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BY JUSTIN PEEPER
Aug. 8, 1988, is a day Andy Vogel of Bluffton will never forget, and it’s also a date that only a die-hard Cubs fan could shed some light on.
For Cubs fans, that date is significant because it was the first night game to take place at Wrigley Field — the last major league baseball park to add lights so evening games could occur. The game between the Cubs and Phillies was rained out after only 31⁄2 innings but the lights did come on shortly after 6 p.m. that day.
Meanwhile, about 190 miles away back in Bluffton, another first was taking place earlier in the day when the lights came on and the doors opened for the first time at Indiana Physical Therapy on the city’s south side.
Today, almost 21 years later, the Bluffton-based physical therapy business has grown from one office and three full-time employees to nine offices across northeast Indiana and some 150 full-time employees.
The end of 2008 also marked another special moment in the company’s history, as the Bluffton outpatient orthopedic clinic moved into a new home after being on South Main Street for 20 years and one month.
Since Sept. 22, 2008, Indiana Physical Therapy has been seeing patients at its new facility on the city’s north side at 2170 Commerce Drive, just east of Zesto.
The move from 1103 S. Main St. to the new facility wasn’t to add a lot more space but instead to work out of a more ergonomically designed clinic that contained more functional space.
“We try to do a lot of functional activities, and (the old building) wasn’t the best place for it,” Vogel said.
The 3,000 square foot clinic at 1103 S. Main St. was essentially split in half because the utilities and restrooms were in the middle of the building and couldn’t be moved.
Plus, the facility had low ceilings that at times made rehabilitation treatment difficult because some patients working with weights could not fully put them over their heads without hitting the ceiling.
“We needed more open space,” Vogel said. “We needed higher ceilings. We also needed better parking.”
Vogel initially considered remodeling the South Main Street clinic, but building a new structure turned out to be more practical.
Work began in the spring of 2008 to construct the new 3,200-square-foot building that sits on a little less than a one-acre tract.
Earth-moving site development was under way in June 2008, and construction crews from Andy Shively Inc. worked throughout the summer to complete work by that fall.
Vogel had hoped to move in to the new clinic by Oct. 1. Crews, however, finished the building project early, and Vogel made the move Saturday, Sept. 20, and began seeing patients again two days later on Monday — never missing a day.
“It was smooth,” he said.
When patients entered the new clinic, one of the most noticeable differences was the height of the ceilings — an increase of almost 5 feet from the old building.
“People can swing things and jump and not have to worry about touching the ceiling,” Vogel said.
The new building also has a bigger gym, which means patients, therapists and student observers have some breathing room.
“We can do more things with people and they don’t feel like they are on top of each other anymore,” Vogel said.
The offices are located on the south side of the building and face the open gym, which allows Vogel and his colleagues to keep an eye on patients if they have to leave the gym for a minute to take a phone call or record some notes.
“In the other place, if I had to go talk on the phone or do some notes, I was away from people,” he said. “We always had to make sure one of our therapists was in the gym area.”
The Bluffton clinic employees one full-time athletic trainer, two physical therapists, including Vogel, one physical therapist assistant and two front office employees. The Bluffton clinic also works with Bluffton and Southern Wells student athletes.
Abby (Salscheider) Ault, a Bluffton High School graduate and star basketball player, is the other physical therapist and has been with the company for three years. Julie Bahrke is a physical therapist assistant and has been with Vogel for six years.
On a day-to-day basis, Vogel says the Bluffton branch treats about 30 people as therapists treat surgical as well as non-surgical patients who have an orthopedic problem dealing with bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments.
The most common type of injury they treat is lower back pain, followed by neck, knee and shoulder injuries.
The Bluffton clinic, however, is just one part of the company today.
Vogel began Indiana Physical Therapy in Bluffton back in 1988 with friend and fellow physical therapist Dave Kuhn, who he met at college.
At the time, Bluffton was the only clinic.
“I was here full time, but we weren’t busy enough for both of us to be here full time, so we did some contract work for a couple of facilities in Fort Wayne,” Vogel said.
That work eventually led to Vogel and Kuhn opening a second clinic in Fort Wayne in 1992. They also added another partner around 1995, Troy Smith. Today, the three are co-owners of Indiana Physical Therapy.
The company now includes one office in Angola, one in Auburn, four in Fort Wayne, one in New Haven, one in Bluffton, and a women’s health clinic in Fort Wayne — much growth from the building on Bluffton’s south side where everything began 21 years ago.
Vogel attributes the growth to providing good quality care and moving into areas where there was a need for physical therapy clinics.
He also says being an independent outpatient provider is a plus because Indiana Physical Therapy is not affiliated with a hospital or physician’s group.
“Since we are therapist owned, all of our company policies are from us; they are not dictated from another institution,” he said.
Even though he is a co-owner, Vogel is still very involved in patient care and wouldn’t have it any other way.
He sees patients three to four days a week and sets aside one day a week to meet with his partners, business manager and others to take care of administrative duties.
“That is probably one of our downfalls,” he said. “We have been patient care providers first and businessmen second. We rely heavily on our lawyers, accountants and administrative staff to help us. The owners don’t want to get away from patient care.”
Vogel plans to stay on the patient side as long as he can because he says he loves what he is doing.
Vogel has called Bluffton home since 1986, but he is no stranger to northeast Indiana.
He grew up in Fort Wayne and graduated from Homestead High School in 1979. He went on to DePauw University and graduated in 1983.
Afterward, in 1985, he received his master’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Indianapolis, which was called Indiana Central back then.
He is also a certified athletic trainer.
His first job was in outpatient sports medicine for 11 months in Indianapolis.
Vogel took a job with Caylor Nickel for about 11⁄2 years but decided to venture out on his own in 1988 when he and Kuhn launched Indiana Physical Therapy.
Vogel’s wife, Ginny, is also from Fort Wayne, and she is an elementary school counselor in Wells County. She has also taught and coached here since they moved to Wells County in 1986.
The couple have three children, Lynn, 20, Andrea, 18, and David, 13.