Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Coil.
Michelle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story began with a passion to help people get back the function of their hands and arms quickly after an injury. I saw how injuries, big or small, can have a huge impact on the normal daily activities we take for granted such as tying shoes, using our phones/computers, picking up a child, washing dishes, and participating in our favorite sport, hobby, or work. I have been an Occupational Therapist (OT) for 15 years, always working in a therapy clinic, hospital-owned or physician-owned, where the patient always came to me. I have learned, throughout my career, that the right amount of education and expertise can greatly empower someone to achieve their best outcome after an injury, regardless of how often they come into therapy. With this knowledge, I sought out to improve the accessibility of occupational therapy and physical therapy services for people with life-impacting injuries. I just didn’t know how to reach those people outside of working in a traditional brick and mortar clinic.
I always liked the idea of starting my own business but never learned anything about business in school. I was taught how to treat patients and make money for someone else. I never found working for someone else enjoyable, especially working in healthcare. Usually, there is some executive in a fancy office with no experience treating patients, and rarely setting foot in a therapy clinic, making decisions about how to help my patients, determining how I should document, and deciding how much time I should spend with each patient.
With all that in mind, in 2015, I set out to start a business providing accessible and affordable rehabilitation exercises. Looking back, I didn’t have a clear vision of what this ‘Do it yourself’ program would look like and how it would work. I thought if I just posted videos on YouTube I’ll start helping more people and the business will become successful. Well…..we all know that does not work. I didn’t have a solid business plan or systems in place. After a year, I left that business idea and focused on researching new ways to reach more patients in need of occupational therapy services. In the meantime, the YouTube videos I posted continued to gain subscribers, views, and so many people all over the world commented on how much the videos were helping them recover after their injury. I knew I needed to revisit this business idea. So in 2018, I started Virtual Hand Care, LLC out of a small hallway nook in my home. It became my digital side hustle.
As a healthcare professional, I always wondered why are we not meeting our patients where they are. They are the ones with life-impacting injuries yet we are making them come to us for treatment. Sometimes patients have undergone a surgery from an accident and are taking pain medication, yet we make them drive to us. Sometimes they have a splint or cast on and are driving one-handed. And more often, these patients are not able to go to work or are losing money by leaving work and traveling long distances to get to therapy. We truly do make it difficult for someone to get help after an injury and it doesn’t need to be. Often, this can lead to frustration and poor outcomes from not following through with their rehabilitation program.
The purpose of Virtual Hand Care is to provide recovery solutions for people with injuries that they can access ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. A lot of what therapists offer can be provided online without the painful therapy, scheduling conflicts, busy waiting rooms, or traffic. By providing, injury-specific exercises, education on pain, swelling and stiffness, modifications to daily tasks, and more, I can get people moving faster and back to a happier and healthier quality of life. This has broadened my reach as an Occupational Therapist to not only the north Dallas region but all over DFW and even the WHOLE STATE of TEXAS!
Currently, I still work out of my home however I have moved into a large home office where I have better use of my space. I can move around more when I am showing clients’ exercises online. I plan to continue to work from home as it provides me more of a work-life balance. In the near future, I plan on bringing additional therapists on board to expand in other states.
Has it been a smooth road?
I would not say this has been a smooth road by any means. The life of an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride. Just when you think you are gaining momentum, something knocks you back. And unfortunately, I have found more challenges that have kept me from progressing as quickly as I would have liked. A lot of that comes from federal and state rules as an allied health professional. Licensed medical professionals are very limited in what they can and cannot do. This is disheartening at times when I have seen non-regulated professions such as personal trainers or ‘coaches’ promote services that could be of detriment to clients due to lack of education, regulation, or experience.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Virtual Hand Care – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Virtual Hand Care, LLC uses technology to bring rehabilitation exercise and recovery right to your home. With the click of a button, you can schedule and meet with a board-certified therapist experienced in designing rehabilitation programs specific to your injury and your needs so you can achieve the best functional outcome. As I stated before, I am an Occupational Therapist and Certified Hand Therapist of over 15 years. I also hold additional certifications in Ergonomics and Yoga Therapy. These additional certifications allow me to broaden the services I can provide for my clients.
I specialize in providing convenient and accessible assessments and treatments for a variety of shoulder, arm, and hand injuries before or after surgery. Through the digital clinic, I am able to provide exercises, education, adjustments/modifications to daily activities, 24/7 access to a home program, home exercise program tracking, one on one treatments, and unlimited Q and A; all through a secure, private platform.
What sets me apart from others is that we are challenging the traditional cookie-cutter therapy clinics because we know every person and injury is unique and you deserve more than a cookie-cutter approach. With Virtual Hand Care, you will see an experienced therapist who devotes her time to only you. You will not be sharing your time with four other patients, while getting billed hundreds of dollars, like most in-person clinics.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
The thing I love most about Dallas is the abundant amount of opportunities for an entrepreneur or start-up. There are always meetups, events, workshops and more especially for the budding entrepreneur. The thing I dislike is the traffic, this coming from someone coming from the north side. So much valuable time is wasted sitting in traffic which makes driving into Dallas daunting, this is another reason why I created a digital practice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://virtualhandcare.com
- Phone: 4696079792
- Email: info@virtualhandcare.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtualhandcare/channel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirtualHandCare/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtualHandCare
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