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December 2022
Theresa Marko is an extremely active member of the APTA New York community! She is our current Federal Affairs Liaison and is also a member of the APTA New York Nominating Committee!
Read more about Theresa's passion for physical therapy and her background below!
How long have you been a member of APTA New York?
I've been a member since 2012.
What brought you to PT? Share your journey with us.
I discovered what physical therapists do when I was in high school and thought it sounded really amazing. I always liked helping people and was hands on with "touch". I love empowering people to figure out their issues by giving them tools to take care of their bodies now and into the future.
What is a typical day like for you?
As a solo business owner of a practice in New York City, I am always busy either treating patients or taking care of things on the business side regarding scheduling, billing, or systems management. My practice is quite diverse in the population I treat. I started out my PT career in Early Intervention, birth to three, so I still sometimes have toddler patients. Thus, my day can be varied. I get to go to someone's home and have therapeutic play with a baby and then go into my office where I treat adolescents, working adults, and the over 65 crowd. I currently live in Rockway Beach, NY, so when I'm not involved in my PT world I like to go to the beach and enjoy the serenity the ocean gives me. I also like to spend a lot of time hugging and playing with my beloved French Bulldog, Rondo. On the weekends my husband Greg and I like to explore our peninsula, going to local restaurants and listening to live music.
What was the exact moment you decided to join the PT profession?
When I was a senior in high school I was at a forum with my class and one of my classmates told me she was going to try to go to PT school and she explained to me all that a PT does and I thought it sounded really interesting and something I would really like.
What would you tell your student self about the profession?
What we do is amazing. We have an impact on people's lives to help them live happier, fuller lives and the joy that brings you is tremendous.
What is the biggest challenges of your profession?
Definitely going to be the decreasing reimbursements and the utilization management companies that force us to do more paperwork for things like authorizations. Administrative burden of our health system does not feel good as a practicing PT.
What is the most rewarding part of your profession?
Helping people to live their dreams to be able to do what they want to do physically. I also really enjoy working to change the laws that govern our profession at the state and federal level to change health policy for the benefit of our patients and the future of the physical therapy profession.
What’s the most important trend you see in the industry? The move towards hybrid digital health and apps that can help people right where they are.
What are 3 fun facts about you?
1.) I'm a crazy French Bulldog mom, meaning my social media feeds are full of videos and pics of French bulldogs being silly and I always stop and coo over other frenchie's passing us by on the sidewalk. 2.) I'm a huge points and miles enthusiast. My husband and I have traveled all around the world using our points and miles to stay at really nice hotels and fly first class. For me, the hobby is a really fun game to see how luxurious we can travel using our points. We got to fly to Etihad the "Apartment" with side by side apartments flying from Abu Dhabi to New York on a 16 hour flight while drinking champagne and eating caviar. That was pretty awesome! 3.) I am a foodie. I love eating delicious food and going to restaurants created by great chefs. I watch top chef and iron chef and love finding out about different ways to make food amazing using different ingredients.
What do you love the most about being a part of APTA New York? I appreciate that APTA New York is highly committed to the profession and the association. There is a really deep loyalty there that I have always felt, which rubs off on others and helps people have a calling to participate. What would you tell someone who is interested in joining APTA? Go to a conference! Whether it's CSM, PPS, or Pediatric Conference. You really FEEL the community at conferences. I always feel like there's an air of 'magic' at conferences. You can meet people who are like minded you can commune with and you can also meet people who think completely differently than you who will expand your mind and knowledge to something completely new you didn't even know you were interested in. Conferences are a great way to grow. Pitch the benefits of APTA New York in one sentence. This community allows us to have a greater voice to help change the health system in which we must all operate. What else would you like to share? I'm originally from Massachusetts and a big Red Sox fan! I love baseball and it gives me so much joy to go to games or just watch it on TV. Baseball to me means it's summer and all the great things that come with that. I try to take a trip once a year to Fenway Park to go to a Red Sox game. I went to college at Simmons University, which is down the street from Fenway, so I would hear the games being announced when walking on the streets nearby the park. So the Red Sox and Baseball are also nostalgic for me of the 6 years I spent at Simmons and my time living there and thus, it gives me the warm fuzzies and I just enjoy it so much!
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