Back in their “glory days,” Chris Byers ’89 and Mike Salaway ’89 were the athletes who might have needed to visit a business like Advanced Rehab and Sports Medicine Services. Byers was a three-sport athlete at Roseville High School, while Salaway played for the state championship Monmouth Zipper football team in 1983 and then had a successful career as a running back for the Monmouth Fighting Scots.

But thanks to Advanced Rehab, which the former MC classmates founded in 1997, their new “glory days” have been full of business success and growth.

Headquartered in Bloomington, Ill., Advanced Rehab and Sports Medicine Services has taken off from its initial property in Kewanee to 14 locations. Those include five sites in Bloomington, as well as clinics in the Illinois communities of Galesburg, Monmouth, Kewanee, Macomb, Canton, Clinton, Fairbury and Toulon. Last December, they added their newest location in West Burlington, Iowa. Their Cottage Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine facility in Monmouth is on East Broadway, three blocks from the east side of campus.

The company’s 115 employees include several with Monmouth College ties. Salaway is owner, president of operations and oversees the clinical and human resources area, while Byers oversees the marketing and PR. Recently, Todd Nelson ’93 was named CEO.

Some of the other MC alumni who work at the company include director of finance Jake Emery ’05, regional marketing representatives Lindsay VonHolten ’06 and Jessica Livermore ’07, payroll manager Cheri Nelson Byers ’89, who is Chris’s wife. Current students Noah Emery and Virginia Cahill work part-time in the Galesburg and Monmouth clinics, respectively.

“We continue to grow, and Monmouth College has been a big part of that growth,” said Byers.

“Interestingly enough, the majority of our MC graduates are working in the Bloomington office” laughed Salaway.

Byers added, “With MC grads throughout our locations in administrative positions, we feel they have been a great contribution to our continued success.”

With a mission statement of “restoring function, improving performance and enhancing the quality of life,” Advanced Rehab and Sports Medicine offers professional physical, occupational and speech therapy services. Its centers, which offer all levels of physical rehabilitation on an outpatient basis, also provide services to area home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities and various other healthcare providers. This allows Advanced Rehab to be involved in the entire continuum of care as it relates to physical rehabilitation services.

After graduating from Monmouth, both Salaway and Byers received degrees in physical therapy from, respectively, Washington University Medical School and the Chicago Medical School.

Byers and Salaway started Advanced Rehab just over 10 years ago with a now-retired third partner. While having the trust of the physicians that referred patients to them, they based their locations on the needs of the communities.

“Typically in the small communities, the only option for physical therapy was the local hospital, and we wanted to offer people a choice,” said Byers.

With their expertise and patient care, they continued to hire therapists who shared the same compassion and drive that Salaway and Byers felt for their patients.

“Our company feels like a family,” said Salaway. “We have really good people who are also really great therapists, which makes running the business go smoothly.”

In the early years of their company, Byers and Salaway were full-time treating therapists. Today, along with going out to the locations and working side-by-side with the therapists, they also are focused on administrative duties.

“Recently, we implemented a statistical reporting program so that we can focus on the day-to-day operations of the company as opposed to reviewing the company monthly,” said Byers.

“It’s been an extremely positive change and keeps Chris and me busy planning for future quarters as we continue to expand,” added Salaway.

Byers and Salaway are active in education within their company as well. They develop their own internal company programs based upon their clinical experience and how they want the patients to feel after physical therapy at Advanced Rehab and Sports Medicine.

“Chris and I are out teaching or working at all of our clinics every month, staying pretty busy,” said Salaway.

“We’re passionate about physical therapy and Mike and I feel we have a good balance between treating patients and making sure the company continues to grow,” Byers concluded.