The Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions (RMUoHP) Community Rehabilitation Clinic received a $125,000 donation from The Kahlert Foundation to help fund the operations of the pro-bono rehabilitation clinic, which provides free care to the underserved and underinsured citizens of Utah County.
“This donation helps eliminate limitations of our ability to help people,” said Dr. Coleby Clawson, PT, DPT, director of Community Rehabilitation Clinic and assistant faculty member of the RMUoHP Doctor of Physical Therapy program. “It allows us to bring in more therapists, more administrative help, and much needed equipment to help more people. It also allows us to extend our hours of operation to help people who are working to improve their lives and to reintegrate back into society.”
The donation was the second made to the clinic by The Kahlert Foundation in two years and was presented this week to Clawson and other clinic and RMUoHP staff and executives by Heather Kahlert, vice president of The Kahlert Foundation.
“Healthcare has always been an important part of the mission of our family’s foundation,” said Kahlert. “The RMUoHP Community Rehabilitation Clinic serves the disadvantaged community of Utah County. It helps people who have had surgeries and other medical procedures receive the physical therapy they need to complete their rehabilitation, so they feel better, and so they can return to their lives, families and jobs. We are pleased to support this clinic and feel it is a model for others to follow in helping people with rehabilitation needs.”
The Community Rehabilitation Clinic (CRC) is the first of its kind in Utah County. It serves the uninsured and underserved citizens who need physical therapy rehabilitation. Most patients return to levels of normalcy, secure or continue employment and carry on productive and healthy lives and daily activity.
The CRC has a highly trained and skilled staff of licensed, qualified physical therapists and physical therapy assistants as well as Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students and faculty from RMUoHP, physical therapist volunteers from the community, and pre-physical therapy students from Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University.
The Kahlert Foundation provides grants to non-profit organizations to improve the quality of life and well-being of the community in the areas of health care, youth programs, education, veteran organizations, and human services.
“We are grateful for the support from The Kahlert Foundation and other donors who help fund and operate the CRC,” said Dr. Richard P. Nielsen, founding president of Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions who regularly works in the clinic seeing patients in his specialty area of clinical electrophysiology. “Together we can help many people each year receive the physical therapy services they need to heal, improve their health and live active lives.”
RMUoHP also operates the Center for Communication Disorders – a second pro-bono clinic for the disadvantaged residents of Utah County providing speech-language pathology assessment and intervention for community members of all ages.