Core Therapy and Pilates Stephen Dunn’s Why

Hey, CORE Family. What's up? It's Stephen Dunn and today is a special day for me and it always will be today is 8.8. And to me, 8.8.98 is my graduation day from physical therapy school, back in New Orleans way back in the day.  

At that time I graduated and went had a fun night out in the French Quarter, we rented out a bar overlooking Bourbon Street and had quite a night and boy, it was fine. But anyway, that's not the moral of the story today.

The story is today is my why. And many, many people asked me about like, why I became a therapist, why open core? Why did these things and so I want to just kind of go over that today. Try to keep it brief, because I might go on a tangent too. But my why start started in 98.

When I graduated, eight, I spent the next month grad, travelling the country, visiting some friends and family and different parts of the country. And then I started working, and I started working. I had a 13 week contract where every 13 weeks, I was going to move to a new city and work at a new facility, all within the same company.  

So I was going to be working in new facility, facilities and cities, but it was all like the same light shirt, the same gear systems and all those things. And after 10 weeks of working in that situation, I got laid off, and I got laid off.

Basically that was the end of PT and the medicine that I went to school for. And the end of it was the shift and the change that really changed everything in medicine. And I was a part of the Balanced Budget Act. That's where Medicare made a big cut on what they would pay for physical therapy for the course of the year for patients.  

For me, it took me eight months, I got laid off that that day that the day after the bill signed.  It took me eight months to find a job and I had to move to California to find this job. When I moved to California for this job, it was the first time of managed care in my career.  

All of a sudden I'm seeing three patients an hour. It's an HMO facility, what is an HMO? I have no idea. It was a brand new phrase and idea. But anyway, I worked at this place for two years and really burned myself out immediately.

I took another job in downtown LA and Korea Town, Normandy in Wiltshire on the corner and worked there for about five or six months but took it took that job for five extra dollars an hour but actually ended up seeing about 45 to 50 patients a day. And it was a workers comp clinic.

So those two things led to me, led me to have my own business and try to figure out a different way of doing things. So I have my own business in 2001 moved to Texas and 2004 after having a business in California for several years.

Basically set up CORE Therapy & Pilates in Austin the way I envisioned wanting to run my business, my clinic, my studio, and with Cheryl running the Pilate side, and we run the physical therapy side. And that's what we've been doing since 2005.

So 8/98 special day for me basically led me to this career in physical therapy, which I am so grateful for and appreciate all the time and love what I do. But at the same time, it wasn't long before the industry started changing. And with that I had to change with it.  

Those changes led me to open to my business. And those changes have led to me where I am 23 years later, after owning my business in Austin now for 16 years, which is hard to believe. So that's my why of becoming a business owner.

Why I became a PT was basically just to serve people and help people. I wanted to do something in the medical field, but I didn't want to be tied to a pager that time that leads me but I didn't want to be tied to a page I wanted to work and go home and have time that once I left the work that I wasn't tied to it.

And that's what all… Those are the things that led me to physical therapy. And once I started doing some work in physical therapy field and actually spent the time I spent with people and got to really see them go from, you know, limping to back to running or you know, unable to sit without pain to back to working out again. It was fascinating and love at first sight.

So that those are my Whys of why I became a therapist and why I'm on business and I wanted to share that today on my 23rd anniversary of graduating from physical therapy school back in New Orleans back in the day.

Thanks for any of you who've been a part of my journey along the ride, whether it's been an instructor or professor back in the day. Some of the people that were a part of my becoming a therapist Susan Blanchard, Greg Zeldin, rest in peace Greg.

People that just really influenced me I want to thank you. I know you probably won't see this but I want to thank you anyway and all my patients over the last 23 years that have trusted their health in me.

Thank you, and for all the people that have shared their stories and allowed me to be a part of you getting the outcome you wanted. Thank you very much. All right. Well, that's it for the day. And we'll see y'all on the flip side real soon. Take care. Bye, guys.

Call 512-215-4227 to learn more about CORE Therapy & Pilates in Austin, Texas.