By Tim Leeds
Daimon Parrotte will be opening his new physical therapy outpatient clinic, Physical Therapy Down Under, on Wednesday, Nov. 1.
The private practice clinic, located in Suite 1 at Pioneer Village, is being decorated by Parrotte and his wife, Kristi, in an Australian theme, which is where Parrotte is originally from.
Parrotte said he has traveled extensively and has picked up physical therapy techniques from all over the world. He said he intends to use these techniques, including techniques of retired Havre therapist Dick Dontigny, to provide a well-rounded quality service for people needing physical therapy.
Parrotte said the clinic is "going to be warm, compact, friendly and efficient." He said they hope to provide good, quality service at a less expensive price.
The clinic will treat almost any physical condition, Parrotte said, including backs, necks, sports injuries and orthopedic conditions.
"A real wide bunch," he said. "Pretty much if you need physical therapy, I can do it here."
The clinic will use all-new updated equipment with the latest technology, Parrotte said. There will be two treatment rooms equipped with treatment beds, hotpack and coldpack machines, parallel bars, a state-of-the-art ultrasound machine and ESTIM electrical stimulation unit. Patients can park right by the doors to the clinic, which includes disabled access, in the Pioneer Village parking lot.
Parrotte said he has been working through local services as much as possible, including the local banks, the Montana Sign Company and Bear Paw Development Corporation North Montana.
He said they are in negotiations with many major insurance companies to become a preferred provider for them. He said preferred providers can bill the companies directly instead of billing the patient, often at a cheaper rate and with less out-of-pocket expense for the patient.
He said most patients are referred by doctors, but they will take direct access patients as well. He said patients don't necessarily have to go through a doctor. Part of the reason they are opening the clinic is to offer people in the community another choice, Parrotte said. He said they would be available for weekend or after-hour appointments or emergencies.
Parrotte, who is licensed by the state Board of Physical Therapy Examiners in Helena as well as the national board, graduated from a five-year course in physiotherapy in Australia in 1989. He has practiced in Australia, Canada and England as well as in the United States, where he has been since 1993.
Parrotte said he was sent to Havre in 1994 by the company he was working for and they "kind of fell in love with the area and the town." He was sent to practice in New Hampshire after three months in Havre, but came back to take an opening at Northern Montana Hospital in 1997.
Parrotte said he worked there about two years, then won a contract bid with the Indian Health Service at Fort Belknap, and has been kind of self employed since then. He said he will keep the contract at Fort Belknap and work at Physical Therapy Down Under. He said it will probably start as an afternoon clinic, but he hopes to expand it to a fuller operation.
Kristi Parrotte, who will be the office manager for the clinic, has been living in Havre for nine years. She was a full-time respiratory therapist at the hospital, and now works there part-time, she said, covering vacations and such.
The couple has two sons, 5-year-old Blaine and Trenton, who is 2 , and a third child on the way.
Parrotte said anyone interested in an appointment can call the clinic at 265-4805.
