Family continues to expand Physical Therapy Down Under

The Parrotte family has been providing physical therapy that expanded to include a fitness center for almost two decades in Havre.

Physical Therapy Down Under and Fitness Center has been owned and operated by Daimon and Kristi Parrotte in Havre for 19 years.  

"We have been very fortunate," physical therapist Daimon Parrotte said.

Parrotte, who graduated from Curtin University in Perth, Australia, in 1989, said he has been a physical therapist for the past 30 years.

He said he first became interested in physical therapy after he was a patient during high school. As a young man, he played field hockey, where he regularly tore his hamstring. He said he regularly went to physical therapists, and while participating in a study at Curtin University, the therapists at the university told him to do a single exercise. After doing the exercise he was cured, he said, adding that he was amazed with how well it worked.

If not for his experience, he said, he doesn't know if he would have become a physical therapist.

He said he grew up in Australia and was a physical therapist before traveling to Canada and England to practice. He applied for a work visa so he could move to the United States in 1990, and after three years his visa was approved.

The first place he moved to in the U.S. was Dallas, he said. His first job outside of Texas was in Havre, working at Northern Montana Hospital in 1997. It was in Havre he met his wife, Kristi, and decided to settle down.

Daimon Parrotte said that he worked the hospital for a year-and-a-half before he took a contract at with Indian Health Services in Fort Belknap.

"I really enjoyed it over there," he said.

After he got married, he and his wife decided to open Physical Therapy Down Under in 2000.

Parrotte said he wanted to start his own business because he knew he could offer the community more if he was able to control what he was able to provide. He added that they decided on the name Down Under because of Parrotte's Australian origin and because it was something easy for people to remember.

"I was pleased to see patients, but I was limited by whatever hospital or the facility could offer," Parrotte said. "I just knew that I could offer more if I was controlling what was available."

Down Under was originally located in a space on First Street, near Uncle Joe's Steakhouse, he said. Two weeks after Down Under first opened, Parrotte left his job with Indian Health Services due to the high number of patients coming to the business. He added that they quickly outgrew their location and moved to a space on First Street West.

In 2006, their current space at 820 Second St. West became available and they bought the building, he said. The building was previously North Winds Athletic Club, but was empty for three years before he and his wife purchased it.

After purchasing the building, they renovated it, turning it into a physical therapy and fitness center.

He added that after renovating the building they added new exercise equipment, donating the equipment that had been in the building to Havre Middle School.

After the building was finished, he said, he handled the physical therapy side of the business while his wife focused mostly on the fitness side.

Down Under has a number of long-standing clients and employees, some being with them since day one.

Parrotte said that in a typical week, he sees anywhere from 20 to 30 patients, with probably 50 to 100 additional patients who see him on an on-and-off basis.

He said he is the only physical therapist at Down Under, but has two physical therapy assistants, David Zentmire and Mandi Nystrom.

Therapy patients are able to utilize the fitness equipment under supervision of a therapist, he said, and after completion of their therapy they offer the patients membership to the gym.

He said that most of his patients struggle with injuries or illness, and some have to see a doctor for a referral, depending on their insurance. But the therapist evaluates the patients and works out treatment plans based on research and what has been successful in the past. Then they spend 45 to 60 minutes with each patient doing a combination of therapeutic exercises, specific for them.

He said he makes some exceptions when it comes to insurance. Occasionally insurance won't pay for something the patient needs, and Down Under will include it in the therapy at no charge. Parrotte said if it is a beneficial thing for the patient, and if they need it, then he is happy to do it.

Looking ahead

One of the biggest changes he has noticed, he said, is on the technological side. He said the treatments themselves haven't changed so much, but without computers he would be at a loss on some things, such as insurance documentation. He said he uses an iPad with which he is able to access all the documentation he needs.

Parrotte said that his youngest child - he and his wife have three children, Blaine, 25, Trenton, 20, and Mackenzie, 18 - could end up back at Down Under.

Mackenzie graduates from high school in two months and Parrotte said that she wants to do premedical studies in college, adding that she hopes to be a nurse, physical therapist or chiropractor.  

Premedical is a good thing to start with, he said, because it's good for any medical profession. He said he doesn't know if she will want to come back and work at Down Under with him, although he would welcome the idea.

"It would be great," he said. "If my daughter wanted to come back here, I would love to have her."

But he understands if she wants to travel and make it out in the world alone, he added.

In the future, he said, he would like to add new equipment. Recently Down Under added four new smart treadmills with touch-screen controls. Down Under also recently remodeled its racquetball courts, he said, turning one into two aerobics rooms. He said they will also be introducing fitness on demand where members will be able to use the aerobics room with an instructor on TV available 24 hours a day.

They also recently added tanning booths, he said. The tanning booths were at a gym in the mall, and after it closed, clients asked Down Under to keep it going. He added that it is at an extra cost above membership.

Parrotte said that he and his family have based their lives in Havre. Even after his children move away and after he and his wife retire he still plans to live in Havre. He said he will happily visit his children wherever they live.

"I don't perceive we are ever going to move until we retire, but even then we likely will be basing our home base from here," he said.