Camilla Fyzical facility to host open house for new expansion

CAMILLA — An expansion at the Fyzical Therapy and Balance Center in Camilla that took six months to construct is being formally introduced to the community next week.

The expansion, which hosts the center’s vestibular therapy services, will be introduced at an open house from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. on June 23 at the facility, located at 130 E. Broad St.

Vestibular therapy, which addresses balance problems, has been in use at the facility in its current form for about four weeks.

“Our Albany office, for over a year, had a vestibular component to their office. We didn’t have that here,” said Elizabeth Cantrell, physician liaison at the Camilla office. “This is to celebrate the addition of our vestibular gym opening in the back of our practice.

“Residents in Camilla have been wondering for seven months what we are doing.”

One of the methods offered in the vestibular line are two harnesses that can remain stationary, and a third harness on a track allowing for the use of an obstacle course. Since the gym has been open, a number of patients have already been moved into that space — which is separated from the main gym area.

About 50 percent of the appointments at the Fyzical office in Albany are for patients suffering from balance issues, indicative of the urgency to address it in Camilla.

“We know it is a need, and we wanted to meet that need,” Cantrell said.

In the new gym area, plans are being made to offer classes in chair yoga and cancer patient fitness beginning later this year. With the expansion, opportunities will also arise for children receiving therapy to get the care they need without disturbing adults, Cantrell said.

“We are able to do much more than before,” she said.

The facility’s goal is to meet community need.

“In the long-term, the idea is to have as much patient choice and education as we can provide,” Cantrell said.

The public is welcome to come in for the open house as early as 4 p.m. The Camilla Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting at 5 p.m., and afterward visitors will be able to go to four different stations to learn about Fyzical services and partake in a raffle and hors d’oeuvres.

The stations will be for wellness, health factor assessments, customary orthoses and vestibular therapy demonstrations.

“Fyzical, both in Albany and in Camilla, wants to provide the best quality patient care we can in the community,” Cantrell said. “We are equipped to do that now in Albany and Camilla.”

Owner Michael Shiver did not give a specific dollar figure for the cost of the expansion other to say that it was a six-figure number.

For more information, call (229) 336-1115.