September Employee of the Month helps others “be the best they can be”

“Boone Hospital was absolutely new to me at the time. I’d heard good things about the service they gave to the community,” Melinda Boice recalls about her decision to join Boone Hospital Center. As a physical therapist, Melinda has worked with countless patients over 21 years, both on an inpatient and outpatient basis.

“The role of physical therapy is to help people regain their mobility,” she says, “In the inpatient setting, I see patients in their room. My job is to help them regain the skills they need to return to their prior living condition, being able to get out of bed, being able to walk down the hallway or stairs, or getting on and off the commode.” 

At Boone Therapy’s outpatient clinic, Melinda works with clients with mobility and balance problems. 

Melinda grew up in New York state and lived in several states before she moved to Columbia for a post-doctoral fellowship in the University of Missouri’s animal science department. When jobs in her field became tight, she decided it was time for a career change. She’d considered becoming a physical therapist in the past and enrolled in the university’s physical therapy program. 

“It seemed to be the right fit at that time in my life. It was as if it was my calling. It’s what I was supposed to be doing then, it’s what I’m supposed to be doing now,” Melinda says.

After graduating with her physical therapy degree, she joined Boone Hospital Center.

Melinda finds helping people recover to be the best part of her job. “It’s very rewarding to help people become the best they can be.”

Patients remember her, sending her letters and Christmas cards, even dropping in to say hello when they’re in town. 

“I had a client from Wyoming several years ago who’d been passing through town when they fell at their hotel and stayed with us for a good six weeks. For probably three or four years, every time they came through town, they would stop in and see me.” 

Melinda also appreciates the excellent support and teamwork in caring for patients both in the hospital and at the outpatient therapy clinic. 

“I could not do my job if everyone else on the care team doesn’t do theirs,” she says. “It’s the only way we give excellent care.”

Congratulations, Melinda!