Therapy Pool

After two years working in private practice for Westminster Physical Therapy Clinic, I took a cut in pay to work in Orange,California at the Society For Crippled Children. It was located in the middle of an orange grove and had a table treatment area, hydrotherapy equipment area and a beautiful outdoor heated therapy pool. The place was built to treat polio, but we ran short of polio cases and started treating children with arthritis and other conditions needing physical therapy. We were seeing adults too. I was able to tolerate staying in the sun and water for only a few hours each day. I used my dry time studying the Bobath method of muscle reeducation from England and reading papers by Margaret Rood, and other physical therapists. In 1965 this was new material for me. After several months, I was put in charge of physical therapy. I hired a secretary, and she started billing insurance companies. Soon we were making a profit, and I was being asked to spend more money on equipment. The executive director said we shouldn't make a profit because we were a non profit Easter Seal charity. I helped design a huge building for rehabilitation services to create overhead expenses and stop the profits. I asked for a raise in my salary because after my youngest children, Daniel and Jennifer were born, I had to take cases on the side to make ends meet. The board of directors offered me a small raise but not enough. Doctor Heiligman, the orthopedic surgeon working with us, told the board to give me part of his salary. Instead, they fired me.

I was forced to say goodbye to the many friends I had known at the pool. There were volunteers who helped control the kids in the water. There were other physical therapists and quite a few patients I had enjoyed helping.

Doctor Heiligman loaned me money I needed to live on. I started my own practice, doubled my income, and paid the doctor back within six months. He would not accept interest payment. He was a Jew and enjoyed doing good deeds. Even though the board of directors decided to let me go, I will always remember a good life at the beautiful therapy pool.