Andrea Terwillegar — one of the three founders of Alpine Sports Physical Therapy in Park City — is sad to see that the local business she started is in its last season.
Founded in 1999, the practice had been seeing clients for almost 20 years when she and her partners decided to sell the practice to the University of Utah.
“I stayed on and one other partner as a therapist and manager for the last six years,” she said. “We found out Aug. 4, actually, that the U has decided to close our location.”
Though she expressed disappointment regarding the university’s decision, she spoke highly about the Park City community of patients and practitioners and the time she has been able to work with them.
During her time as a small-business owner, she said, she was able to see Park City expand in some ways and remain small in others.
“Even though it’s grown, it is a small community. There’s a lot of word of mouth. Even though there’s a lot of new people moving in, I think they value the opinions of those of us who’ve been here for a long time in some aspect,” she said.
She added that she believes small businesses are connected to their communities through the efforts they make to help their neighbors through nonprofit initiatives and other important causes.
“Park City does a really good job of that, so I think if you’re smart and you are a small business, getting involved with the local chambers and the community and the community nonprofits is really important,” she said. “We tried to do as much as we could with that as we could. It keeps you connected.”
When she and her partners made the decision to sell to the University of Utah in 2017, they did so with the understanding that the university was planning on implementing the practice into a larger project expected to take place in Summit County, she said.
Alas, Terwillegar said, the larger project never solidified.
“I think a lot of their money went down the hill,” she said. “I don’t know all the specifics. They’re saying this is a reduction in force financial decision.”
She expressed concern the closure could mean less accessibility to physical therapy for people depending on their insurance coverage, but added she believes there are several good physical therapy practices in the area.
As recommendations, she listed Mountain Top Physical Therapy, Park City Hospital, Motion, Wasatch Physical Therapy and Happy Body Physical Therapy.
She said each is locally owned except for Park City Hospital.
As for her, she’s still figuring out what her next step will be.
A call to the clinic confirmed it will be closing early next month.