Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Bernasconi.
Jay, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
In 1987, I was a 26 year old married, physical therapist who had a former employer tell me that I could never make it on my own. We had a newborn baby in our apartment and that day I told my wife I was going to open up my own clinic. A close friend co-signed our first business loan, and we opened in a 750 square foot clinic on Furnace Brook Parkway in Quincy with my parents helping me clean the place the night before we opened. 30 years later; 4 different clinic sites having outgrown, I own the real estate that the 7,000 square foot clinic sits in, and have 30 employees. We are open 6 days a week and am blessed to have treated 3 generations of family members in some cases from the Quincy and Milton area.
I try to adhere to the same values that brought me to this point in overseeing the clinic now. Patients want an honest effort. They want you focused on them the time you are with them and to explain what you are doing. They want a consistent face every time they come in. They want reliability. The drama of life is to be checked at the door from all employees. This approach has worked well for us and even if a patient doesn’t achieve the goals they were hoping for, they nearly all appreciate the fact that they felt you tried your hardest to help them.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There has naturally been some potholes as we went along. The largest was my own fault. I signed a very bad lease in my second clinic site and I nearly lost the business. If it weren’t for the fact that I swallowed my ego and had to go out and do outside work with another very dedicated and motivated therapist, we would have failed. That said, I never signed another lease without adequate review and representation so I learned from my error.
Another clinic site that we operated in for 8 years had terrible flooding issues in Quincy. I can remember being onsite all night watching as the tides in the clinic rose and having to drain it out to open the next day. Again, I was lucky to have some incredible employees and friends get me through that time so now I can laugh about it. For the first 15 years of our clinic’s history, I spent any time on vacation worrying daily. It makes you take nothing for granted.
Please tell us about Furnace Brook Physical Therapy.
Our clinic treats orthopedic and Sports Medicine patients who are injured and are looking to return to their previous level of function. I think that we provide an empowering and positive culture in the clinic and I have had patients comment that coming in to do their work, “wasn’t so bad” and that we “made it fun”. That kind of atmosphere is infectious as patients see other patients suffer, persevere, and then succeed.
I am also very proud to work with highly motivated therapists who strive to continue learning. Through the years they have all left their personal life dramas and challenges out of the clinic and come to work each day focused on the patient. Our clinic has been able to retain very, very talented therapists for longer than the national norm, and it is that reliability that patients have come to expect.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
At 56, I have hundreds and hundreds of positive images in my memory. From nurturing parents, to incredible friends along each phase of life, sports accomplishments, travels, having a ball with my kids as they grew up, tough situations that work out for the best. However, I have to say that watching Bobby Orr play hockey in his prime has to be up there. I recently had a knee replacement and he was standing next to me at the hospital before I went in. He told me not to worry and that I would do fine. My wife practically had to pick me up off the floor. I often wonder if he really has a sense of how much he meant to a lot of people in the Boston area as we grew up.
Contact Info:
- Address: 104 QUARRY ST
FIRST FLOOR
QUINCY, MA. 02169 - Website: www.furnacebrookpt.com
- Phone: (617) 770-4167
- Email: info@furnacebrookpt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/furnacebrookpt/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/furnacebrookpt/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/furnacebrookpt?lang=en
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/furnace-brook-physical-therapy-quincy-2
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
