Goodcare opens rehab, therapy clinic in Brookings

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BROOKINGS – A well-established therapy and rehabilitation clinic from Sioux Falls has opened a new clinic in Brookings.

Goodcare LLC opened on Oct. 1 in the Medical Center Plaza, located at 3405 Sixth St.

“We’ve been a therapy company since about 2009, and we are a therapy-owned and run company, and so we have focused on pediatrics and adults alike,” Goodcare president and occupational therapist Polly Rames said. 

“We do one thing, and we do it well, and that’s therapy. We have physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, and we recognized a need in Brookings,” Rames explained. 

“We have services schools up in the northern area, like up in Dell Rapids, Garretson, Colman-Egan, and Flandreau. We also provide therapy for United Living Community, so we’ve been up in Brookings for a few years now, … and we thought that it would be great to offer more of our specialty therapy services.”

Rames said the company noticed a need for pediatric services in the area, with people from the Watertown, Marshall and Brookings areas traveling into Sioux Falls to get their therapy services for their kids.

“It’s an area of where we see many kids receiving therapy services but are having to drive long distances in order to get those therapy services to their kids,” Rames said.

Goodcare specializes in addressing over two-dozen therapeutic needs in its pediatric department.

“Feeding is a big priority that we work with. Talk tools is an area of specialty that our therapists are certified in. We offer vision rehab services, we do sensory integration services, so lots of different focuses of special needs of any kids who need extra services that are medical-based outside of the school services, that they may get or that they are not getting because maybe they fell through the cracks and they didn’t score what they needed to qualify for services,” said Rames.

The rehab clinic also specializes in pain management of both physical ailments and in addressing stress management.

“It seems like every aspect of needing therapy incorporates pain, and we have a physical therapist who specializes in specific pain techniques that are different than your regular physical therapy services that you may receive. So we also have a portion of our clinic in the Medical Center that focuses on physical therapy for adults and for pain needs. … He works on things like balance and shoulder injuries and hip replacements and knee replacements and all those things as well,” Rames said.

Rames said Goodcare aims to offer something a little different and a little more specialized than what the community may already have available.

The facility includes both a pediatric therapy gym and an adult gym.

In the pediatric space, “There’s a jungle gym, big therapy balls, and it can be incorporated down to just quiet spots where we need to work on feeding or just working on handwriting or different little things that need less attention within the big room of a fun therapy gym.”

Rames said Goodcare hopes to collaborate with the Brookings School District, South Dakota State University and other organizations in town.

Rames said pediatric staff are available later in the day, so parents don’t have to worry about fitting a drive down to Sioux Falls into their workday. They also work to educate parents so their child’s progress continues at home.

“We ask that the parents be a part of the sessions because the learning doesn’t just occur in the therapy session. It’s what is happening outside of the therapy session and in the child’s home. So it’s really important for us that we ensure that those kids are continuing with any suggestions that we have for them and that they’re doing it at home with the parents,” she explained.

“We’re here, we’re available, we take all questions if you don’t know if this service is right for you,” Rames said.

For more information, visit www.goodcarerehab.com or call 605-336-0812 to schedule an appointment.

Contact Matthew Rhodes at mrhodes@brookingsregister.com.