clinic. However, my dissatisfaction with in-network practice had me wondering if I’d made the right career choice; while I loved working with my patients, I often found myself wondering if I was actually making any kind of difference. It was actually a couple of you that put the idea in my head that I could probably do better on my own. 

During my year away, I spent time learning and growing as a clinician. My autonomy and leadership skills were tested and all the while I was looking into what it might take to start my own practice. Finally, in October of 2020, I made it official, and by the next month I was renting space from Sports AdvantEdge in Verona to better serve my clients needs. But it was all me; answering the phone, scheduling, treating, tracking down doctors, documenting, billing, cleaning and maintaining equipment. Putting in insane hours to grow the business; as many of you know, I didn’t take a vacation for more than 3 years. It was a lot, but it is my mission to change the face of healthcare. Maybe not on a national level (yet), but to offer a better option for my clients. For people that aren’t satisfied with the status quo. For people who want to be better, be stronger, to be more resilient. 

Leading up to opening Streamline, I was noticing that Physical Therapy was becoming a lot less about the one-on-one care and patient/therapist connection and more about the volume of patients in and out and the bottom line. I could not find a staff PT position where I could feel comfortable with the quality of care that I would be able to provide.  So, I decided to open a clinic that would from the beginning to the end of its existence ensure patients received individualized, customized, one-on-one therapy sessions.  If I had to work 12-hour days every day in the beginning to ensure all my patients received their deserved time with me, their therapist, so be it. 

Now 4 years in, the challenges are different, but the goal is the same. There has been a lot of learning on my part, and there will always be much more learning to do. I am truly a different person from the beginning of this journey to where I am now.  And I plan to continue to grow, change, and adapt in the coming years, which in turn will hopefully help Streamline continue to grow, change, and adapt to needs of all of you, my Streamline family. 

Moving forward, Streamline will continue to grow with this mission in mind: To help Madison-based athletes get out of pain and stay in the water (or game), performing at a high level through performance focused physical therapy and wellness services.

The importance of one-on-one care, the importance of that human connection with our clients during their recovery and wellness journeys (lots of laughing, talking, chatting, joking, discussing, and sometimes even crying), educating our clients to not only improve their current condition but to live overall healthier and better lives, and finally remembering to be grateful for our training and profession and the amazing impact we’re able to have on our patients and community despite the challenges of the current healthcare landscape.

So, thank you to everyone who has and continues to believe in Streamline Physio and what we have to offer. Thank you to all of you who continue to spread the word and refer their friends, family members, neighbors, and strangers to see us. And thank you to our amazing team for helping to keep the dream alive another year and hopefully many more.

Sincerely,

Kari

PT, DPT, OCS, Owner and Founder of Streamline Physio