Columbia Physical Therapy debuts new pool in open house

OTHELLO — Columbia Physical Therapy has finally realized a longtime dream. 

“We just added the pool,” said physical therapist Ken Jones, who shares the clinic with physical therapist Nate Stott. “That year-long construction project was just finished.” 

The pool, which goes from 3 feet 9 inches deep to a space 6 feet deep, can serve a lot of different needs for therapy patients, Stott said. It comes with changing rooms, a pre-pool shower and a mechanical lift for people who can’t manage the steps down into the water. 

“The pool is wonderful for people who have back pain,” he said. “They can hardly stand up out here, but you put them in the pool and they can start walking back and forth and they can start doing exercise.” 

The buoyancy of the water takes about 70% of the patient’s weight off their legs, back and feet, Stott explained, allowing them to move in ways that gravity would otherwise prohibit. 

“I had seven people come in today, and they're like, ‘Oh, my ankle. I can hardly walk when I’m out of water, but I'm walking across (the pool).’ They walk normally, and that does wonders neurologically, (so) that they're able to start doing that outside as well.” 

Being able to walk in the water, even for a few minutes, also helps alleviate the depression that comes with immobility and pain, Stott added. 

Columbia Physical Therapy has 15 offices around the region, including Moses Lake and several in the Tri-Cities. The Othello location opened in 1995, Jones said, in a tiny office across the street from Othello High School. Jones bought the building on First Avenue in 2008, according to county records. Being located smack in the middle of an agricultural region means they draw patients from Royal City, Mattawa, Basin City, Mesa and Washtucna, Stott said. 

The building was formerly a gym, Stott said, and the space where the pool is now was originally a racquetball court. Until now, patients who needed a pool were sent to the Columbia Physical Therapy facility in Moses Lake, Jones said. 

“They were swamped there,” Jones said. “There was a long wait list to get people into there … There are a lot of people we can do other treatments (for), but we can better serve them with the pool and help them get better a little bit faster.” 

As the building’s owner, Jones acted as his own general contractor, which, in hindsight, might not have been the best route to take, he said. 

“It was so busy being a physical therapist and running the office and then being the general (contractor) for the project,” Jones said. “I found a pool company to do the construction part of it, an electrician, and plumbers, and everything. My first payment to the pool company was in April of 2024. Then you have to get permits, which took a couple of months, and then you have to get the Department of Health to approve it, and finally they knocked the walls down and started excavating.” 

All this time, the office was still serving patients, Jones said.  

“These guys had to suffer some really loud days,” he said. “You can imagine jackhammers in here knocking things out.” 

The event Friday was marked with refreshments and drawings, followed by a ribbon-cutting by the Greater Othello Chamber of Commerce on Saturday morning. For the occasion, the pool was filled with water toys and a flotilla of rubber ducks. The ducks won’t be part of the pool’s everyday operation, Stott said. 

“We'd have a problem getting people back out of the pool at the end of it,” he said. “They’d just want to stay there and play with the ducks.”

Columbia Physical Therapy 

116 S. First Ave., Othello 

509-488-0773 

Open Mon.-Fri. 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. 

columbiaphysicaltherapyothello.com 

    Physical Therapy Aide Alondra Ramirez shares the new pool at Columbia Physical Therapy with a few little yellow friends at the clinic’s grand reopening Friday.
  

    In addition to the new pool, Columbia Basin Physical Therapy has a wide array of equipment to help bodies heal properly.