By Seth Schmidt
The doctor is in at 150 Third St. in downtown Tracy.
Dr. Summer Johnson, has opened “Healing Hands,” a private physical therapy clinic. The clinic is located in what previously served as the Tracy Dental Health Center.
“This space works perfectly for me,” Johnson said last week, of her recently purchased building. “I was really excited when I heard that this was available.”
A front entry door opens into a reception and waiting room. An adjacent patient therapy room has space for an adjustable table. Unfinished space on the building’s east side is being eyed for future expansion.
Healing Hands will be a by-appointment-only clinic. No regular hours are planned for now, because Johnson wants to maintain flexibility in caring for her three children, ages 2-8. In one more year, when her youngest becomes old enough for pre-school, regular office hours are possible. For now, she asks patients to call her at 605-530-7460 to arrange an appointment.
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Originally from Chamberlain, SD, Johnson earned her undergraduate degree at South Dakota State University, at Brookings. It was during her SDSU years that she met her future husband, Jared Johnson (Tracy Area High School, 1999), who is the son of Steve and Pam Johnson of rural Tracy.
She began her physical therapy career after receiving her doctorate degree in physical therapy in 2007, and worked at a pediatric clinic. When she and Jared, who is an agronomist with Prairie Brand Seed, moved from Elk Point, SD, to a farmstead near Tracy in 2012, Summer accepted a physical therapy position with the Marshall school district. She left the Marshall position after the 2015 birth of their youngest daughter.
Her new Tracy clinic, Dr. Johnson feels, gives her the opportunity to help people as a physical therapist, while also allowing adequate time for her family.
“I love being a physical therapist, but my family has to stay first,” she says.
An appointment only schedule, she says, will allow to meet the needs of patients, without locking her into a fixed schedule that can’t adjust to her children’s needs.
The Johnson children are Shelby, 8; Brice, 6; and Hadley Jo, 2.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.