Katherine B. McCoy
PT, MTC
Kathi combines her cerebral side with her practical side in problem solving with her patients. She is passionate about understanding the physiological aspects of a patient’s discomfort or dysfunction and pairing that knowledge with both traditional and non-traditional treatment plans. One of the questions she asks herself most often is “what if?”
At the start of her career with direct oversight of the burn department, Kathi participated in extensive research regarding tissue granulation and was responsible for sharp debridement of burns and wounds. Her experience as a burn therapist introduced her to the value of manual therapy in the restoration of function to injured tissue. She is also a certified orthopedic manual therapist who has trained and practiced all over the world.
Education, Experience, and Certifications
- University of Tennessee, BS, Health Sciences
- Ursa Osteopathic Medicine Foundation, Rocabaddo Institute and Olaf Evjenth’s Physiotherapeutic Manual Institute, advanced training in the treatment of craniosacral, TMJ/TMD, spinal, extremity and sports medicine disorders
- West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic, founder and co-owner
- Metropolitan Nashville General/Vanderbilt University, director, Physical Therapy Clinic and Burn Department
- Canadian Academy of Manipulative Therapists, manual therapy certification
- Institute of Graduate Health Science, manual therapy certification
- International Federation of Manual Therapists, member
- Perry Institute, incontinence treatment certification
- LaMaze, certified instructor
- Oregon Ballet Theatre, Jefferson Dancers, BodyVox, and NW Professional Dance Project, PT
- Women in Workmen’s Compensation, past board member
- Friends of the Arboretum, past board member
- Women of Good Samaritan – Legacy Health, Board Member
- Providence St. Vincent Medical Foundation, Trustee
- Jesuit High School, Financial Aid Committee
- Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Endowment Board
- White Orchid Award Recipient, Portland Business Journal
- American Red Cross Certified First Responder
- Board Member of Portland Literary Arts Patrons Advisory Council
Pursuits, Passions, and Dreams
Favorite books of an avid reader: Mary Craig’s Tears of Blood: A Cry for Tibet, Bounsang Khamkeo’s I Little Slave, Jeffrey Sachs’ The End of Poverty, Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, Paul Kalanithi”s When Breath Becomes Air, and Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost. Her favorite film is Wardance the Movie. Kathi is a great lover of the arts particularly literature, dance, music, film, and theater.
Weekends and vacations take Kathi running, rafting, cycling, skiing, gardening, letting hummingbirds land in her hand, swimming, windsurfing, practicing yoga, weight training, camping, mountain climbing, and trekking around the globe with her two children. She has summited many peaks including Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. Whitney, and Grand Teton. She’s volunteered with Medical Teams International (formerly NW Medical Teams), Habitat for Humanity, Humedica and various other medical NGOs over the past 28 years, working from Portland to Central America, Oaxaca, Mexico, Haiti, Sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzanian, Burundian, Ugandan, Congolese, and Syrian refugee camps, Ethiopia, Jamaica, Rwanda, as well as stints in Asia. Kathi has traveled to Cambodia to deliver care in burn units, also assisting with sex trafficking victims through a companion NGO in Phnom Penh. She and her family have also built houses in several venues including Portland, Guatemala, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Bolivia, Jordan, Indonesia, and India with Habitat for Humanity. She is now participating in the creation of an integrative fistula program in sub-Saharan Africa refugee camps which has opened in multiple refugee settlement camps within Uganda serving Congolese, Tanzanian, and South Sudanese displaced citizens.
There is a strong ethos of helping others that pervades WPPTC. In addition to helping our patients regain mobility or achieve peak performance, we are active in the community. One focus of our efforts is Medical Teams International, a Portland based humanitarian relief organization sending volunteer disaster relief teams and medical aid to people in crisis in 32 countries. She, along with WPPTC, has screened thousands of Portland youth athletes to determine ACL injury risk. This screening has been accompanied by individualized training to prevent ACL injuries. She also helped create the Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) Wellness Program. Our therapists at WPPTC treat all OBT dancers in the studio and at our clinic. This Wellness Program has helped reduce their injury rate dramatically in the past 3 years since the inception of the dance screening and wellness program. WPPTC serves the other greater Portland dance studios as well.
WPPTC is committed to improving the lives of Oregonians and people around the globe affected by disaster, conflict, and poverty working with Medical Teams International.
40 Years of Love
For four decades, Medical Teams International has been on the frontlines of disease outbreaks, natural disasters and human-made crises, providing compassionate medical care to the sick and hurting. This is an organization that I am deeply committed to and actively support in multiple ways. In MTI’s 40 Years of Love video, I make a cameo. It was filmed while I was volunteering with MTI in Ethiopia. I’m at 1:11 in the film. Check it out. I’m very proud of the work.
Habitat for Humanity Project in Myanmar
In March 2017 Kathi joined a team from Habitat for Humanity to build homes in Myanmar. The team was led by Stacy Allison, the first American woman to summit Mt. Everest and a Portland resident. Allison, a motivational speaker, put together a diverse and driven group, including lawyers and physical therapists, all driven to make a difference.
Habitat for Humanity in Myanmar
Habitat for Humanity Project in India
Kathy McCoy and others were in India on the way to a Habitat for Humanity build for a community of rat and snake catchers whose villages were impacted by the last typhoon. Stacy Allison is with the group. Here’s a translated article about her climb on Mount Everest.
Kathi McCoy featured in OPTA-Oregon-Log-2010Q4
Read the full story in the September 3, 2010 edition of the Scribe
On Wednesday, April 21, 2010, West Portland Physical Therapy Clinic’s Kathi McCoy emceed an all-star panel of aid representatives at the MAC.
Haiti Disaster Relief at the MAC
Kathi joined a team of medical professionals traveling to Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake. The story was widely reported in the media. Here’s their story.
- MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 5pm News
- MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 6pm News
- MTI in Haiti 2010 – KGW 11pm News
- MTI in Haiti 2010 – KATU 4pm News
- Haiti Earthquake 2010 – Relief Efforts – KGW News
- MTI and 2010 Haitian Earthquake – KATU AM Northwest
MTI in Guatemala (2009)
Kathi and her children, Michael and Madison, have volunteered with Medical Teams International in Guatemala, where they partnered with indigenous peoples to address their identified nutrition and health problems. MTI works with solutions devised by the villagers to tackle water source protection and crop diversification to alleviate malnutrition. Their process of building relationships with villagers to collaboratively use their skills and knowledge makes the work more satisfying and the solutions more sustainable. Kathi feels that it is a privilege to be a part of this process.
MTI in Uganda (2008)
Kathi was part of the team on the Congolese border to provide medical relief to refugees. The Oregonian covered the work done in the face of this “human rights catastrophe”.
Take a further look at Medical Team International’s important work:
New Heights for MTI
Kathi and a group of friends have climbed Mt. Hood, Mt. Whitney, and Grand Teton commemorating Medical Teams International. Stacy Allison, renowned climber and MTI supporter, joined the group for their successful summit of Mt. Hood. Check out the youtube videos of their climbs. MTI truly rocks!
WPPTC‘s
Work with dancers is featured in the February issue of Goodness Magazine. On the cover Kathi McCoy, founder and co-owner of WPPTC, is pictured with OBT principal dancer Gavin Larsen.
Read the Goodness Magazine article
The Oregonian featured Kathi, who shared some of her thoughts on places, things, beliefs and experiences with Oregonian writer Sara Perry. The complete text of Perry’s “Favorite Things” article may be viewed by clicking the links below.
