New Cleveland clinic brings experience to area
By Jack Criss, The Bolivar Bullet
Performance Therapy is an outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy clinic offering full service therapy to people of all ages in Cleveland and the entire Mississippi Delta, which includes separate areas for adults and pediatrics.
Located in Cleveland right next to Harmony Lanes and across from the Lyric Hotel at 1321 Highway 8 East, Suite 4, the female-run business officially opened on February 12 and has been accepting patients into the clinic from day one and doing quite well, according to clinic director, Ashley Christmas, “it has been such a wonderful experience so far.”
“We are not a franchise,” said Alyssa Pearson. “Rather we are a branch of a wonderful, ethical company that has been established in Mississippi since 2003. The owners put their faith in us, and us in them, to be able to run this clinic locally how we see fit under their guidance and leadership.
“Ashley Pretti Christmas is our clinic director and Ali Thompson Stockstill is our clinic’s pediatric director,” said Pearson. “Ashley and Ali have worked in Cleveland for years and feel very grateful for the opportunity to continue to treat patients and lead our clinic in this new setting. Performance Therapy is owned by Dan Young, Scot Huffman, Spencer Shoemaker and Daniel Tackett. We are a branch.”
“Performance Therapy offers comprehensive therapy from all three disciplines: physical, occupational, and speech therapy to all age groups, as well as free initial screenings to see if therapy is right or even necessary.” said Christmas. “Our clinic feels like a family and treats people that way as soon as they walk in the door. We are supportive of each other and work together to best meet the patients’ needs.”
Christmas said that the clinic offers the three therapy disciplines in order to really pinpoint the need of the patient and which therapist/what therapy discipline is the most appropriate.
“In some cases patients require more than one type of therapy,” she said. “So, we look at our patients from a holistic approach, not one just based on their diagnosis and what their paperwork says. We want to know what is meaningful to the patient, what their goals are, and that is what we work towards achieving.”
Performance Therapy accepts private pay, insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and has a total of seven employees, all professionals in their field, who have worked together in Cleveland for a number of years.
“However, we felt the need to go out on our own and that’s how and why the business came into being,” said Christmas.
“Our favorite part of being therapists is watching our patients progress from their start of care to reaching their maximum potential and meeting their goals,” said Christmas. “That is something we will never take for granted because it is so special for them and also for us.”
Christmas said that, thus far, things have been going extremely well for Performance Therapy because of the need for what it offers.
“We have had overwhelming support from the community,” she said. “The amount of well wishes, deliveries, pop-in visits, calls and texts have meant so much to us. Opening this clinic was something all seven of us dreamed of for a long time and we feel so grateful for the opportunity and for Cleveland and the surrounding towns’ support. We depend on the community backing us and our referring provider’s support to keep our doors open so we are more than grateful for how we have been embraced by everyone so far.”
Performance Therapy also offers walk-in screenings for people without physician referrals and, if the staff believes they can help and assist, the proper paperwork can be set up for further assistance.
“We are an outpatient clinic so as long as you can get to us we can treat you,” said Christmas. “We are grateful for a convenient location that is easy for our patients to find. We have people coming from all over the Delta and as far as Lexington, Rolling Fork, and Belzoni. We also accept all insurances and have affordable self pay options. That and the fact we offer physical, occupational, and speech therapy makes us sought after outside of Cleveland.”
“Within six weeks of opening, we had 178 patients walking through the door and we could not be happier,” said Christmas. “This is a family environment and not only can we provide knowledgeable, experienced therapy, but we also do so in a positive, supportive way. We have a totally renovated, 10,000 square-foot facility with private treatment spaces.”