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MCA alum returns to open much-needed business in area
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| Mike Staugaitis/Staff PhotoTom Swaldi, owner of STAR Physical Therapy and Fitness, tapes up the ankle of Mount Carmel Area High School football player Julius Demetrius before practice Thursday in the training room at the high school. Swaldi is also the athletic trainer for Mount Carmel. Tom Swadli works with Margaret Stief of Mount Carmel at STAR Physical Therapy and Fitness Thursday. |
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Editor’s note: Monday Profile appears the first Monday of each month.
MARION HEIGHTS — There’s no place like home.
For Tom Swaldi, that statement certainly rings true.
Off to a successful career in physical therapy in the Philadelphia area, Swaldi knew his hometown had a need that he could help satisfy, so he moved back.
“I’m a coal region boy,” Swaldi said with a smile. “There is no other place I would want to work and own a business than right here where I grew up.
“Even when I moved away, my heart was always here.”
Swaldi, 37, and his wife, Lori, 34, are in the fifth year as owners of STAR Physical Therapy and Fitness, a business they’ve seen grow quickly from a dream to a respected local business.
Athletic roots
Growing up in Dooleyville, one of the little patches just outside of Mount Carmel, it was natural for Tom Swaldi to be active in sports.
“It was automatic that I was involved in sports,” said Swaldi. “I was active in athletics since I was about 3.”
Swaldi went on to play football and basketball at Mount Carmel Area, and that helped forge his future.
“I loved playing sports, but I was also interested in science and medicine,” he said. “I had a few injuries, minor at best, but even those piqued my interest.”
So he started to volunteer at Geisinger Medical Center and fell in love with the medical field.
So, he had two deep interests.
“I started to look for a way to combine both, and I came up with physical therapy,” said Swaldi.
Two paths, same journey
After high school graduation, Swaldi went to college at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences) to study physical therapy. While there, he was presented with another opportunity — one that was too good to pass up.
“While I was at college I met Barb Mueller, and she started to talk to me about athletic training,” he said. “I knew I liked it the moment I saw her do what she did.”
Mueller was a physical therapist and athletic trainer and was working at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia when Swaldi met her. He then went with her on of her athletic training assignments and feel in love with the job.
Swaldi took advantage of an internship program that allowed him to take athletic training classes while he was taking courses for physical therapy. He ended up getting a degree in physical therapy and was certified as an athletic trainer.
After graduation, Swaldi worked with Mueller and then was a staff trainer at Drexel University, where he had a chance to work with Drexel standout and future NBA star Malik Rose.
Home sweet home
After working in the Philadelphia area for a couple years, Swaldi decided to come home.
“I knew there was a huge need here for sports medicine, so I decided to come back home,” said Swaldi. “I knew I could come back and help.”
At the time, athletic trainers in area schools were rare. Swaldi filled the void by starting the sports medicine program at Mount Carmel Outpatient.
The decision for Swaldi and his wife to go out on their own came in two waves.
The first was spurred by, of all things, horses.
“Lori and I were helping with a therapeutic riding program helping kids and using the movement of the horse to help with therapy,” said Swaldi about the Schwartz Show Horses program with owner Wende Schwartz in Ringtown.
It was there that the name for the Swaldis’ future business was born.
“Lori mentioned that the horses were the stars of the program and the therapy,” Tom recalls. “From there we came up with STAR,” an acronym for Specialized Therapy and Rehabilitation.
A name is a great start, but there was still no business.
“We then started thinking that, instead of working for a company, we should go out on our own,” said Swaldi, adding, “We wanted to do it our way.”
Lori agreed.
“It was a big leap for us,” she said. “But we were getting tried of answering to other people and knew if we went out on our own, we had a vision of doing business that nobody else had.”
Road well travelled
With an idea in hand, it was time for Swaldi to go into uncharted waters — the business world.
“When it comes to what needs to be done for an injury, I’m your man,” he said. “But when it came to writing a business plan, I was out of my league.”
Swaldi studied, and from there went to bank after bank to present his plan. Finally, the business got the money it needed and STAR Inc. Physical Therapy and Fitness was born in 2003.
“It was a slow process,” said Tom.
So was business.
“It was slow at first, but we kept it basic,” said Tom. “From there we just kept growing.”
And grown it has. To the surprise of Swaldi.
“I never expected the success,” he said. “But, on the other hand, I never expected it to flop either.
“But we have grown so much since we opened. The number of memberships we have in fitness is beyond our expectations.”
When STAR started, the staff was just the Swaldis; today there are 15 full- and part-time employees.
“Lori and I laid the groundwork, but if it wasn’t for the talented and dedicated employees we have had the honor to work with, we would be just two therapists looking for people to help, not a successful business,” said Tom.
‘A need’
Starting a business in a rural area can be a hit-or-miss proposition. While both the Swaldis have specialized degrees, and are now doctors of physical therapy, it would have been easy for them to go to a more populated area, with the chance for greater success.
“I knew there was a need for this kind of business here, and I came home to do it,” said Tom. “It would have been easier to open this in a bigger city, but I strongly feel I needed to come home and offer this to the area.”
“The people in this area just welcomed us with open arms when we started,” said Lori. “We really don’t have clients, we have friends. And it’s always good to see them, be it when they come in for an evaluation or to spend an hour on a treadmill.”
One of the main services STAR provides is athletic training, and it has been offered at Mount Carmel Area High School since day one. A few years ago, it was expanded to Shamokin Area. Yes, a former Red Tornado extended a hand to an Indian.
“It was just a natural to add Shamokin,” said tom. “I absolutely love working with the kids from Shamokin.”
Rivalry aside, there’s no difference, he stressed.
“The kids from there and the Mount Carmel kids are mirror images of each other. Sure, they battle each other on the field, but in the end they are just good ole coal region kids,” he said.
STAR has also provided training services at the former Cardinal Brennan High School and at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional.
Growing business
While the Swaldis’ business is still young, they work hard to be sure it keeps pace with changing technology.
“You just keep looking for the next piece of equipment that will give your business the edge,” he said. STAR hit a home run with a state-of-the-art balance and performance center; that wasn’t the case with a golf simulator.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to drop back 10 yards and punt,” said tom. “You are not always going to make the best decisions when it comes to a business. How you react to the poor ones is what makes a business successful or not.”
Learning on the job and in the classroom has also been important.
“In this business, you have to just keep learning,” said Tom. “Taking classes and so on is just so important because medicine is always evolving.
“You have to stay up on techniques to offer the best quality care you can.”
Lessons learned
Tom has used the lessons he learned playing sports and applied them to his business.
“Sports prepare you for life,” he said. “I use what I learned everyday and I build on it.
“Some days you win by 40, and some days you lose by 40. But in the end you just keep playing the game.”
He makes sure the young athletes he works with learn that lesson too.
“I educate them on injury management and other things because they are faced with adversity every day,” he said. “I relate what they are going through to life and what they will face in the future.”
It is that same adversity that gives Swaldi satisfaction in what he does.
“I get the biggest joy out of watching people succeed and overcome adversity,” he said.
Support system
Looking back on what he’s accomplished, Tom, a son of Dolores and Ernest Swaldi of Dooleyville, hands plenty of credit to his better half.
“There is no way I could have ever done this without the love and support from my wife,” he said.
Tom describes Lori as the perfect business partner.
“We discuss everything and come to a decision,” he said. “But it stays as that — a business decision. … It never flows into our marriage.”
The Swaldis, who were married in 1998 and have two daughters, Hailey and Jadyn, compliment each other, Tom said.
“I know joints and bones, but she is amazing when it comes to neurology,” he said.
The family has committed itself to the business in all ways, and Swaldi definitely doesn’t second-guess his decision to return home.
“When you decide to start a business, you are in it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If that means taking a call at 3 a.m., you take it. If it means spending Friday night at a football game, you do it,” he said. “Thankfully, my family understands that.”
Bio Box:
Name: Thomas Swaldi
Age: 37
Education: Graduate of Mount Carmel High School (1990). Earned a bachelor’s of science (1995) and master’s degree (1996) in physical therapy from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Temple University.
Occupation: Owner of STAR Inc. Physical Therapy and Fitness. Certified athletic trainer.
Family: Married to the former Lori Thompson for 10 years; two children, Hailey, 7, and Jadyn, 3
Hobbies: Watching sports, biking, camping.
MARION HEIGHTS — There’s no place like home.
For Tom Swaldi, that statement certainly rings true.
Off to a successful career in physical therapy in the Philadelphia area, Swaldi knew his hometown had a need that he could help satisfy, so he moved back.
“I’m a coal region boy,” Swaldi said with a smile. “There is no other place I would want to work and own a business than right here where I grew up.
“Even when I moved away, my heart was always here.”
Swaldi, 37, and his wife, Lori, 34, are in the fifth year as owners of STAR Physical Therapy and Fitness, a business they’ve seen grow quickly from a dream to a respected local business.
Athletic roots
Growing up in Dooleyville, one of the little patches just outside of Mount Carmel, it was natural for Tom Swaldi to be active in sports.
“It was automatic that I was involved in sports,” said Swaldi. “I was active in athletics since I was about 3.”
Swaldi went on to play football and basketball at Mount Carmel Area, and that helped forge his future.
“I loved playing sports, but I was also interested in science and medicine,” he said. “I had a few injuries, minor at best, but even those piqued my interest.”
So he started to volunteer at Geisinger Medical Center and fell in love with the medical field.
So, he had two deep interests.
“I started to look for a way to combine both, and I came up with physical therapy,” said Swaldi.
Two paths, same journey
After high school graduation, Swaldi went to college at Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences) to study physical therapy. While there, he was presented with another opportunity — one that was too good to pass up.
“While I was at college I met Barb Mueller, and she started to talk to me about athletic training,” he said. “I knew I liked it the moment I saw her do what she did.”
Mueller was a physical therapist and athletic trainer and was working at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Philadelphia when Swaldi met her. He then went with her on of her athletic training assignments and feel in love with the job.
Swaldi took advantage of an internship program that allowed him to take athletic training classes while he was taking courses for physical therapy. He ended up getting a degree in physical therapy and was certified as an athletic trainer.
After graduation, Swaldi worked with Mueller and then was a staff trainer at Drexel University, where he had a chance to work with Drexel standout and future NBA star Malik Rose.
Home sweet home
After working in the Philadelphia area for a couple years, Swaldi decided to come home.
“I knew there was a huge need here for sports medicine, so I decided to come back home,” said Swaldi. “I knew I could come back and help.”
At the time, athletic trainers in area schools were rare. Swaldi filled the void by starting the sports medicine program at Mount Carmel Outpatient.
The decision for Swaldi and his wife to go out on their own came in two waves.
The first was spurred by, of all things, horses.
“Lori and I were helping with a therapeutic riding program helping kids and using the movement of the horse to help with therapy,” said Swaldi about the Schwartz Show Horses program with owner Wende Schwartz in Ringtown.
It was there that the name for the Swaldis’ future business was born.
“Lori mentioned that the horses were the stars of the program and the therapy,” Tom recalls. “From there we came up with STAR,” an acronym for Specialized Therapy and Rehabilitation.
A name is a great start, but there was still no business.
“We then started thinking that, instead of working for a company, we should go out on our own,” said Swaldi, adding, “We wanted to do it our way.”
Lori agreed.
“It was a big leap for us,” she said. “But we were getting tried of answering to other people and knew if we went out on our own, we had a vision of doing business that nobody else had.”
Road well travelled
With an idea in hand, it was time for Swaldi to go into uncharted waters — the business world.
“When it comes to what needs to be done for an injury, I’m your man,” he said. “But when it came to writing a business plan, I was out of my league.”
Swaldi studied, and from there went to bank after bank to present his plan. Finally, the business got the money it needed and STAR Inc. Physical Therapy and Fitness was born in 2003.
“It was a slow process,” said Tom.
So was business.
“It was slow at first, but we kept it basic,” said Tom. “From there we just kept growing.”
And grown it has. To the surprise of Swaldi.
“I never expected the success,” he said. “But, on the other hand, I never expected it to flop either.
“But we have grown so much since we opened. The number of memberships we have in fitness is beyond our expectations.”
When STAR started, the staff was just the Swaldis; today there are 15 full- and part-time employees.
“Lori and I laid the groundwork, but if it wasn’t for the talented and dedicated employees we have had the honor to work with, we would be just two therapists looking for people to help, not a successful business,” said Tom.
‘A need’
Starting a business in a rural area can be a hit-or-miss proposition. While both the Swaldis have specialized degrees, and are now doctors of physical therapy, it would have been easy for them to go to a more populated area, with the chance for greater success.
“I knew there was a need for this kind of business here, and I came home to do it,” said Tom. “It would have been easier to open this in a bigger city, but I strongly feel I needed to come home and offer this to the area.”
“The people in this area just welcomed us with open arms when we started,” said Lori. “We really don’t have clients, we have friends. And it’s always good to see them, be it when they come in for an evaluation or to spend an hour on a treadmill.”
One of the main services STAR provides is athletic training, and it has been offered at Mount Carmel Area High School since day one. A few years ago, it was expanded to Shamokin Area. Yes, a former Red Tornado extended a hand to an Indian.
“It was just a natural to add Shamokin,” said tom. “I absolutely love working with the kids from Shamokin.”
Rivalry aside, there’s no difference, he stressed.
“The kids from there and the Mount Carmel kids are mirror images of each other. Sure, they battle each other on the field, but in the end they are just good ole coal region kids,” he said.
STAR has also provided training services at the former Cardinal Brennan High School and at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional.
Growing business
While the Swaldis’ business is still young, they work hard to be sure it keeps pace with changing technology.
“You just keep looking for the next piece of equipment that will give your business the edge,” he said. STAR hit a home run with a state-of-the-art balance and performance center; that wasn’t the case with a golf simulator.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to drop back 10 yards and punt,” said tom. “You are not always going to make the best decisions when it comes to a business. How you react to the poor ones is what makes a business successful or not.”
Learning on the job and in the classroom has also been important.
“In this business, you have to just keep learning,” said Tom. “Taking classes and so on is just so important because medicine is always evolving.
“You have to stay up on techniques to offer the best quality care you can.”
Lessons learned
Tom has used the lessons he learned playing sports and applied them to his business.
“Sports prepare you for life,” he said. “I use what I learned everyday and I build on it.
“Some days you win by 40, and some days you lose by 40. But in the end you just keep playing the game.”
He makes sure the young athletes he works with learn that lesson too.
“I educate them on injury management and other things because they are faced with adversity every day,” he said. “I relate what they are going through to life and what they will face in the future.”
It is that same adversity that gives Swaldi satisfaction in what he does.
“I get the biggest joy out of watching people succeed and overcome adversity,” he said.
Support system
Looking back on what he’s accomplished, Tom, a son of Dolores and Ernest Swaldi of Dooleyville, hands plenty of credit to his better half.
“There is no way I could have ever done this without the love and support from my wife,” he said.
Tom describes Lori as the perfect business partner.
“We discuss everything and come to a decision,” he said. “But it stays as that — a business decision. … It never flows into our marriage.”
The Swaldis, who were married in 1998 and have two daughters, Hailey and Jadyn, compliment each other, Tom said.
“I know joints and bones, but she is amazing when it comes to neurology,” he said.
The family has committed itself to the business in all ways, and Swaldi definitely doesn’t second-guess his decision to return home.
“When you decide to start a business, you are in it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If that means taking a call at 3 a.m., you take it. If it means spending Friday night at a football game, you do it,” he said. “Thankfully, my family understands that.”
Bio Box:
Name: Thomas Swaldi
Age: 37
Education: Graduate of Mount Carmel High School (1990). Earned a bachelor’s of science (1995) and master’s degree (1996) in physical therapy from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. Earned a doctorate in physical therapy from Temple University.
Occupation: Owner of STAR Inc. Physical Therapy and Fitness. Certified athletic trainer.
Family: Married to the former Lori Thompson for 10 years; two children, Hailey, 7, and Jadyn, 3
Hobbies: Watching sports, biking, camping.
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