10-Year Review: Interview with Paula Mangiarelli
Today, we have an exclusive interview with owner and physical therapist, Paula Mangiarelli, looking back on Mangiarelli Rehabilitation’s last 10 years of physical therapy care in the greater Youngstown-Warren area. Paula has served our community as a physical therapist for over forty years and founded Mangiarelli Rehabilitation in 2010.
Paula, Mangiarelli Rehabilitation began serving the greater Youngstown-Warren community ten years ago in 2010. Can you tell us about the founding of Mangiarelli Rehabilitation?
During my interview for the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Buffalo, I was asked what were my aspirations. My response was to have my own private practice. Little did I know that I would have the privilege of practicing physical therapy with my three children who have their doctorates in physical therapy. I started Mangiarelli Rehabilitation because I wanted to have a clinic where a therapist could provide specialized care. The focus at Mangiarelli Rehabilitation is excellence as well as compassion in which each patient who comes to us feels they have received the best care available. My vision was to have multiple therapists who could specialize and in doing so, provide our patients with a number of options for care.
What is the mission of Mangiarelli Rehabilitation?
The mission for Mangiarelli Rehabilitation is to provide rehabilitation services with the highest level of skill, knowledge based on the current evidence in research, great customer service, compassionate care, and an outstanding facility to all people in need of such care.
Can you explain what a private outpatient physical therapy clinic is?
Private practice facilities, such as Mangiarelli Rehabilitation, focus all our resources on physical therapy service. We pride ourselves on our service and therefore focus our education, resources, and energy into all the many facets that makes physical therapy the best service for our patients.
How has Mangiarelli Rehabilitation grown in the last ten years?
We started with myself, an office manager, and my daughter (Sarah Mangiarelli-Boyle, DPT) in a 1,400 square foot facility. We have know grown to a staff family of ten, which includes both of my sons, Bobby and Michael, who have their doctorates in PT; my daughter-in-law Lenore (Bobby’s wife) who does our marketing and digital advertising; Jen Storey, PT; Patti Ciferno, PTA; Sue Davis, PTA; Barbara Enyeart, front office staff; and our originals: Sarah, Drena Smith, our office manager, and myself. We also moved to our own 6,500 square foot facility that has all the current modalities for rehabilitation services, including a warm water therapy pool.
How has physical therapy changed in the last ten years since Mangiarelli Rehabilitation has opened?
In the last ten years in this community, there are more physical therapy clinics and the hospitals have increased their number of clinics as well. Through all of this, the community has given us wonderful support by continuing to request us for their physical therapy services.
You have been in the physical therapy field for over forty years and have served this community for decades before founding Mangiarelli Rehabilitation. What is your perspective on physical therapy?
Physical therapy has been elevated to a doctoral level and therefore the knowledge and ability of the physical therapist has been strengthened as an essential part of the rehabilitation team. As with all fields, there is average and there is excellent as well as everything in between. I have been very fortunate to employ therapists that are only satisfied with delivering the highest level of services. The future of the profession rests on these standards of excellence.
How do you see Mangiarelli Rehabilitation moving forward? Can you tell us about the recent changes and renovations at Mangiarelli Rehabilitation?
We have recently added some additional space to our facility. One area was added to improve the warm water therapy. The new unit will make the pool water and room comfortable for those patients utilizing water therapy, especially for pain. We have remodeled the locker rooms and added an area for treating hand and wrist injuries as well as for injured worker rehabilitation. We also added turf for our sports rehabilitation program and for use in our balance programs for seniors. With the diversity in specialties of the therapists, the facility can now accommodate and treat all types of orthopedic injuries and orthopedic post-surgery patients. We are planning an open house for the community to come and see our facility and meet our staff in the future!
