Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of Bergen County
Good Neighbor Podcast: Bergen
Ep. # 72 From Firefighter to Physical Therapist: Frank Ruggiero's Story and Integrative Care Approach
Ever wondered how the demanding world of firefighting can lead to a flourishing career in physical therapy? Join us as we chat with Frank Ruggiero, a former fireman turned doctor of physical therapy in New York City. Frank's incredible journey from the firehouse to owning Integrated Physical Therapy, just a stone's throw from Grand Central Station, offers a unique perspective on how the physical rigors of firefighting shaped his holistic approach to healthcare. This episode is not just about transitions but about passion and perseverance, underscored by the historical backdrop of 9/11 and other significant events that marked his firefighting career.
Experience the synergy of physical therapy, chiropractic, and acupuncture at Frank's practice, where treating the root cause of health issues is at the core of patient care. We explore the benefits of offering diverse services under one roof and how this integrative method enhances patient outcomes. Notably, the practice's recent expansion to include a larger gym facility demonstrates their commitment to comprehensive rehabilitation. With the convenience of a central location for busy New Yorkers, Frank's practice is a beacon of accessibility and quality care, adapting to the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and transportation developments.
Navigate the choppy waters of the COVID-19 pandemic with insights shared by Frank and fellow entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector. Discover the resilient strategies that kept businesses afloat amid challenges, from leveraging government assistance to embracing innovative tools. Frank highlights the importance of a client-centered approach, where continuity of care and personal connections take precedence. As we wrap up, we celebrate the community spirit by encouraging listeners to nominate local businesses for future podcast features. This episode is a testament to the power of building lasting relationships and the enduring spirit of local enterprises.
Integrative PT of NYC
Frank Ruggiero
370 Lexington Ave, Suite 1212
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 953-6040
Fax: (212) 953-0089
integrativeptofnyc@gmail.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2:Everybody, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast in Bergen County brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. I am your host, doug Drohan, and today we're crossing the river a little bit not too far from Bergen County, where I'm located. We're going to go over to Integrated PT of New York City. Today we're crossing the river a little bit not too far from Bergen County, where I'm located. We're going to go over to Integrated PT of New York City and we have Frank Ruggiero today on our show. Welcome, frank, how are you doing? Hi, doug, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:So we were talking. You know you're in Manhattan, you're in Lexington Avenue. I used to know that area pretty well. I'm a Long Island guy and most people from Long Island who go into the city usually go to the Upper East Side. It's kind of where we migrated from, where you probably find more Jersey people going to the west side of Manhattan just because it's an ease of escape to go to Long Island from the east side. It's a lot easier from the west side. So I'm very familiar with Lexington Avenue and you know let's talk a little bit about. You know not only integrated PT of NYC but your background, so you are a doctor of physical therapy, but where'd you get your like your training and why'd you become a physical therapist?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you know, just real quick, my I've been practicing since 2004. I graduated from University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, which is now associated with University, I think St Joseph's University, I think they took over, so I was there quite a while ago. It seems weird to think that I was in school over 20 years ago, but it happens quickly. So I graduated from there in 04. And at that time I had gotten on the fire department New York City fire department and I became a fireman.
Speaker 3:So I was working as a fireman and a PT for almost 18 years combining, you know, just doing both jobs.
Speaker 3:You know doing two 24 hour shifts a week as a fireman. And then I was doing some per diem work as a PT from like 2004 to 2007, working in hospitals and just kind of hired gun and that kind of thing. And then I came across a small manual-based physical therapy practice that was owned by a chiropractor and a PT. I started working for him in 2007 and I took over the business in 2014 and I established the name and the uh the business as integrated physical therapy. So we've been practicing under that kind of name and uh brand since 2014. So we've always been a small uh one-on-one kind of manual-based physical therapy practice and we've been able to kind of market ourselves and kind of grow relationships with physicians and patients in the community and obviously, you know having that kind of time in the area and in that in the same building, essentially since 1985, when the original owner started the practice. We're still there, so we have quite a bit of staying power and goodwill.
Speaker 2:So sorry I'm going to backtrack a little bit, because when you said you were a fireman in the West village, I used to live on Thompson and bleaker Yep, so I think you were pretty much around the corner, probably walked past engine 24. Yep, quite a bit, cause it was right near the movie theater, right near the Waverly and all that, yeah, and the bagel shop I love the bagel on the square or whatever it was. But so when were you a fireman? What years?
Speaker 3:2004 until 2018.
Speaker 2:OK, so a couple of years after 9-11. Yep, but I know a lot of guys in that area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, specifically in that house and in that battalion I mean all over, guys had not a good way that day obviously, and then moving forward, firemen are still kind of getting sick and getting 9-11, world Trade Center related kind of cancels. But from my perspective working in that house, the house took a really bad hit that day. Eleven members lost their lives and then a few years later three other members lost their lives in the Deutsche Bank fire. So, this has a lot of history in regards to, unfortunately, some painful events.
Speaker 2:And I think, even going back not to harp uh, you know, harp on this or not or stay on this, but I, I thought I recall, cause I lived there in the nineties yeah, there was a watch street fire. Yeah, cause I remember walking by and seeing the black and blue flags out front. Um, I think I recall back then, yeah, yeah, so, um, yeah, so so was becoming a physical therapist, something you did because you were a fireman and you saw the need of guys that were. You know, obviously it's a very physical job, just even going through training, because I knew a few guys. My uncle was a New York City policeman but his brother in law was a New York City fireman and then I knew a couple of guys that were firemen. They tried to get me to take the test. Then my dad's one of their best friends was a fireman and talked me out of it because he was a fireman in the 60s when people were burning buildings down in the Bronx like that.
Speaker 3:So you know you don't want to do that, so yeah, I think the progression of you know being a fireman obviously has changed over the years. The progression of you know, uh, being a fireman obviously has changed over the years. There were certain decades that were obviously a lot more intense.
Speaker 3:Um, from what I've heard from you know guys who were on the job back then and, yeah, knew other guys not to say that the job isn't challenging now in a lot of different ways. But when I was in school I was kind of thinking to myself where I do, I want to be a physical therapist and do this. You know, for 40 years or 45 years I was pretty physically active in school, worked out a lot. I took a bunch of civil servant tests, you know police department, fire department, state trooper exam. I got called for all the you know civil servant positions and being that I was born and raised in new york city, um, you know, what part of the city are you from?
Speaker 2:uh, the rockaways in queens okay, I have south queens, yeah, yeah my uh, my family's from the glendale, okay, ridgewood area. Yeah, so queens, same same borough, just although I'll tell you, though, I was at a party once in uh broad channel and I had an apartment in Astoria, and getting home from Broad Channel or the Rockaways to Astoria was like going to. I might as well have been going upstate or to New Jersey, because there was no easy transportation to get from that far in Queens all the way up to Astoria.
Speaker 3:It's challenging. Yeah, the A train is hit or miss. But, all that being said, when I was know applying for all these different exams and tests, and then I kind of would look into the position and see how could this kind of you know correlate to physical therapy, and mainly was because of the schedule with the fire department. It was the flexibility of having, you know, 24-hour shifts and being able to work another job, basically full-time, because that's what I did for about 17 years. I worked two full-time jobs and having that time and flexibility from the fire department was, uh, key to being able to do that yeah, yeah, so all right so that's your physical therapist and you, you, um, you retire from the fire department, and so what was your?
Speaker 2:um kind of journey to get to integrative pt?
Speaker 3:so when I, when I took on the position in 2007 for working for, uh, this practitioner who was a chiropractor and a physical therapist, I kind of learned to really enjoy the way that we treated at the office. It was very kind of personable, there were private treatment rooms. We used a combination of some manual therapy techniques that you would use as a physical therapist. And then also learning some manual therapy techniques that you would use as a physical therapist and then also learning how to do some chiropractic manipulation techniques from this gentleman also helped me to kind of realize that there was a kind of a niche need for the way that we practiced, and not to say that we reinvented the wheel. You know where a physical therapy office at the time still are, but being able to be, you know, close a physical therapy office at the time still are, but being able to be, you know, close to the patients, the.
Speaker 3:The thing that's challenging now in the medical field I think I would assume not just in a physical therapy setting is is that you know hospital systems and private equity have taken over many of the, the, the many of the places that used to operate from you know, from the standpoint of being independent and having individual practitioners own those practices and being able to interact with their patients, and a lot of those places have now gone to the wayside because it's just not financially practical or even emotionally or mentally practical to kind of keep those types of operations going because of the challenges in healthcare in regards to you know dealing with insurances, you know dealing with reimbursement rates and you know being able to provide good care.
Speaker 3:And we've managed to find a happy medium of being able to do all those things and also keep the practice small, intimate and have the patients you know feel and actually get care. That's you know.
Speaker 2:I think I lost you for a second. Yeah, and I've interviewed a lot of different doctors and medical practitioners and a lot of different doctors and medical practitioners and a lot of the people that have been on my show are the ones that are trying to buck the system of what's going on with insurance and a lot of the. You know the whole health care system in America of you know kind of just treating the ailment and not being proactive, but also when you've got private equity or you have insurance companies that are calling the shots, it's a matter of volume and how many patients you've seen a day and not really the quality. But it looks like our audio we got a little issue here. So I'll talk for another minute and if we continue to have this problem, we'll have to do this another time.
Speaker 2:You know the reason you guys are called Integrative PT is because it's not just physical therapy, but you guys offer physical therapy, chiropractic and acupuncture. So it's a lot of you know maybe what we would call functional wellness or holistic wellness. You know it's not about taking a pill or getting a shot, it's more about treating people. You know, I would say going back centuries of the way to look at health care, and not so much about instant gratification if you will, instant gratification if you will. So I don't know if you can hear me, but if I've touched on those things, you know again, what we're seeing in terms of the people that I've been interviewing with it's how can I do something that is a little bit different from the normal patient experience that a lot of people are unhappy with.
Speaker 2:And if you're treating someone with knee conditions or, you know, back or upper extremity conditions, I could go to a pain doctor that my insurance covers and he'll give me a shot or she'll give me a shot, but is that really addressing the root cause of what's going on? So you know, from what I could tell about what you guys are about. It's about treating the symptoms as well as other conditions, but being more of a, you know, a practice that addresses things from the inside out. That is correct. I don't know if you can hear me now. Yeah, now I can hear you. Yeah, yeah, we definitely have.
Speaker 3:You know our patients have the opportunity to explore other services. You know our patients have the opportunity to explore other services. So you know we have the acupuncturist and we have chiropractor, who are in our space. They're not, they don't work for integrative per se, but they actually, you know they, they sublease the space from us. They're in the office. We work closely with them as we refer patients to one another.
Speaker 3:And then obviously, you know, as a physical therapist, you know your main priority is to get someone better. So you know we're not in the business of kind of stringing someone along just to have them come in and do their visits. You know we have a pretty good idea of if someone is going to get better with the physical therapy care and if they need other interventions, like the chiropractor, the acupuncturist, we would surely, you know, refer them over to them. And in addition to that, you know we have relationships with, you know, other practitioners pain management doctors, general practitioners, rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons so we can always refer someone out to. You know, someone that we have a relationship with that we can say, hey, look, we've been doing therapy for, you know, four to five weeks. It should have gotten better at this point, whatever their condition is and it hasn't. Can you take a look? Can we get an MRI? Can we do an x-ray? You know just, we have the opportunity to do that with our patients as well.
Speaker 2:And on the other side, if somebody has surgery, they typically need physical therapy afterwards. That is correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we will see a lot of patients from you know all the different hospital systems in, you know Manhattan, and a lot of the patients will come from pain management doctors that have either not explored or are going to explore pain management options like an epidural injection, a cortisone injection, just to see you know can the conservative therapy do the job before they would take that kind of more invasive type of action with their medical provider.
Speaker 2:Right, okay, okay. And then one of the things we touched on before we went on air was your location, because you're on Lexington Avenue but you're near. You know I mentioned the Upper East Side, going there as a Long Island kind of migration, but you're closer to Grand Central, that's correct, which you know. When I worked in Manhattan, if I had a doctor's appointment I wanted to do it in Manhattan because by the time I got home, whether I was living, you know, in Queens or Long Island or now New Jersey, you know you don't have the time and I don't want to do it on the weekends and when you get home and you, the commute can be somewhat hellish. You know it's nice to have a place near your office where you can run out during your lunch hour or maybe right after work, before you get on the train or bus. So do you see a lot of those commuters that that you have as patients?
Speaker 3:Yes, in fact I would say probably 70% of our patients are coming to us either, you know, right before they go to work, during, you know, lunch hour, right before the lunch hour, right after the lunch hour, and then even patients are coming in after work. You know, being right near Grand Central, we just kind of renewed our lease, we got another seven years in the building, which is great, and we're expanding into a bigger space with a little bit more of a more intensive kind of physical therapy gym setting. Yeah, so we've had, you know, six private treatment rooms and a small gym and now we're expanding another thousand square feet about to get some more gym equipment which will be helpful for our patients to recover from those more involved injuries, you know, like the ACL repairs, and you know surgeries. But with being around grand central, it's very beneficial because you have basically every train line, you know subway line can get to grand central and now you have, um, the long island railroad that is going to grand central, which it never was before oh really, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, all the long island people are basically thrilled because now they have access to the east side with the Long Island Railroad, where they haven't had that and that just kind of came, you know, came up, came around the last couple of years.
Speaker 2:Well, and people don't go into the city as much as they used to, so I don't know how that's affected your practice much as they used to, so I don't know how that's affected your practice. You know, COVID, post-COVID, Did you see? I mean certainly during COVID I'm sure you guys saw a big drop in, you know, in visits because of the inability for people to come see. What did you guys do during that time to keep the doors open and what was the pivot like.
Speaker 3:So it was an extremely challenging time during COVID. We were in the same building, on the same floor, in the original older space which was much smaller, and we had a lower rent because of that fact we had less staff. So basically, what happened was we went from 100 and, let's say, 30 visits a week to five visits a week in the office. Okay, um. So basically, you know, during covid, like most business owners, if you took advantage, a lot of people didn't, um, especially in the healthcare field, they didn't know, or they were just frustrated or they were near retirement. They said I'm just packing it in. You know I I took advantage of every you know government stimulus that there was. You know, being a Medicare provider, you know we had access to HSS stimulus money, which we also got. There were state grants that were available that we took, took advantage of that as well. There was ERC credits that you know. We've also, you know, had the opportunity to take advantage of that and that, basically, was what kept us alive for a year and a half really.
Speaker 2:And I don't want to go down this road too much, but I think what people lost sight of when there was all this assistance. Maybe it ballooned the debt or maybe it had a cause of causing inflation to spike a bit. But imagine if you didn't get those stimulus help. Imagine if we just said the government's telling you you have to be closed. Now you're on your own and so too bad, it would have been disastrous. We would have definitely been in the Great Depression again.
Speaker 2:So, again, most of the people I've talked to on my show and I think I've had about 50, over 50 guests so far have been open either through COVID or actually started their business during COVID because they were inspired to do something different when their job changed or whatever.
Speaker 2:So one of the things I like to talk about is how we make lemonade out of the lemons we were dealt.
Speaker 2:And certainly during COVID there was a time where a lot of business owners were sole proprietors, were kind of on their own and in a silo, and in a silo of fear and doubt and like how am I going to get through this? And you know, I feel like having a platform like this, and certainly we're not in that situation now, but, who knows, in the future, having a platform like this and certainly we're not in that situation now but, who knows, in the future it's good to have people to lean on or understand the mindset of what got them through, or even just practices whether business side of what you guys took advantage of or what people did to pivot, whether realtors using virtual walkthroughs or other people going to online learning and things like that and yeah, it wasn't an ideal time but we got through it and it's great for the inspiration of other business owners that are just starting now to know that you're going to hit challenges, but there's different resources and different things out there that can help you get through it.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I'm sure, obviously, your background as a um, as a firefighter, uh, and then I think you know a lot of guys in your field. Like you said, you were pretty athletic, um, when you were growing up, is that, uh, you know you learn there's a certain amount of no pain, no gain. Not that we want pain in business, but uh, you know you fight through it and you come out stronger on the other side.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a hundred, but, uh, you know, you fight through it and you come out stronger on the other side, yeah, 100. I I would say that, uh, it was probably the most challenging time, most challenging time, aside from, kind of getting started and, you know, buying the business from former. But yes, I mean, after going through that, what it made me realize is is that, if you can, if I was able to get through that, or my business was able to weather that storm, I would say probably be able to get through that, or my business was able to weather that storm, I would say probably be able to weather 99 of any other challenges that come up. Um, yeah, like you said, it was not due to anything that that I did personally, it was just being able to, kind of as a business owner, I had a lot of that fear. Um, I had a lot of that anxiety not knowing if I was gonna, you know, have a business.
Speaker 3:I had just kind of, you know, a few years back, taking the leap of buying the practice, going through all that, and then I had, you know, I had some employees. I had about five employees and you know you had all these types of stipulations with some of the government assistance you had. You couldn't. You couldn't let people go. You had to keep them on board, which I did. You paid them up to 75 of their salary, which I did you had. You know you had to meet all of your obligations pay your rent, pay your insurance, um, and if you did all that and you know you, you you just found a way to get through. Unfortunately, um, there were some people that didn't have the tolerance or the patience or they know how to do it. And then there were some people that did it and got through it. And then there's some people that really did it and took advantage and they really took off their business, and sometimes they did it the wrong way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Another common theme that I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs and business owners if you treat people the right way and you know you you do it with like think about your clients first, uh, then the money follows, or the success follows. If you're purely you know money driven, uh, maybe you know it's a short-term game, but long run it's probably not going to be sustainable no, I completely agree.
Speaker 3:I completely agree with you and, and, like I said, because we're a small practice, you know, I'm not there as much my partner, jim Higgins, he's buying into the business as I did a few years ago. He's actually a full-time fireman for the city as well we met on the fire department, how nice. And so he's a physical therapist and he's buying into the business. And I have two really great physical therapists that work for us, uh, mackenzie Grillo and Kelsey Goldring, and they're, um, they're really kind of the face of the practice at this point. I'm there a couple days a week. I run it from afar, um, and I'm, you know, really happy with where we're at as a practice, as a team.
Speaker 3:We're growing, we're anticipating, you know, continuing to grow and hire another therapist, but we want to, but keep it to the point of where we still have that kind of face to face, you know, intimacy with the patient, so that they know that either myself, jim, or you know, everyone knows everyone in the office, and that includes one desk.
Speaker 3:You don't lose, you don't go to our practice and you don't. It's not like you walk in and you don't know who people are. Our practice and you don't. It's not like you walk in you don't know who people are. It's the same face where you can go to some of these other offices, some of these other establishments, where they have 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, even 100 offices all around the tri-state area, around the country, and you may get someone one day, see someone else. Another day you may have someone that you don't know if they're an aide or a physical therapy assistant or a physical therapist. Yeah, you know what you're getting at our office and that's good quality care and people that actually care about you in general I've had that experience where I showed up and the next time I came as a different therapist and he didn't even know.
Speaker 2:He's like looking over the notes and looking over his shoulder, what should I do next? Yeah, and I'm like, oh, we did this last time and and I felt like, you know, I have bands at home, I have therapy bands, I have a stability ball. Why am I here, aside from the? You know, the electro stimulation you're doing?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:We try to avoid that type of as much as possible appreciate the personalized approach and what you guys are doing. Listen, I live in New Jersey. I don't work in Manhattan anymore, but if I did, it's great to know and I still have a lot of friends who are there. All right.
Speaker 3:We'll send them our way, if you yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, Absolutely Well, Frank. So let's just go over again where you're located and how people can find you.
Speaker 3:Sure, so we're located on 41st and Lexington. It's right on the corner of 41st and Lex, about one block south of Grand Central. You can get to us by the 4567 line and then obviously you can come across town from any of those subway lines. If you just get to 42nd Street and Times Square and take the shuttle or the 7, and obviously any of those buses that run up and down Lexington Avenue, we're right accessible from there, and then obviously the main thing is you got Metro North that goes into Grand Central and you got the Long Island Railroad.
Speaker 2:Now as well.
Speaker 3:That goes into Grand Central, which is very helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's great, that's great. And then you guys are on Instagram, you're on Facebook and your website is integrativeptnyccom Correct.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can look at, you know, get us on any of those platforms and then I always encourage people. You know, take a look at the website. And then also, you know, we've spent I've spent almost 10 years of my career since owning the practice, building relationships with people, and I think that comes across on the, the reviews that we have on Google and Yelp. Those have all been kind of generated over the course of a decade.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, that's great. I see, yeah, I could see a lot of the reviews and it's it's about. It seems to be more of a. You know the personal approach that you guys have. Frank and his team are the best of the best, so that's great. Thank you, michelle V. Well, frank, thank you for being a guest on the show and I'm just we're going to have Chuck close us out and you and I'll be right back. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Thank we're going to have Chuck close us out and you and I will be right back. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPBergen. com. That's GNPBergen. com, or call 201-298-8325.