E20 - Central District Co-Chairs

What keeps a rural physical therapist energized when every day brings a new challenge, and a new patient story? In this episode, we sit down with Holly Hildebrand and Brittany McClary, Central District co-chairs for APTA Nebraska, to explore how small hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and outpatient clinics deliver big outcomes across central Nebraska. From pediatrics to post-stroke care, they share what it’s really like to manage wide—and deeply rewarding—caseloads in critical access settings, and why strong community ties make the work both personal and powerful.

Their stories underscore the impact of mentorship and early exposure: hospital rotations that broaden perspective, tech roles that reveal the full scope of physical therapy, and sports screenings that spark a lifelong calling. We also pull back the curtain on the often-unseen work behind better access to care. Holly and Brittany break down what the APTA Nebraska executive board actually does, from three-year strategic planning to advocacy at the state and national levels. Policy becomes practical when it determines who gets seen, when services are approved, and how rural clinics remain viable.

Outreach and education take center stage as the Central District meets communities where they are, providing answering real-world questions about pain, injury, and prevention at events like Husker Harvest Days. We also preview an upcoming multi-campus continuing education day featuring school-based pediatrics, custom orthotics, and pelvic floor essentials for generalists—free for members and designed to reduce travel barriers. The conversation wraps with a look ahead to the statewide conference, a cornerstone for learning, networking, and recharging with colleagues who truly understand the rural terrain.

Subscribe, share, and leave a review!

Episode Links:

APTA Executive Committee: Nebraska Physical Therapy Association - Executive Committee

Continuing Education Signup: Central and Eastern District Continuing Education Day Sign Up

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to the APTA Nebraska Podcast, where we dive into the stories, challenges, and innovations shaping physical therapy in our state. We're here to advance, promote, and protect the practice of physical therapy, optimizing the health and quality of life for all Nebraskans. Join us as we connect with experts, share insights, and build community throughout our profession. Well, welcome back to the APTA Nebraska Podcast. My name's Brad Dexter, your host, and today I'm joined by Brittany McLary and Holly Hildebrand. How are you guys?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Good, how are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Doing well. Thanks for joining us on the podcast. If you guys wouldn't mind, can uh can you tell us a little bit more about yourselves and where you're currently at, where you're working, how long have you been a PT, all of those sorts of things. Holly, let's start with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

My name's Holly. I am a physical therapist in York, Nebraska, at York General. Um I've been a therapist for five years and been with York General for three. Um I primarily see patients on our inpatient floor, um, working with patients of all ages in the acute care setting. And then I also supervise um our skilled nursing facility.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Super. And Brittany?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Um, I'm Brittany McLary. Um I'm currently working at Valley County Health System and Ord. Um it's a small critical access hospital with about 16 beds. Um I work mainly in the outpatient setting in the hospital and occasionally will visit down to our inpatient side. Um, I've been a physical therapist for uh 12 years now and have been um in org for almost two.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

And where were you at before that?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Um before I was in Alliance, Nebraska, out in western Nebraska and went practiced there for about 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

Yeah. Welcome to the center of the state, huh? Yes. Um so can you guys talk to us a little bit about why you got into PT in the first place? And uh, you know, other than moving from western Nebraska to more central Nebraska, Brittany, uh where where else is your career taken each of you? Holly, we'll start with you again.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Okay. Um I came out of high school knowing that I wanted to be in the medical field. My mom is a nurse, and so I grew up kind of following her to work in the mornings and seeing how the hospital was ran. Um, I actually had some really impactful patient family members that I got the pleasure of sitting with in um the waiting rooms in the morning while I was getting ready to go to work, and so I knew how impactful the healthcare field was and that I really wanted to be part of it. Um coming out of high school, I thought I wanted to be a physician. Um, but as I started shadowing and kind of realizing what I wanted out of a career, that wasn't it. Um, I did a lot of sports in high school and college, and um there were some really great therapists that I got to work with and see um them provide care and not necessarily I was never necessarily a patient, but they did give me a lot of um tips and pointers along the way. And I knew that that's something that I enjoyed. Um but again I wanted to be a physician and it wasn't until college when I had to tell my mom that she was right and that physical therapy was for me as I started shadowing and working. Um I had some really great mentors. I worked at Good Samaritan in Kearney during my undergrad career, um, and I was a therapy tech there at the time, and I had some really great mentors um who really showed me all aspects of physical therapy and that it was more than just the outpatient orthopedic setting um that's led me to where I am today.

Brittany’s Journey And Career Moves

SPEAKER_02 3:56

I love it. Thanks for sharing. Uh Britney, how about you?

SPEAKER_01 3:59

Um I would say kind of similar to Holly as far as um knowing I wanted to be at least in a science-related field after I got out of high school. Um, I wasn't exactly sure. So I majored in biology and just kind of took most of my sciences. Um, kind of as I continued in school, I kind of started thinking about um, you know, possibly like radiology or research. But um as I kind of got into more college sports and especially like working in the um training center, um I kind of saw how they helped teammates recover from injuries. Um I kind of remember specifically uh for volleyball, we did a like pre-season team screen where physical therapists came in and kind of did flexibility and strength testing for our whole team and kind of found some common deficiencies in our players and kind of gave specific exercises, you know, that we did as a team every day. So that kind of piqued my interest a little more. Um, and I kind of decided I wanted to do something that was a little more interactive than radiology and research. So I did some shadowing and PT over my summer, and that kind of really got me interested in pursuing that uh field. Um kind of as I mentioned after graduating school, um my family and we moved out to Alliance. Um, my husband's a veterinarian and he likes to work on cows, and there's a lot of cattle out in western Nebraska, so that's why we made the move out there. Um, I worked in a private outpatient clinic in Alliance um for 10 years, and we kind of both advanced in our careers. Um, he became a part owner of a clinic out there, and I became the clinic manager there. Um, however, we're from central Nebraska and kind of after being out there for a while, and we have three young children, we decided we wanted to be closer to home. So about two years ago, we moved back to central Nebraska and found jobs and are currently working here.

Why Rural PT Work Is Rewarding

SPEAKER_02 6:05

So cool. Now, uh you guys did an awesome job of kind of telling your stories of why you're interested in PT. Um, what what makes you continue enjoying going to work every day? Why why do you continue to enjoy being a PT?

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I think one of the things that's really cool about Central Nebraska is all the small communities. Um it gives me specifically, and it sounds like Brittany as well, the opportunity to work in these critical access hospitals where the focus really is the patient and not just the number. Um, we get to spend really great amount of time with people of all ages. Um I see pediatrics to geriatrics every single day, and I see orthopedic conditions to fairly significant neurologic conditions every single day. And so it's really fun to be able to use all aspects of our education and all aspects of um just every part of the profession every single day in our work.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Good answer. If if this was family feud, I would start clapping right now. Well done.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah, just to add on, um, you know, being in a small community, you do see anything and everything that walks through the door. And it just kind of keeps you, you know, engaged. And, you know, you're not just seeing, you know, 10 total knee replacements every day, all day. You know, you're you're seeing those pediatric, you know, patients. Um, you know, I have a little kid with tortocolis. I have, you know, patients with knee replacements, shoulder surgeries, you know, chronic low back pain, post-stroke patients, just everything that kind of, you know, encapsulates what PTs, you know, do. Um, so I think that's been great. Um, specifically for me, like moving back to my hometown area. You know, we were raised with a lot of the same people. You know, now our friends have kids and they're in activities. So it's just great to be around a community that you're familiar with and you know that also you're related to a lot of them too. So um you can always find someone in common to talk about, and you know, it's it's great.

Stepping Into APTA Leadership

SPEAKER_02 8:14

So that's excellent. Um now the re one of the reasons it's fun just to get to know you guys a little bit, but one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the podcast was to talk about some of the work that you guys are doing as um uh co-central district chairs for APTA Nebraska. So uh we have established that both of you live in central Nebraska, so that's that's a good thing, right? That's like um criteria number one for being a co-chair, right? Uh, but can you guys talk about the work that you're doing as co-chairs for the central district in the state? What do you do? What's the value of it? Why did you get into it in the first place?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Um, so kind of as an overall being part of um being a central district co-chair, um, we're part of the executive board for the APTA Nebraska. So we attend an executive meeting every other month, um, usually via Zoom. That's meetings with our president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, other uh district chairs, um, our chief delegate, and our PTA council representatives. So all of us get together. Um, we do have one to two in-person meetings a year, um, with the main one being at the state annual conference um in April. Um at the meetings, we discuss current advocacy topics, um, both for the APTA nationally as well as for the state of Nebraska. Um, also events coming up. Um right now we're kind of working on our strategic plan for the APTA Nebraska, which is basically like a three-year plan of what we want the APTA Nebraska to work on for our members and for our state. Um I feel that there's a lot of value being on the board. For me personally, I've learned a lot about like legislation and the role that lobbyists have for our profession, but also other healthcare professions. Um, and also like which representatives we specifically work with based on what bills we hope to have passed. So I just think just learning a lot more about government in general has been interesting to me. Um, also, I feel like being a part of the board, um, we get to stay up to date on what's happening both at the state and national level. Um, we also have opportunity to give input about topics that are important, um, not only to our state, but even like specifically to our practices. So I feel that with my background and being in a private outpatient practice for 10 years and then coming over to Critical Access Hospital, there's a lot of differences in how those settings are ran when it comes to like insurance and reimbursement and direct access. So I feel like um it's kind of opened my eyes to different struggles that our members have working in different settings. And I feel comfortable speaking up and talking about, you know, those specific issues.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

That's really good. Holly, what about you?

SPEAKER_00 11:17

I think Brittany touched on a lot of really good things. Um something that I want to emphasize is how important the behind the scenes things are that we work on as a board that I had no idea existed or were being done prior to being on the board. Um it's just really cool to see kind of the inner workings of an organization and how that impacts practice.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Were were both of you involved in APTA Nebraska prior to these board positions? Or you you know, what was the catalyst for starting to do this?

SPEAKER_01 11:51

I think um, like most uh students, you know, got involved as a student, um attended, you know, some of the student-led um APTA meetings in school, um, kind of through my career, just mainly used APTA probably for more like continuing ed opportunities and you know, would read the newsletters and like, oh, you know, that's kind of interesting. So um actually right before we moved back to central Nebraska, um, I ran for Western district uh chair um unopposed. So there was no one that was interesting in uh running at the time. Um I did get elected, but then unfortunately we moved back to the central district. So I'm like, well, we'll just try this again next year and run for central district chair. So um I was briefly involved with it as the Western District, um, but again, um wanted to you know still pursue that role and uh move into the central district.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So Holly? I was a Synapta member and an APTA member again since school, but I had never really been involved. This was kind of the first step in really getting involved in APTA.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

What what was the catalyst for you?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Um back the mentors I talked about previously. Um she worked at Good Samaritan in Kearney, um, and then actually became a faculty member at UNMC and was the previous central district chair. And so she reached out and was like, hey, I think this would be a really great opportunity. And it took some convincing, but she finally um obviously succeeded.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

So all right, is this Stacey Christensen or is this Tessa Warren? Okay. We gotta give a shout out to them if you know we'll just we'll drop their names.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

So yeah, Stacy's been very impactful to make me a PT. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

And I think she's also been great helping both Holly and I, you know, step into this new role. She has um so much experience, and we have definitely reached out to her um, you know, for help and questions, and it's it's been great.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

So good. Well, I hope Stacy listens to this so that she can hear the shout-outs. Maybe we'll just put it in the title, huh?

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, very good.

SPEAKER_02 14:10

All right. So uh as you guys are kind of getting your feet underneath of you, what are some of the things that you've been working on? Um is there anything that you guys want to talk about uh in terms of the work that you are doing, um, initiatives that you have? Um let's go that way.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

So we as a central district, um last probably about this time last year or April, May, um kind of were looking into other opportunities we would have to represent um APTA Nebraska at an event in the central district. Um, you know, Omaha kind of has a couple that they do, and Western Nebraska, the Western District had uh the Monument Marathon. So we're like, what is a big event in the central district? So we kind of brainstormed and came up with Husker Harvest Days, um, which is hosted right outside of Grand Island um in September. And it's basically a big farm show. I don't know how else to describe it, um, but tons of vendors, tons of people visit. Um so last year was the first year we were in the um health and wellness tent at Husker Harvest Days with other um area, you know, hospitals and um healthcare professionals. Um, so that was kind of a big event that we participated in um last September. And I just saw an email that we signed up again for this year. So we will be there again in September. Um, we're always looking for volunteers to come help us at the booth. Um, it is a three-day event. Um we find that that third day wasn't quite as busy, but first and second day are definitely busy. Um, lots of high schoolers um coming in with their FFA groups too. So we do get a lot of um exposure to them and maybe piquing their interest about what they're thinking of for their future careers as well.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

I I do think a big farm show is the best way to describe Husker Harvest Days too.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah. It's if you haven't been, it's it's pretty amazing.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

So it's it's like I I have got a lot of family members, it's kind of like Disney World when they go.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot to see and lots of food vendors, lots of different like they did a drone demonstration, they did, I think, like a oh tilling demonstration. I mean, they have fields around there, so they actually bring out their heavy equipment and you know, all this new strip tilling technology, and you know, we're gonna show you how it works. So it's it's pretty pretty elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

So what else is going on?

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Well, this Saturday, February 28th, we actually have our um continuing education day. This will be held um in three different locations. So in Omaha at UNMC, in Carney at UNMC's campus, and then in Ord at Valley County Health Systems campus. Um we'll have three different speakers, one in pediatrics and school-based, one um talking about custom orthotics, and then one talking about public floor and the importance for the general um orthopedic therapist. Any of those courses can be attended from any campus, and that is free for all ABTA members.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

That sounds amazing. What's registration look like right now?

SPEAKER_00 17:28

Registration is on APTA Nebraska website, um, and then just register for whichever courses you're interested in. The first course starts at eight, and then the last course ends at 11:30. Um, you do not have to tend to all three, just register for whichever ones you're interested in.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

That's great. And uh any anything else that you guys kind of have on the horizon this year, or are those kind of the big initiatives currently?

State Conference And Closing

SPEAKER_01 17:53

I would say just the state meeting coming up is the next um kind of part that we'll all get together as the executive board and have a big strategic meeting and kind of discuss, you know, future events coming up as well. So um that registration I believe is also open on the APTA uh Nebraska site. So it's in Omaha this year, and um I don't know, it's just it's always a good meeting um that I look forward to. I think a lot of people do just even catching up with old classmates that you haven't seen, you know, for a few years, and um just having a great weekend of um networking with your physical therapist.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

So that's great. That that is a good segue uh to get us out of this podcast too, Britney. I was gonna land on if you haven't already registered for the state conference, please do so. It's coming up um April 10th, April 11th. Uh that registration is available on the website. And you may even get to meet Britney and Holly at the conference if uh if you come. So uh thank you guys. Thank you for joining the conversation. Thank you for the work that you're doing as um co-chairs for the central district in the APTA Nebraska organization, and um yeah, I'll look forward to seeing you guys at the conference too.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Awesome, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to the APTA Nebraska podcast. Stay connected with us for more conversations that elevate our profession and improve the lives of Nebraskans. Don't forget to subscribe, share, and join the discussion. Because together, we're driving the future of physical therapy forward.