Congrats to Marc Goldberg, VNS Health’s 2023 Physical Therapist of the Year!

With a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and a master’s in physical therapy, Marc Goldberg, PT, Westchester, has always known what he wanted to do. Passionate about rehabilitation therapy for his entire career, he started out working with cardiac patients at NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation for a decade before joining VNS Health in 2012.

And now, Marc has been named VNS Health’s Physical Therapist of the Year!

“I treat all my patients as if they were family members,” Marc says. “I have a lot of compassion for what they are going through. I really listen to them, and then I try to provide the level of skill that’s needed for them to achieve their unique goals.”

Marc is a true embodiment of the VNS Health mission. He sees patients in towns across lower Westchester County who run the gamut from joint-replacement patients to individuals with diabetic or cardiac conditions—and beyond.

“It’s always about physical therapy and helping them regain functionality, but sometimes there’s a social-worker aspect to my job as well,” he notes. “It could be helping a patient navigate the health care system. Or maybe it’s a bit of a nursing role, in which we’re teaching them about signs and symptoms and disease and medication management. These days, patients are discharged from the hospital much sooner, so they’re often in more pain and need more help than in years past. My job is not only to help them regain functional mobility and independence, but also to prevent rehospitalization.”

Marc’s results speak for themselves—literally. “Marc’s patients provide a lot of positive feedback and often ask him to return to care for them,” stated Elsa Lam, Vice President, Regional Patient Care Services at VNS Health, in her nomination letter. Elsa added that he’s equally committed to supporting his VNS Health teammates. “Marc delayed his own elective joint surgery due to short staffing when another teammate was on paternity leave,” she recounted. “His dedication and commitment to the organization, team, and patients is admirable.”

“I consider it a gift and a privilege that I get to enter people’s homes, which provides a level of insight into their lives and needs that you don’t necessarily get in a hospital or outpatient setting,” says Marc. “It’s amazing what we can accomplish in three weeks—whether it’s helping a bedbound person get to the shower, or take a few steps outside to get a little fresh air. What might sound like the smallest things can have greatest impact.”

Congratulations, Marc, on being named VNS Health PT of the Year for 2023!