Beyond Barriers opens in Pocatello

After working in home health physical therapy for nine years, Mary VanOrden decided it was time to take the industry to a new level.

“There were a lot of people who would get done with physical therapy and ask me where to go once they were done, and I did not really have an answer for them,” VanOrden said.

That’s when she decided to seek the help of Idaho State University’s College of Business, which helped her realize there is actually a significant market size of people who need a new service.

She decided to open a new facility called Beyond Barriers that acts similar to a gym for people who need to further their physical therapy treatments.

Skylar Campa is one person who used to seek physical therapy assistance from both the hospital and then from home health care. But now, he said this sort of treatment helps him to not only get out of the house, but build strength in ways he never thought imaginable.

“I just didn’t want to have such a hard time just getting out of bed in the morning and getting in my chair, then getting from my chair to wherever else I need to be,” Campa said. “Honestly, this isn’t something I ever thought of because it’s so different from the physical therapy, the you know, stretching and functional stuff, and this is actual weight training, building muscle and burning fat.”

VanOrden said the biggest need for this facility is the fact that insurance companies don’t cover certain crucial aspects of physical therapy, which puts a lot of patients out of luck.

“They need continuous help, but insurance companies will only cover a certain amount in one year, and then they run out of insurance benefits so they don’t qualify for therapy all the time,” VanOrden noted.

She also said Beyond Barriers will provide free consultations to new, prospective members.