MONTHLY
DECEMBER 2018
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“N o S tinkin ’ T hinkin ’”
MY GRANDPA’S APPROACH TO A LIFE WELL-LIVED
Vital Care Patients ENTER TO WIN Find the misspelled word in this newsletter and call (623) 544-0300 for your chance to win a $10 gift card! CALL (623) 544-0300 Contest is for past and present Vital Care PT patients only. around him experienced the same zest for life that he did. No matter the situation, he managed to look at the bright side. In fact, he would always say, “No stinkin’ thinkin,” a phrase he repeated to all of his grandkids to keep us from whining pessimistically. I really try to keep an optimistic attitude, and my hope is to convey that positivity to my patients. In most cases, when someone walks through our office doors, they are suffering from a great deal of pain. Pragmatically, my job relies on my ability to properly diagnose and treat people’s ailments, but I can only help a patient through recovery if I consider their emotional perspective first. When a patient comes to me in pain, it is my job to help them focus on the positive aspects. Recently, I started wondering where my emphasis on positivity came from, and I believe I’ve traced it back to the source: my grandpa, Dean Lufkin. My grandpa always had a smile on his face, and he worked hard to make sure that everyone
My grandpa grew up on a farm in a small rural town in Iowa. He liked to joke that he was the valedictorian of his class. However, he went to school in a
a lot of support, primarily because my husband needed to stay in Phoenix. While my husband and I agreed that a long-distance arrangement was a possibility, some of our family members believed it would put a strain on our relationship. In fact, one relative asked me, “Do you want
an education or a divorce?” When I approached my grandpa with my dilemma, he simply said, “You need to think of the distance from a different perspective. When
one-room schoolhouse and was the only student in his graduating class. Soon after high school, he and my grandma were married, and they had my mom shortly after. When my mom was still a baby, he decided that they should move across the country to Arizona. To this day, I’m still not entirely sure what prompted the move, but whatever it was, it was a great decision. He started his business, Lufkin Construction, right when Phoenix started growing as a town, so his company
you get to see each other after a week apart, it’ll be like a honeymoon every weekend.” This one conversation symbolizes my grandpa’s approach to all of life’s complexities. To him, there was always a silver lining, a positive way to view each situation. Because I’m writing
“He liked to joke that he was the valedictorian of his class because he was the only one in it.”
this newsletter, you all know that I ended up following his advice; I went to PT school, and I am gearing up to celebrate my 22nd wedding anniversary this December.
stayed lucrative for years. You can still walk through several of the stores, churches, and hospitals he constructed — he even helped
In both my clinic and my life, I’ve always striven to embody my grandpa’s valuable perspective. I take my job seriously, but I don’t let the stress that comes with business ownership overcome me. I push my patients to reach their goals, but I encourage and support them along the way. And I understand that life has its downsides, but if you look hard enough, you can always find a break in the clouds. I owe it all to him. –Andrea McWhorter
with several buildings on the Northern Arizona University campus, where I went to school. I always thought it was really cool that I could take a class in a room he had made with his own hands. My grandpa influenced my educational path in other ways too. When I initially decided to go to physical therapy school in Flagstaff, I didn’t get
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