Our Awesome Staff

We’ve been in business for more than 20 years offering chiropody, massage and physiotherapy treatment to patients within the town of Newmarket and surrounding areas. We pride ourselves on our approach to treatment that is 100% patient focused. Our policy has always been that for every Physio appointment, the patient is seen exclusively by a Physiotherapist for the entire visit. This ensures the patient’s comfort, movement and progress are exclusively observed by the therapist. Some clinics use physio assistants during patient visits…a strategy that sometimes frees up the Physiotherapist to see another patient or two at the same time – we believe treatment is more effective when our therapist stays with one patient for their entire visit. This allows the therapist to directly monitor patient’s progress by directly observing how the patient feels as they receive treatment and are directly accessible when invariably the patient has a question. Our goal in caring for our patients is that we treat them effectively and fast…we aim to minimize your time with us. This patient-centric approach only works if we have therapists who truly care about the patient.

We are very fortunate to have such caring staff. So much so that their care often extends beyond our four walls. Here’s an awesome example of that. Meet Fiona, one of our physios who has been with us for several years. She’s a licensed physiotherapist who also has a diploma in Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy – a title possessed by less than 30 therapists in Canada. Fiona will be traveling to Peru (August 2018) with a team MDT trained therapists to participate in a humanitarian effort that will assemble a pop-up clinic to offer treatment to locals for several days. This program is aimed at providing quality MDT care to underserved areas around the world.

We asked Fiona a few questions about her trip.

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Why did you get involved with this initiative?
I am passionate about MDT and travel – this is a great way to merge both. Being able to share my knowledge of MDT as an evidence-based approach for the benefit of underprivileged individuals is quite rewarding. At the heart of the method is how we educate patients to treat themselves to continue to self-manage their symptoms should they recur –MDT is not well known to Peruvians… the same holds true even in right here in Toronto, Canada!

Have you done any other humanitarian efforts before?
It wasn’t quite a humanitarian effort per-se, but I did travel to Iqaluit, NU in the Canadian Arctic. I arranged a leave of absence, to allow me the opportunity to work for the Government of Nunavut for six-weeks in April/May of 2017. There I was able to use MDT to assist with offering evidence-based care, while also while also significantly reducing their outpatient orthopaedic wait list.

So, this will be a lengthy trip to allow you to treat patients over an extended period of time, how are you affording it?
If you count 18+ hours of travel with three layovers, then yes it’ll be lengthy. But in reality, the trip will actually be relatively short. We are aiming that each patient will receive an assessment and follow-up visit during our time in Peru. What allows us to do this is the potential for rapid and lasting change with the use of McKenzie MDT.

• We are away for 11 days, but 2 of those are travel days (3-connections, 18+hr travel)
• We are offering a 3-hour workshop for local physicians and physiotherapists
• We are offering a 4-day clinic for the under-privileged
• Then, for our own fun/reward, we’ll visit Machu Picchu

Are you going with a big team?
This year will mark the largest group of clinicians gathered together for Mechanical Care Everywhere. A total of 11 of us from four different countries will participate. While those numbers appears relatively small, eight of those clinicians participating are Diploma Level. That’s amazing! But let me put it into perspective: To date there are 450 Diploma Level clinicians worldwide…eight of them will be represented on this trip! Within Canada there are 30 Diploma Level clinicians…York Rehab has 2 of them!

Why choose Peru as the destination?
Jason Ward (PT), the founder of Mechanical Care Everywhere has visited this area before and has connections there to assist with an effort of this magnitude.

It’s probably going to be an expensive trip – who is sponsoring you guys?
None of the participants received any funding for this trip – we have all paid out of our own pocket for air travel, accommodation, food and the costs associated with the 4-day clinic. Friends, family members, colleagues and various branches of the McKenzie Institute International have provided donations to Mechanical Care Everywhere to assist with offsetting some costs like the following:

• $25.00 (1 patient exam & home program)
• $50.00 (1/2 day of translators)
• $100.00 (1/2 day of clinic operation)
• $250.00 (1 full day of clinic operation)

If you want to learn more about the project you can check out the MCE website: www.mechanicalcareforum.com/mce

So this will be a series of trips so you can do follow-up visits right?
If we return to Peru again it will be a separate initiative. For this trip, our goal is to assess each patient and complete a follow-up visit during our brief time in Peru. At the heart of the method is how we educate patients to treat themselves to continue to self-manage long after we have returned home.

How is it that MDT can offer such fast results?
Mechanical Diagnosis and Treatment (MDT) is a safe, structured and evidence-based system used to assess and treat patients. The system can be applied to the spine and/or extremities. As MDT therapists, our greatest skill lies in our assessment, where we use the information collected from how a patient feels (symptoms) and how a patient moves (mechanics) to classify them into a particular group. From there, we can then match our treatment approach with the particular classification. Patients receive a program designed specifically for them, emphasizing active involvement, education, self-management and prevention of recurrence. With continual assessment and re-assessment of the patient (often less than 6 sessions), results are achieved fast, decreasing the financial burden on patients.

Once you leave Peru, how will you know if the trip is a success?
Following our 3-hour educational workshop with the local Peruvian physicians and physiotherapists, we will offer the opportunity for those interested to observe with us during our clinic days as an added learning opportunity. Thereafter, we will also network with these clinicians to encourage their learning remotely through the many forms of social media. This way, education will continue long after we have returned home.

I’d also like to share a story of MCE Founder Jason Ward – last year he had a woman waiting in line to see him specifically. She was offered the opportunity to be assessed by one of the other therapists, but declined; content to wait for Jason himself. Jason remembered her as a patient from the previous year. This woman waited hours in line to thank Jason for his assistance the year prior. She has been continuing with her exercises since Jason’s last visit and has remained pain-free as a result. Now THAT is proof in the pudding!

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Thanks for taking the time to share a bit about this initiative Fiona. Have a great trip!

We are so proud of Fiona.