MaineGeneral’s physical therapists help Colby students, community, return to activities they love

Colby College junior linebacker EJ Brister faced a long, challenging road after he tore his patellar tendon and dislocated his kneecap during a football game in November.

After surgery to repair the damage, he was scheduled for sessions with MaineGeneral physical therapists Josh Barlow, DPT and Rachel Ratke, DPT in the convenience of Colby’s athletic training center. He knew he would receive expert care.

“I had trust in them because I’d seen them working my teammates after ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and other surgeries to get them back in shape,” he said. “I knew I was in good hands.”

Brister was among several Colby students working with Barlow and Ratke on a frigid early February morning. First-year student Courtney Schumacher, an ice hockey player who has dealt with back issues, was doing exercises to strengthen the muscles in her back.

Junior basketball player Bray Hunter, who first received physical therapy (PT) two years ago after multiple stress fractures, was focusing on exercises for shoulder stability issues. Next to her was junior swimmer Ellie Bailey, who was working to address a shoulder injury.

“I’m nearing the end of swim season so we’re in management mode, which has been really helpful,” Bailey said. “Even though I’m receiving PT, I can still compete, which I’m really happy for.”

A unique partnership for therapy services

Before 2016, Colby students needing physical therapy had to go to MaineGeneral Outpatient Rehabilitation Services in Oakland. While a reasonable drive from Colby, it often was problematic for students to get to appointments on time and in between their academic commitments, particularly for those without vehicles.

When the college decided to offer those services on campus, originally at its health center, they knew who to speak with – Barlow. He had a working relationship with Colby’s Director of Sports Medicine Tim Weston and the college’s athletic trainers and could dedicate time on campus to see patients in addition to his work at the Oakland practice.

Demand for PT services has grown each year. By his fourth year at Colby, Barlow was working with students three days per week.

Ratke became a member of MaineGeneral’s therapy team in 2019 when her husband Pat was hired as the Colby assistant athletic director in charge of the 350,000-square-foot Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center that was nearing the end of construction. She joined Barlow at Colby in 2020 while also providing therapy in Oakland.

“Josh needed more help and I have an athletic training background, so I also started treating Colby students,” she said. “The two clinical areas I like most are sports medicine and pediatrics. I get the pediatric piece when I treat kids in Oakland and the sports medicine piece at Colby. It keeps everything different and exciting.”

When the new athletic and recreation center opened in 2020, the therapists began treating students in the new athletic training suite, which allowed them to provide services to an ever-increasing number of students on varsity and club sport teams and those from the general student body.

Brian Mathieu, DPT, who works with students on a more limited basis when he’s not seeing patients at MaineGeneral Outpatient Rehabilitation Services in Augusta, joined them in 2022.

Treating more students as part of a larger team

The four students interviewed in early February are among about 200 who receive PT services currently. That compares to 55 students treated during Barlow’s first year.
The therapists’ work is aided by the new 4,000-square-foot athletic training facility which offers a larger treatment space with excellent equipment and access to the weight rooms, field house, swimming pool, ice rink, spin bike room and rowing room for their treatment plans.

They, along with MaineGeneral sports medicine team physicians Elizabeth Rothe, MD and Thomas Hoke, MD, are part of Colby’s Peak Performance Team, which offers a comprehensive approach for student athletes that combines sports medicine, strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutrition and sports science. As the team physicians for Colby, Rothe and Hoke serve as the primary referral source for students who need physical therapy.

Barlow describes the MaineGeneral-Colby relationship a “win-win.”

“These are people living in our community, some of whom we were caring for already but they needed to get transportation to our Oakland location,” he said. “While this arrangement provides students with easy access to therapy care, we and our therapy colleagues also have a home base in one of MaineGeneral’s four outpatient therapy practices to provide the same expert care to patients from throughout the Kennebec Valley during their recovery from an injury, accident or illness.”

“Our relationship with Colby also gives us sports medicine experience so we can better treat more sports-related injuries,” Barlow added. “I use those approaches with other patients – for an older patient recovering from rotator cuff surgery, for example. We now have different skill sets to use with our general patient population.”

Regardless of where they’re providing therapy – on the Colby campus or in the Augusta, Oakland, Manchester and Winthrop offices – MaineGeneral’s therapists provide expert, compassionate care to help individuals of all ages return to the activities they love.

And EJ Brister and his fellow students are extremely thankful for that.

“They took it really slow and were very encouraging,” he said. “Now I’m walking without a brace where just a month ago I was trying to get full range of motion. I’ve made a lot of progress.”