Top 3 Benefits of Being a PT in Alaska

Welcome back to the channel Providers. My name is Will Humphries, and today we have a special guest, Nathan Shields, physical therapist.

Thanks for having me on now.

We're excited to have you. Nathan Shields is a physical therapist, a good friend, entrepreneur, and he has a podcast called the PT Owners Club.

So in today's episode, we're going to talk about the benefits of being a physical therapist in Alaska.

That's right. Coming right up.

Welcome back, providers. If you're new to this channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button there below. That makes it possible for us to make videos like this for you to help you increase your income, your impact, and your freedom. And Nathan Shields is someone I've worked with for 20 years.

Has it been that long?

Yeah, 2003, we started working together.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, it's gone really fast. And so he's from Arizona and he lives and has lived in Alaska now for four years ago.

Four years, exactly.

Gosh. So tell the audience. What put you up in Alaska?

Well, we shared a vision, and I don't know how much of this you shared in previous episodes.

Nothing.

But we're business partners as well in physical therapy, and we shared a vision of going to Alaska to do EMGs initially. And there's great opportunity up there, and why not go to Alaska and write it off on the business?

That's right.

So we decided to head up there and make our way in physical therapy in Alaska, of all places.

Yeah. Something that I think for both of us, when we were planning going up there, it was meant for one of us to go up for a short time, not four years. So I think before we get into those top three benefits of being a PT in Alaska, Nate, like, what was it that had you go, no, we're gonna stay here longer?

Well, as we recognized the opportunity and moved up there, or I was commuting up there, really, for a few days at a time, a couple times a month, and the opportunity was greater and greater. Eventually, my wife turned to me and said over dinner, why don't we just move up there? And of course, that took a little time to sink in and really think about, but the adventure that it could be for our family alone was something that we thought, oh, we can't pass this up.

Yeah. I think our viewers probably think Alaska is like this super far away place, and it isn't next door, but adventure in Alaska. Those are two words that definitely go hand in hand. So, yeah, I would love for you to talk about the top three benefits. What's one of the benefits of living up there as a pt.

Well, you would think this is the great white north. There's just not that many people and there aren't that many people considering the size of the state. But there's opportunity for physical therapists galore. There's a ton of physical therapy that people are rather active and for physical therapists specifically, if they even wanted to try it, well, take it this way. All the physical therapy clinics that I know up there are looking for physical therapists. So whether if you wanted to move up there and that was your lifelong dream, there's that opportunity. But there's plenty of opportunity as a traveling physical therapist as well to kind of try it before you buy it.

Kind of wow, that's a good idea. Just to get up there and explore and get the sense before you commit to moving up there.

Yeah. And experience it. Because they have plenty of clinics that I know that you can do a six month contract and some of that's going to be in the winter. So you got to be prepared for that. And it's going to be a little bit. Might be a little bit tougher on you depending on who you are. But some of it's going to be in the beautiful summertime is when it beats no place else.

Do you hate being up there in the summer or in the winter?

In the winter.

In the winter?

No, I like being up in there in the winter. It's not too bad. You just gotta take your happy pills.

That's another video.

Those are vitamin D. Oh, okay.

Sorry we can't talk about those pills in this video.

Narcotics. That is a different video.

Wink. So, yeah, very grateful to hear that. And so what's another benefit of being up there as a P team?

Well, you can obviously I talked about the surroundings just being up there. Even if you like snow sports. Right. I mean snow machining is amazing up there. I'm on the hiking in Alaska Facebook group page and there's hikes all around, even in the winter times. Alyeska's a great ski resort nearby Anchorage. And you know, we'll even take trips up to Fairbanks occasionally and you'll get go see the. I was gonna say southern lights.

The northern lights. They're like the southern lights but they're just, they're better.

So you get to see the northern lights and experience it all together.

Ice skating, hockey, all that kind of stuff. So there's plenty of great things to do up there, especially because you're in the winter.

Yeah. I have to say, in addition to that the culture there is very different. I remember when we were marketing our business there for the first time, going into doctor's offices on a Monday morning when orthopedic doctors are typically their busiest and like super overwhelmed. And you walk into their office and they're like, no, Dr. Smith isn't here because the pinks are running. The pink salmons are running. So he had to go fish. Yeah. And so the culture is a lot more like laid back. It's not as intense as like the rest of America is, I think. Right.

I remember specifically when we went marketing, we initially went out the first day with like button up shirts.

Oh, sure.

And nice slacks. And I think you even went and got a suit coat or something.

I had a blazer from JCPenney's.

Yeah, exactly. And then we figured out really quickly that's not what they want to see.

No.

The next day was like polos and.

Jeans and tennis shoes. The more stains, the more. No, it's not that. It's not like that. But it's very much about comfort and like authenticity up in Alaska. And it's such a great welcoming environment.

In that way they could tell that we were out of towners pretty quickly.

For sure.

Yeah. As soon as we walked in the door.

Well, and I have to side note on this that Nathan has seven children. So he didn't just move up there with his wife, he moved up there with a gaggle of SHIELD family members. And it really has been interesting to see how your family has adapted to what would have been a short term investment for you to be up there, but be there for four years and have this beautiful home on a lake and like, oh my gosh, the life that you have up there. So what's another benefit of being up there as a pt?

Well, obviously we went up there because there was opportunity not only in terms of the EMG services we could provide, but the reimbursement rate, honestly for physical therapy is second to none. It's crazy. A couple hundred dollars per visit type of reimbursement, which is amazing. Which also then translates into greater opportunities for salaries for physical therapists themselves. Benefits packages are much more easily negotiated.

There's greater opportunity when it comes to the financial freedom you can get from that kind of salary.

Yeah, I think that's an amazing ad because in today's world, there's a big dilemma in physical therapy for new grads who are coming out with doctorates, which is awesome, but they're paying a premium and they're not getting the value exchange out of their degree that they would like for their salary. So they're going up there and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for their PT degree and they're coming out of school somewhere in the 70,000 range. It's just not making sense. But in Alaska, maybe that does.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, we're talking. You can get salaries in the 80s and if you're doing very well up into the hundreds. So there's. There's much more opportunity financially up there.

Wow. Well, any other benefits that you can think of? I mean, that's a great. You've mentioned some great ones. Environment, opportunity, compensation. That's huge.

Well, I think you alluded to it a little bit. People think it's this far flung place. Well, it's a three hour flight from Seattle and there are direct flights from Minneapolis St. Paul, there's direct flights to Chicago and so it's accessible.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

Well, the other benefit, the bonus benefit that he didn't mention is that as physical therapist, if you live in Alaska, you can live near Nathan Shields, which is a major benefit. Jeff's hands.

Lucky you.

Yeah, I've known this guy forever. Totally. You're in good hands. If you ever are in Alaska, you need to look up Nathan and by all means, please check out his podcast again. I'll put that link in the description below. I'll also put a card in the upper corner. Now that talks about reimbursement. Physical therapists get across the country and it alludes to Alaska's compensation. I even mentioned that specifically in there. So, Nathan, thanks again for being here on the channel.

Thanks for having me.

I think we should have more Nathan Shields. What do you think? Put it in the comments below. Either way, thank you for watching. Until next time.