Physical therapist elevates as partner

Dr. Lauren Potter (Rozzoni) has lived in Dryden for much of her life, having moved here in second grade from New Rochelle. After graduating from Dryden High School in 2003, Potter attended Pace University in Manhattan for two years before transferring to Utica College.

“I was pre-med, and I decided I didn’t want to be in that area of medicine,” she said. “So, I switched focus of my direction, and I went to Utica College for physical therapy. So, I graduated in 2009 with my doctorate in physical therapy from Utica, and my first job was actually in Cortland.”

As Potter explained, the switch to physical therapy was also motivated by a desire to have a closer relationship with patients.

“I feel like doctors get to meet their patients, … but they don’t get to see them as frequently and they don’t get to spend as much time with them,” she said. “As a physical therapist, I teach people about their bodies and I help them get through whatever they’re going through. But I also get to learn from them. And I get to meet people and learn new things every day.”

Potter’s residency was with a physical therapist in Syracuse, so she had to drive an hour for each two-hour shift. The constant driving and stressful environment quickly wore on Potter, so she asked her mentor if there was anybody in Dryden who could mentor her for residency instead.

“And he’s like, ‘Yeah, actually, there’s a really great therapist in Dryden, and he’s fellowship trained, which, for PTs, there’s not often fellowship training there, so you would be so blessed if you could get with this guy,’” Potter said. “And I was like, ‘OK, I’ll call him.’”

The physical therapist her mentor had recommended was fellow Dryden resident Dr. Mark Murphy, who co-owned Dryden Sport and Spine with Dr. David McCune. Dryden Sport and Spine later became the Dryden location of McCune and Murphy Physical Therapy. Potter’s residency there was from 2010 to 2011, and she said she was so glad that she made that call.

“I called Mark, and I really liked the way he treated patients because I shadowed him a couple times before we decided,” she said. “I did all my hours with Mark, and a month later, he called me up and said, ‘Hey, do you want to come work for me?’”

Potter quickly accepted Murphy’s offer and has since described her job as a “dream come true.”

Potter continued to work for McCune and Murphy Physical therapy as it grew over several years. The business, which prides itself on being the oldest and longest-running outpatient physical therapy private practice in Tompkins County, already had an Ithaca location when Potter joined.

In the years after she joined, Potter saw Dryden Sport and Spine change its name to become McCune and Murphy’s second location, and later, the business opened another location in Trumansburg.

One of the biggest changes Potter saw the business go through came once the pandemic hit. Over the past 14 months, Potter said the business still saw some growth, as she explained that “we are the busiest now than we’ve ever been despite the pandemic.” But the type of patients she is seeing has changed significantly.

“Because of COVID, as a physical therapy practice, what we’re seeing is a lot of people are coming in with injuries because of a sedentary lifestyle,” she said. “We’re seeing way more children with injuries because they return to sport five days a week, but they did nothing for a year. We’re seeing a lot more of the elderly population with higher fall risks because they just didn’t move, so they lost strength, they lost their balance.”

And it’s not just the physical toll of the pandemic that has affected Potter’s work.

“We have to screen for depression now, and we do see a whole lot more people in the mild to moderate risk for depression,” she said. “We are not able to treat depression, so our job for that is to refer to their primary care or someone else. But we are seeing that those numbers have changed since we’ve been tracking it.”

Despite these challenges, Potter said she’s seen some good come out of the pandemic, like the expansion of virtual offerings helping to bring more options to patients. In addition, the pandemic caused many insurance companies to expand their coverage of physical therapy to include telehealth, which they had covered for other kinds of medical care before but not physical therapy.

Another big positive for Potter came at the start of this year, Jan. 1, when she became a partner at McCune and Murphy, changing the business’s name to McCune, Murphy & Potter Physical Therapy, as it’s called today.

As Potter explained, talks about Potter’s potential partnership began back in 2016, but at the time, she wanted to focus her attention on her newborn son. A couple of years later, Potter had her second son, so family continued to be a priority.

While Potter was focusing on taking care of her kids, McCune and Murphy were very understanding and tried to help however they could. And that effort is mostly why Potter decided to accept the partnership.

“For Mark and Dave, it was always family first: ‘If you’re putting your family first and you’re doing what you need to do for them and you’re happy there, you’ll do better and be more productive on this end,’” she said. “Their support for me and my family is what made me love being a part of McCune and Murphy Physical Therapy. And so, that’s what kind of solidified it for me that I wanted to be a partner, just having their support through all of that.”

Potter has never regretted her decision to become a partner at the practice, though it has shifted her approach to work considerably.

“As a staff physical therapist, you can just treat your patients, finish your notes and go home and not think about work,” Potter said. “As a partner, as a business owner, … it goes home with you. It has to go home with you, and so now, I’m not just responsible for myself and my family. I feel like the choices I make not only affect my patients, but they also affect all of the employees at McCune, Murphy and Potter Physical Therapy.”

For now, Potter works at the Dryden location, with a staff largely composed of other Dryden residents. In the coming months, Potter expects to spend some of her time at the Ithaca location, though she’ll continue to focus on Dryden. As far as the rest of this year, Potter said she’s looking forward to helping the business continue to grow in the community, particularly by expanding into more wellness offerings.

“We have a lot of programs that are in development right now that we hope to roll out in the next couple of months [and] years to see that push towards wellness and preventing injury and illness versus starting with injury and illness,” she said.

But even as she helps the business grow, what Potter is most excited about is continuing to be the best mom she can be.

“I have a 3- and a 5-year-old, two little boys, and they’re basically my world,” Potter said. “I work a lot, but I try to do it at like 5 in the morning or after they go to bed at night, and I try not to pull time from them because being a mom is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. It is the most challenging and most rewarding job I’ve ever had.”

In Brief:

Village of Freeville passes budget

The village of Freeville Board of Trustees passed its 2021-22 budget at the April 6 meeting.

The budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in June, is set at $469,652.61. Breakdown of the budget includes $316,447.61 for general funds and $153,205 for the sewer fund.

Estimated revenue for the budget stands at $175,141 for the general fund and $148,236 for the sewer fund. The amount raised by taxes is set at $121,161.

Village Mayor David Fogel said the sewer fund will start to increase by 2% annually, but he expects
increases in costs to be “on the much lower end.” Fogel mentioned the sales tax revenue is budgeted at $105,000, which was the same amount the village budgeted for in the last fiscal year.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Fogel said the village “didn’t even reach the project sales tax revenue.” He didn’t have the exact number of the shortfall, but he said the sales tax was down about 20%.

“We’re hopeful that we can get back [to the sales tax revenue] we’re used to, but it remains to be seen,” Fogel said.

The unexpended fund balance for the impending fiscal year is at $25,114.61, which puts the village’s total fund balance slightly over $210,000, Fogel said.