Rural physiotherapist finds creative solutions for her clients

Fort Macleod families appreciate pediatric care closer to home

Story by Kelly Morris | Photo by Leah Hennel

FORT MACLEOD — One of the greatest benefits of working in rural healthcare is also one of the greatest challenges — onboarding a new staff member means passing on a lot of community history.

Naomi Paridaen is the newest physiotherapist with Fort Macleod’s Children’s Allied Health team, supporting new and returning clients in the area.

“My colleague has been serving the area for a really long time, so she knows all the families and a lot of the older siblings of the kids I see now, so she’s able to share a lot of history,” says Paridaen. “It’s nice when families can have that long-term relationship with a healthcare provider instead of someone new every single time.”

Serving a rural community often means travelling to clients and finding creative ways to meet diverse client needs. The team includes speech language pathologists, occupational therapists and therapy assistants that provide cotreatments — shared appointment times and coordinated approaches — to reduce the number of appointments that some clients may require.

“It’s really nice for the families in the rural community because they’re not having to travel to the city for care,” says Paridaen. “Our allied health team is really communicative and able to come up with solutions that are diverse and appropriate for farm families or families who maybe don't have access to indoor playgrounds. We can really modify it to what the client needs.”

Paridaen was drawn to pediatric physiotherapy for just that reason — the ability and flexibility to be creative with solutions for her young clients.

“It’s really nice to work with kids because, number one — it’s fun! There are a lot of different ways to approach an issue with kids, like, ‘let’s play a game, let’s get a different toy, let’s try and put you in a different position,’” says Paridaen. “It’s very interactive and you get real honest opinions whether they like it or hate it.”

The most appealing part of pediatric physiotherapy for Paridaen has been watching her clients grow and improve.

“Kids are almost always going to be improving or getting better versus the private practice world where I saw a lot of chronic conditions and cases where you're just managing symptoms. With kids, there’s a lot of room for improvement and progress and growth.”

Travelling to clients provides a fast-paced work environment in a slower-paced rural setting.

“No two days are alike,” adds Paridaen. “I really like working in the smaller towns. I grew up on a smaller farm, and my husband and I want to be in ranching. Working rural, I have that flexibility.”

During Physiotherapy Month we recognize the dedicated physiotherapists who work in collaborative teams across AHS and in the community. Physiotherapists are experts in physical function, movement and mobility, combining in-depth knowledge of how the body works with specialized hands-on clinical skills to assess, diagnose and treat symptoms of illness, injury or disability.