John Breuer, PT – Coos Bay

John completed his general education at Southwestern Oregon Community College, received his BS degree from Southern Oregon University in 1972, and his postgraduate degree in Physical Therapy from University of Pennsylvania in 1973. After 5 years as the Physical Therapy department head at Bay Area Hospital, he opened Southwest Physical Therapy on Thompson Road in Coos Bay in 1979. The business later expanded to include Rehabilitation in 1994, changing the name to Southwest Physical Therapy & John Breuer Rehabilitation. He now has five offices along the Oregon coast. John continues to be involved in a rich variety of community, civic, and health related engagements, and holds distinctions, awards and continuing education certification too vast to enumerate.

John resides in Coquille and continues to be active in the lives of his six children and their families, including his two grandsons. He is often found at the high school helping out with sports medicine, and on the highways riding his Harley on a sunny day.

Cory Dorland – Manager, Partner – Coos Bay

Cory joined the staff at Southwest Physical Therapy in 1998 as the Business Manager and became a partner in 2006. He says “I’ve enjoyed being part of a business that really helps people, it is pretty cool to see the positive impact PT and OT has on our patients. It has also been fun being a part of the lives of the terrific employees at SWPT”. Cory has managed different kinds of businesses but reports he finds his position at SWPT the most rewarding. Cory and his wife Debbie are long time residents of the Coquille area. When Cory isn’t working, he is busy with family and church activities and trying to fit in a little time for bird hunting and motorcycle riding.

Tristan Proett, PT, Partner – COQUILLE

Tristan Proett graduated with a Master of Science in Physical Therapy degree in 1998 from the University of Montana. He has been practicing at SWPT since that time. He entered into management in 2004. In 2006 he became a minority partner in SWPT’s five clinics. He has enjoyed working in each of the five clinics for various lengths of time over the years. He states, “Being able to work in a rural setting with a mix of outpatient, hospital, home health, and skilled nursing is very rewarding”. This allows Tristan to work with a variety of patients, from rehabbing high school athletes to stroke rehab with elderly patients.

Tristan has been an APTA membership since he was in school. He believes it is important to keep abreast of the current political atmosphere that has the potential for significant long lasting changes to our profession.

Tristan keeps himself well balanced with an active family life as a husband and father. He married his beautiful wife Heidi in 1996. Heidi is an active community member of Rotary, Ambassadors, United Way, and Gold Coast Swim Team. Tristan keeps involved with volunteer coaching of soccer, basketball, and softball through the boys and girls club. He frequently gives presentations on Physical Therapy and health related topics around the area. He also leads a Bible study through Hauser Community Church.

Tristan has two girls that keep his family very busy outside of work. His family enjoys camping, biking, and playing at the beach. He even manages to sneak a little golf in as well.

Derek Hite, PTA – Coos Bay

Derek Hite has been with SWPT since 2001 after he graduated with honors from Mt. Hood Community College. He grew up in the Coos Bay area and also has attended college at Long Beach State University in southern California where he met his wife Giovanna.

Derek is a certified weight instructor as well as ATRI trained Aquatic Therapist. He is also heavily involved in North Bend High School and Marshfield High School’s sports medicine activities. He is also very busy with family life of 2 boys and 2 girls as well as coaching their youth sports.

Sheila Byrd, Rehab Aide and Gym Manager – Coos Bay

Sheila joined the staff of SWPT in 2005. She comes to us with a background of working as an EMT and volunteer Fire fighter for her home territory in Fairview, and with years of experience as a Medical Assistant. She has become our Gym manager and does the gym orientation for all of our gym members and, along with the therapists, oversees gym member programs.

Sheila has lived in the Coquille Fairview area all of her life and, with her husband Dan. She reports that she has “an awesome son, a wonderful daughter-in-law, and two perfect grandchildren”.

Rhonda Hale, PT – Gold Beach

Rhonda Hale has been with SWPT since 1995. Rhonda is a South Coast native, growing up in Myrtle Point. She graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in science in 1992. She went on to receive her MPT at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 1995.

Rhonda enjoys living in Gold Beach with her husband and son. She loves the diversity of rural health care where she sees clients in settings that include home health, acute hospital, inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient rehabilitation.

Tara Simonson, DPT – Gold Beach

Tara received her bachelors degree in Health Science from Western Oregon University in 2002, and received her doctorate in Physical Therapy from Pacific University in Forest Grove Oregon in 2007. Tara is a native of North Bend, Oregon graduating from North Bend High School in 1998, and has been with SWPT since 2007. As a member of the APTA, Tara is also registered in the Geriatric & Orthopedic/ Sports sections of that organization. Her professional interests are orthopedics and balance conditions contributing to falls in older adults. She provides skilled care at Gold Beach Physical Therapy, Gold Beach Hospital, as well as Curry Count Home Health in Gold Beach and Northern Curry County.

Among Tara’s favorite interests are spending time with her husband and dogs, as well as enjoying the company of her friends while exploring this beautiful region through hiking, biking, beach combing, running, and working on her 1900’s era home.

Eric Mohrbacher, OTR

Eric has a Masters in of Science Occupational Therapy. He grew up in a small community in MN. He is a talented athlete and musician. Eric came to SWPT because he enjoys the variety of outpatient, Hospital and Home Health settings. He also enjoys the rural community as it reminds him of home. Eric and his wife enjoy hiking, exploring, camping and learning new things. Eric will be working primarily out of our Bandon and Coos Bay offices.

Levi Westgaard, LPTA

Levi is a graduate of the Lane Community College PTA program. Levi was “grown locally” He grew up in the Coos Bay/North Bend area. He enjoys the outdoor activities of the area. Levi has great therapy skills and is enjoying treating lower back, posture issues and sports injuries. Levi’s family loves the Coquille community is a wonderful part of the SWPT family.

Denise Boyd, DPT

Ashley Mortensen, DPT

Rebecca Hawthorne PTA

Julee Yager PTA

Wendy Moreiko PTA

Travelers

Often times our staffing is not adequate to keep up with the flow of the patient loads so we have the privilege of using ‘temporary’ therapist who travel about the country working in a variety of different settings. We welcome these therapists to our company as they not only help with our patient loads, but also they can use this opportunity to discover how nice it is to live and work in Southern Oregon.

Temporary staff personnel often are younger therapists starting out after graduating from their schools, and have the freedom to move around. They usually sign on anywhere from 3 months to 6 months and sometimes longer. We always hope they will want to stay on longer, even permanently.