Meet Our Therapists & Staff

Deanna F
Physical Therapist Assistant
Deanna is a Physical Therapist Assistant who received her bachelors degree at NC A & T University in 2009. She decided to continue her education at Martin Community College where she received her Physical Therapy Assistant Degree. She enjoys being a mother to her beautiful baby girl. She has a specialty in geriatric and pediatric Physical Therapy through her experience in daycare’s, and home health. She recently worked in school systems with children of all ages. She has experience working with multiple diagnoses. She has a huge passion for helping children reach their developmental milestones, and loves to see them gain confidence in completing various activities.

Rachel C
Physical Therapist
Rachel is a licensed Physical Therapist, she received her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Duke University-School of Medicine, following a Rehabilitation Science B.S. at University of Pittsburgh and certification in Patho-kinesiology. Rachel has rehabilitation experience working at UPMC Mercy (Pittsburgh, PA)—cross-trained in ICU and acute neuro-trauma units including Stroke, Spinal Cord Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury. Her clinical internships specialized in infant-handling, torticollis, motor milestone delays, a variety of neuromuscular conditions within a diverse pediatric and adolescent population, as well as balance and movement disorders within neuro-trauma and geriatric populations. She has experience in a variety of settings, including hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinics, skilled nursing facilities, home care, and specialty clinics for spasticity, orthopedics, muscular dystrophy, and down syndrome. Rachel is able to expand her creativity when working with infants and kiddos, use her knowledge of movement patterns, facilitate the resilience of the human body, and continue to be inspired by each patient and each family. In her free time, she enjoys rowing, yoga, travel, running with her adorable rescue puppy, and spending time with family and friends.

Chip C
Physical Therapist Assistant
Born and raised in Charlotte, NC, Edwin “Chip” Chapin has lived in the Raleigh area since graduating from the Physical Therapy Assistant program at Charlotte Piedmont Community College in 1999. Chip began his PTA career working at Easter Seals. This is where he discovered his love for helping children and decided to devote his career to working with the pediatric population. In 2005, Chip joined Total Rehabilitation where he worked exclusively with the 0-21 age group. He will devote his time and resources to once again work with 0-3 early intervention population and with children ages 3-21. Chip has extensive experience with children afflicted with cerebral palsy, developmental disabilities, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, brain injury, rehabilitation from surgery, autism, and chromosomal abnormalities. In his spare time, Chip enjoys fishing, golfing and cheering on the Carolina Panthers. He also enjoys spending time with his family and friends.

Andrew F
Physical Therapist
James “Andrew” Foster, II has been with Care First since May 2019 working with Pediatrics. He graduated from NC State University undergrad with a Bachelor’s of Science in Veterinary Bioscience and minors in Sports Science and Business Management. He received his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2016. James has training in dry needling, and kineso taping. Two years prior he worked at an Outpatient Orthopedic clinic, and went on a service learning trip to Guatemala to an under-served and impoverished hospital helping pediatrics.

Amy A
Physical Therapist Assistant
Amy is a Physical Therapist Assistant with certification in Adult, Child CPR AED and Infant CPR. She has an experience of 14 years as a physical therapist assistant with specialization in functional chain reaction. As a PTA professional she believes that different treatment works for each individual person.

Nelson A
Physical Therapy Assistant

Disha P
Therapy Rehabilitation Admin

Shelby T
Clinic Liaison
Shelby Taylor is our clinic liaison assisting our Licensed Therapy Staff with the care of our patients. Starting PTA school in fall 2021, Shelby is a licensed yoga instructor and earned her Bachelors of science in education. In her free time she enjoys dancing, practicing yoga and baking.

Mukti Patel
Physical Therapist

Kirsten R
Level 2 Mentor Physical Therapist

Meagan R
Physical Therapist
Meagan has experience working with both adults and pediatrics with a variety of orthopedic and neurological conditions. Her passion lies in working with pediatric clients and she has experience working with a variety of neurological, genetic, and developmental conditions including developmental delay, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and a multitude of other conditions. She has experience working with children of all different abilities including those who are medically fragile. Meagan absolutely loves her job as a physical therapist and is very passionate about providing the best care possible for the individual. Meagan believes in a "full person" approach and believes the best therapeutic results are obtained by getting to know the person as a whole. When Meagan is not working, you may see her enjoying the outdoors with her dog or participating in one of her many hobbies such as painting or singing.

Pratibha V
Physical Therapist
Pratibha has a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy with a specialization in Neurology and has over 6 years of working in the field. She has experience working with Neurological and Ortho conditions and specializes in Stroke and Parkinsons rehab. Ratibha’s compassionate and supportive attitude helps her connect with and care about her patients. Pratibha has always wanted to work in the health care field and enjoys helping people improve their quality of life. In her free time, Pratibha enjoys spending time with her family as well as cooking, running, biking, and hiking.

Maryellen H
Physical Therapist

Donna R
SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGIST
Donna, M.A., CCC-SLP, received her B.A. and M.A. from Marshall University, Huntington, WV. Her experience in the field of communication disorders spans over 32 years in early intervention, preschool and school settings. She has been an active member of the North Carolina Speech, Hearing & Language Association for over a decade. She is also active the American Speech Language Hearing Association, which she is NC Stat liaison for Division 14, school-based issues. Donna’s areas of expertise encompasses emergent literacy, phonological awareness, spoken language disorders, autism, apraxia (motor planning), Assessment/Management of children with craniofacial impairments (toddler, preschool, school age), augmentative communication, fluency, intellectual disabilities, articulation and language delays and disorders. Donna has always loved working with children and their families, watching them develop their communication potential. Parents always receive support from Donna regarding techniques, strategies they can implement in the home setting to increase their child’s potential. She has served over hundreds of children in a variety of settings. Donna always demonstrates passion of care for all children and makes her sessions educational and fun. She supports and implements a transdisciplinary team approach for each child.

Paula H
Chief Projects Coordinator
Paula Hils, MA, CCC-SLP received her B.A. degree in communication disorders from Pennsylvania State University in 1985. She continued her studies at Indiana University and earned M.A.T. in speech and hearing sciences and completed ASHA certification of Clinical Competence in 1988. As a licensed speech-language pathologist she has over 25 years of experience in childhood speech & language development including articulation, phonological awareness, language delays/ disorders, autism, stuttering, augmentative/alternative communication. She has provided assessment and treatment of adult & geriatric patients for aphasia, dysphagia/swallowing and voice disorders. Additional professional experiences include clinical supervisor and clinical research coordinator. She has lived in North Carolina for 25 years and resides in Apex, NC with her husband and 3 school age children. She enjoys traveling, especially to the beach, cooking and reading.

Kara P
Level 3 Coach Speech Language Pathologist
Kara, MA-CCC SLP, currently lives in Durham, NC with her husband. She earned her Master’s degree from UNC-Greensboro after graduating from James Madison University. Kara enjoys working with young children and their families in their natural environment to develop communication in daily routines. Kara also has a passion for helping children with their feeding and eating skills to improve family routines and meal times. When Kara isn’t proving therapy, she enjoys baking, reading books, and exploring new places with her husband.

Erica S
Level 4 Supervisor Speech Language Pathologist
Erica N. Strong, MS, CCC-SLP is an enthusiastic therapist who lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and rescued dog, Zoe. As a North Carolina native, she received both her Bachelor’s of Science in Speech and Hearing Sciences Master’s of Science in Communications Sciences and Disorders from East Carolina University. Erica has a passion for pediatrics and has enjoyed working with children, all the while collaborating with their parents and caregivers in the natural environment.

Kayla M
Level 3 Coach Speech Language Pathologist
Kayla has experience in evaluating and training a variety of pediatric speech and language deficits such as phonological and articulation delays, expressive and receptive language delays, fluency, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive delays, and other nonverbal communicators. She enjoys the wide span of the pediatric population, especially early intervention and preschool-aged children. Kayla believes in creating a plan of care that will assist both parents and children in communicating successfully in the child's natural environment. Outside of being a therapist, you can often catch Kayla at the local trails walking her fur baby Milo or trying out a new restaurant.

Morgan R
Speech Language Pathologist
Morgan is completing her Clinical Fellowship year following the completion of her Master's in Speech and Language Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has worked with a variety of populations including school-aged children ranging from K-12 with specific speech and language needs. She worked in Acute Rehab assessing and treating swallowing and language disorders following stroke, TBI, and COVID complications. Morgan loves building connections and relationships with those around her which inspired her to pursue a career in Speech Language Pathology. She looks at situations from a variety of viewpoints and adds creativity to her solutions. Outside of Care First Rehab, you can catch Morgan testing a new recipe, going on hikes, and reading her current book.

Kathleen B
Speech Therapist
Kathleen has experience and interest in treating and evaluating a variety of pediatric and childhood speech and language deficits, such as receptive and expressive language delays, articulation and phonological delays, autism, cerebral palsy, cognitive delays, fluency, pragmatics, Fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome. Kathleen is a kind and giving therapist that enjoys building relationships with parents and children to provide the best services possible. She lives in Raleigh with her husband and two dogs. In her free time, Kathleen enjoys reading, cooking, and sitting on her back deck.

Kaitlyn M
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant
Kaitlyn received her Associate’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Pitt Community College in Greenville, NC and is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. She has been practicing for 2 years and focuses on serving patients who have had strokes, autism, ADD/ADHD, developmental delays, down syndrome, Alzheimer’s, hand injuries, sensory processing disorders, spinal cord injury, TBI, general life aging complications like incontinence, extremity weakness and more. Kaitlyn is a vibrant, kind, energetic therapist who works hard to build strong relationships with patients to ensure that she can help the reach their goals by using different functional strategies. One of her greatest lessons in this work is that the affects of sensory disorders can be supported by having proper recognition, regulation, and coping strategies so a child’s knowledge, skills, and abilities can shing through. She loves bonding with her patients, ensuring that they accomplish their goals over time so they can experience joy and happiness daily. In her free time, Kaitlyn enjoys the outdoors, running, dancing, traveling and spending quality time with friends. Kaitlyn is originally from Maine and misses her parents dearly as they are her dearest friends. Rocky, her cat, keeps her company who loves to sleep and cuddle mostly. Kaitlyn has been busy meeting famous stars like Brittany Spears, Luke Bryan and Vanna White. More importantly, she wants to meet Betty White and Jennifer Aniston because both women exude so much knowledge, wisdom, grace, and kindness while also being very talented.

Ivan M
Occupational Therapist
Ivan received his BS degree in Occupational Therapy and is a certified CPR, EMS ultrasound. He has been practicing for 24 years and focusing on serving patients who have strokes, TBI’s, orthopedic injuries (shoulder, forearm and elbows). He loves bonding with his patients, ensuring that they accomplish their goals over time so they can experience joy and happiness daily. He is passionate about travel and to meet new people and to try new food.

Lauren J
Level 4 Supervisor Occupational Therapy
Lauren received her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and a certified CPR. Currently she is in the process of getting her post professional Doctorate degree in Occupational Therapy. One of her greatest lessons in this work is that you cannot force someone to therapy however, through client centered intervention you can motivate patients to participate. She loves bonding with her patients, ensuring that they accomplish their goals over time so they can experience joy and happiness daily. In her free time, Lauren enjoys playing soccer, running, workout, traveling and spending quality time with family and friends.

Alexandra K
Occupational Therapist

Heidi R
Certified Occupational therapy Assistant

Gabrielle B
Patient Care Liasion / Occupational Therapist

Sefir K
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant

Erika W
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant

Margie C
Sales & Marketing Specialist

Michael C
Manager: Operations, Human Resources, Marketing, Recruiting

Jeannie P
Front Desk Operations Manager
Jeannie has been an administrator in one role or another for over 15 years. She has a variety of experiences from working in hospitals, nursing homes, home health care facilities, and rehabilitation therapy clinics like Care First Rehab. Jeannie is passionate about supporting and helping our patients. She loves chatting with them and helping them through their healing process. She enjoys traveling and exploring new places and spending time with her family in her free time. She had the pleasure of meeting Beyonce....she enjoyed meeting her because

Samantha S
Administrative and Scheduling Supervisor
Samantha has been working in administrative roles for 4 years and enjoys working at Care First because she enjoys interacting with patients. In her free time she enjoys playing video games, spending time with her dogs and going to the beach. If she could pick someone famous to meet it would be Hayley Williams from Paramore. Sam says she has an awesome voice and is an upstanding human being.

Pragati S
COO

Michelle M
Michelle is currently enrolled in PTA and Medical Office Administration programs through FTCC. She wants to obtain her Doctorate of Physical Therapy. She is a quick learner who is good with technology and loves making connections with people.

Kala F
Prior to Care First Rehab, KaLa has worked administration with Primary Care Physician offices covering 15 different facilities. She relocated to the area with her family from Virginia. KaLa believes that caring for others the way she would like to be cared for is the best way to live. In her free time her family enjoys traveling, museums, and new adventures making memories.