In an industry like physical therapy, where women practitioners outnumber men by more than two-to-one, CORA has embraced female leadership for a bright future.
If you have received physical therapy in recent years, there’s a good chance that your therapist was female, or that there were other women therapists working at the clinic.
Across the industry, more than two-thirds of all practicing physicians are women, which is roughly the opposite percentages (64% male, 36% female) of medical professionals overall.
CORA Physical Therapy proudly promotes inclusive female voices through all rungs of the organization, including 75% of program leaders, and approximately 33% of the leadership team. Of the leadership team, most have been with CORA for more than five years, giving them institutional knowledge and access to improve the way that CORA functions.
Innovative programing such as HouseCalls (therapy in the home), CORAkids (pediatrics), WorkTracks (workers’ compensation) to leadership development, clinical education and roles in driving the patient experience, you guessed it! These are all roles directed by female voices dedicated and driven to advance our mission here at CORA.
So, why does this matter as a current or future patient with CORA? We’re so glad you asked! As we celebrate Women’s History Month, let’s take a moment to go back in time and honor those trailblazers who helped forge a path for future generations!
Women Have Historically Led Physical Therapy Innovation
Women have played a pivotal role in the evolution of the physical therapy profession, particularly here in the United States. Here are just a handful of their stories:
- It started with Mary McMillan, who received her training in England, then returned to the States in order to assist World War I veterans and survivors. She also launched the organization that would become the American Physical Therapy Association, which sets the industry standards, and of which CORA is a proud member.
- Women have led the way in developing ways to treat specific conditions, including cerebral palsy (Berta Bobath), polio (Florence Kendall), and neurological impairments including Multiple Sclerosis and polio (Maggie Knott), to name a few.
- Lynda Woodruff was a comfortable “first” many times in her life, first working to integrate her high school as a freshman and later becoming the first African American to join the physical therapy faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She devoted her professional life to diversifying physical therapy for the first time.
- Jacquelyn Perry, who gained fame as the world’s first surgeon to attempt a complete spinal fusion, had her roots in physical therapy. She published a leading book on gait analysis and devoted much of her medical career to helping patients overcome the effects of polio.
Setting the Tone for the Next Generation of Therapists
Despite the creativity of the human spirit, it still helps to see something in action before believing it is possible. That is especially true with seeing diversity in leadership, where a Harris poll revealed that 71% of both men and women see women in executive leadership as reason to believe that they can achieve a leadership position.
In order to drive the next generation of innovative practices and technology, it helps to have inclusive leadership at companies like CORA, right now.
According to Joe Carella, the assistant dean at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management, companies that have women in top management roles experience an “innovation intensity.” Across Fortune 500 companies, this leads to an average of 20% more patents than teams with male-only leadership.
In other words, the solutions for the next physical therapy breakthrough could be incubating in one of CORA’s 200+ physical therapy clinics right now. Just as remediation and therapeutic techniques for treating polio was one of the field’s early success stories, the American medical system remains ripe for innovation.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, CORA has been a leader in treatment to lessen the transmission and effects of the illness. That starts in advance with general fitness treatment to help increase the body’s natural immunities and ability and fight off illness.
That continues with TeleHealth and HouseCalls options for patients to receive a broad range of physical therapy treatments, reducing the office wait time and contact with other people.
For patients who have contracted COVID-19 and are having difficulty breathing, fatiguing easily, or feeling lingering pain and weakness in the body, CORA offers training to increase aerobic capacity, pulmonary function, oxygen saturation rates, and overall tolerance to activity.
Where will the next breakthrough physical therapy innovation take place? It’s hard to say, but with CORA’s empowerment through inclusive leadership, we have the right team in place to make incremental strides every day.
Ready to Serve Your Needs
At CORA, our goal is to provide the highest possible quality of care within the coverage that you have available. Having trouble deciding which options are best for you? Please contact the CORA clinic nearest you or email our team at rapidreferral@corahealth.com with any questions.