[submitted by Mena Bailey]

Please welcome Nicole Copeland as our newest Physical Therapist in McConnelsville! Not only is Nicole a Physical Therapist, but she teaches Zumba to a class of about 20 women at the local elementary school.

Nicole grew up in Portersville, near McConnelsville. When I asked her why she became a Physical Therapist, she said she wanted to be in the medical field, but it had to be an area where she didn’t have to deal with needles! That left her with only left a few options: Physical Therapist, Occupational Therapist, or Speech Therapist. Since Nicole is such an active person, it was an easy choice.

When I asked about Nicole’s college experience, she said it was really hard. She expected it would be, but when she got to the doctorate level, a lot of the schoolwork was self-driven with very little classroom lectures. Nicole said at one point she had to buy 20 books to use as references for her studies. 20 in one semester! I think she’s glad that’s all done.

Nicole and her husband Adam live in Zanesville. Adam teaches in Zanesville at Foxfire High School and scouts basketball players for Maysville High School (I’m sure many of us met Adam at Phil’s Christmas party.). When I asked about the drive in to McConnelsville, she said it was nice because all the traffic was heading out of McConnelsville while she was heading in! Nicole also added that she never dreamed that she would be coming back to McConnelsville to work; she always thought she would have to work in the surrounding areas instead. So it was a pleasant surprise!

[submitted by Mena Bailey]

As part of the marketing campaign for the McConnelsville location, Josh came up with a jewel of an idea: why not offer free movie night to the residents? McConnelsville has one of the highest unemployment rates in Ohio. Although these statistics vary from 15 – 20% month to month, what would be a greater way to get every citizen of McConnelsville talking about FSPT than offering them something for free where they have to come into the clinic to get it—brilliant!

The very first movie was Winnie the Pooh. I gave out about 171 tickets at the clinic and 76 returned. For the first movie, Josh came and set up a stand with our logo, made sure our ad and Phil’s cartoon was ready, and helped me count tickets. Now keep in mind, when Josh came up with this idea, Adam, the proprietor of the Opera House was having a very hard time filling seats on a Friday night. So he, Josh and Phil collaborated and came up with this plan: Phil would purchase the movie outright and Adam would get any profits from the concession stand. I didn’t see anyone that just walked in, gave their ticket and went to their seat. Almost everyone bought something! It was a win/win for all involved. That first movie went off without a hitch.

This second week of giving tickets seemed to pick up a little. I got a lot more phone calls about the free movie and a lot more interest in what we are offering. Although there was a mix up and our ad for the Smurfs was not in the paper, Josh pulled a good one out of his hat! He had the idea to start offering free tickets to our elementary schools—one school at time.

This last Friday night I appeared at the Opera House promptly at 6:30 to set up. Mind you, the movie doesn’t start until 7 so I thought I would have plenty of time to get things together, greet people, talk them up, and etc. Was I wrong! When I arrived, I couldn’t even get near the door. People were literally wrapped around the block. One of the Opera House theater workers had to come out to get me and then we had to fight our way back in so I could set up the sign. I thought, “Well this is good! The movie is supposed to start at 7, and people are already here. I wonder how many have our tickets.” As I’m standing there talking to people, greeting them, and telling them about FSPT, I glance up at the clock. It’s 7 p.m. and there is no end in sight of people rolling through the door. Although the Opera House can seat 550 people, I don’t think they have had such a good turn out in a long time! Every person who came through bought something. Adam was running around trying to keep supplies on hand, and the line kept coming. I once tried to get out of the lobby at 7:15 to see how many more people we had and they were wrapped around the block again.

In the end, the movie didn’t start until 7:45, and the natives were getting restless. Adam told me that he ran out of Pepsi, ice and lids for his soda! Final count is as follows: I gave 114 tickets with 109 returned and 139 tickets from the elementary school were returned for a grand total of 249! 249 people in McConnelsville came to the movies and saw that we, FSPT, sponsored it, asking questions and seeing my smiling face! I stood there for an hour and ½, and I had a lot of people thanking us for offering this service.

So, in the future, if it’s Friday night and you’re looking for something to do, drive on up to McConnelsville, get a free ticket and enjoy our wonderful Opera House. I’ll see you there!

[submitted by Mena Bailey]

As many of you have heard, FSPT McConnelsville has a new facility thanks to Phil! We’ve gone from a 20 x 60 foot space to a humongous building all our own. (Now the ladies downstairs in the Reicker building can’t pound on the ceiling when we make noise!)

Monday, August 1st was the big move date. Three of us (Gina, Aaron and I) started at 7am Monday morning. Aaron was bringing a huge car hauler from Caldwell so we could move equipment. So by the time Aaron got here, Gina and I already had my truck packed up and was delivering a load of little stuff. Of course it was blistering hot out, which is why we started so early in the morning. It didn’t help. It really didn’t.

Once we got into the rhythm, the little stuff was easy to move. Gina and I tried to divide the items into front office and gym areas as we were bringing them in. You would be surprised at how much stuff you can get into a Ford Explorer! Gina and I kept saying, “No, it’s full; nothing else will fit.” Then we would find some random corner to shove things into! (BTW, a green 5lb weight went MIA for a few days! It was vacationing under my truck seat!)

Finally, between us, we got all the little stuff moved, and us girls and Aaron went to breakfast. Mostly to watch Aaron eat! Gina had eaten before work, and I can’t stomach food before 11:30. So we went to the Main Street cafe and watched Aaron eat eggs and bacon. By the time we were done, Jordan and Brian were here in Mcconnelsville. That’s when the fun really began.

Jordan and I were patiently waiting for the phone guy to show up while Gina and Aaron started moving the big exercise items onto his car hauler. When we called to find out where the phone guy was, we were told he wasn’t coming until Wednesday, and Mcconnelsville was supposed to be open for business on Tuesday! Jordan and I put our heads together and came up with a plan. First, I would keep the phones forwarded to my cell so I could take calls, and he would do all the leg work to get the fax up and running. We all know the front office cannot run without computers, phone and fax! Jordan was spectacular. He never once got flustered or frustrated, just plugged along and made things work. Thanks Jordan!

Come 7 o’clock that night, we finally finished up. It was a very long day!

And then, there was The Rest of the Story…Ask me in person!

[submitted by Mena Bailey]

FSPT Mcconnelsville has given out Easter Baskets for the last 2 years to the kids who participate in the county wide Egg hunt. Since we did not get any pictures last year of the participants who won, Aaron and I decided this year that we should. We had one parent show up last week to collect 2 baskets. Her children had been in 2 different categories and each had won. Unfortunately she did not bring her children to collect the baskets as requested. I only had her word that she would take pictures and bring them back to us. That has not happened yet!

The last little guy to collect a basket introduced himself as Bill Chipps. His picture is included with this article. Isn’t he adorable? He looked like he was 5 years old and was absolutely excited to win his Easter basket. Aaron (Aaron!) had worked very hard to fill these baskets to the brim with candy and toys. The blue basket was huge and contained a bubble wand, plastic Easter eggs filled with candy and a white stuffed rabbit. The basket also contained a little windmill and was packed to the brim with candy bars, reese cups, chocolate mints and butterfingers! What more could a kid ask for! Bill was very personable. As soon as he picked up the basket he said “Ma, It’s heavy!” He also told me that he either smelled Chocolate or whip cream, he couldn’t tell which!

FSPT has always had a heavy hand in local affairs here in Mcconnelsville. This year we gave 3 baskets for the Easter egg hunt, we support the little league baseball team, We go the the senior center for lunch at least once a month and Phil his helped them a lot. At the end of last year he donated paper towels, toilet paper, paper plates, napkins and cleaning supplies to the Morgan Senior Center! Talk about generous. Linda Sheets, the director of the Senior Center, said the participants were very grateful for all they had received. Their organization had been struggling until Phil stepped in and helped them out. Aaron also donated the money for them to get an Easter ham. When we went to the meeting on April 11th the seniors mentioned they were trying to raise money for the meal. As soon as we got back, Aaron asked me to look into it. They were very grateful. Even brought us a few slices of the ham loaf to try!

Next year Aaron and I will each being going to the Easter egg hunt so we can give out the baskets and take pictures on the spot! With Morgan County being about 20% unemployment these days, gestures like this are appreciated. FSPT has been able to help out a lot of people while at the same time establishing a business here. A lot of our patients tell me how grateful they are to have a local Physical Therapy place. Now they don’t have to drive to places like Marietta and Zanesville to get therapy, it’s a 45 minute drive away. Especially with the price of gas nowadays!