The hard knocks Johnny Napier and his teammates received during four years of high school football spurred the Harlan County native to consider a career as a physical therapist even as a teen.

Years later, Johnny says his desire to help others in need gives him an even greater appreciation of the help he received through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program. That assistance helped him complete one of Kentucky’s most demanding physical therapy programs, and avoid financial bumps and bruises along the way to becoming the first person in his family to attend or graduate college.

“Being a physical therapist is rewarding, because when patients have lost their independence and function, they’re appreciative of your helping them get better,” Johnny, 26, says. “It’s about making a list of goals, and systematically working to achieve those goals. And WIA really helped me achieve my goals and accomplish a lifelong dream, too.”

Johnny graduated from the University of Kentucky’s physical therapy program in May 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in health science and a master’s of physical therapy. That “dual degree” allowed him to quickly find employment with Diversicare, a Tennessee-based company with nursing and rehabilitation centers in Kentucky and seven other states.

Johnny works at the company’s nursing homes in Boyd and Carter counties. He supervises physical therapy assistants at both locations, evaluates patients’ treatment and progress, and personally treats about five patients per day.

“You work with some long-term patients daily because they have declining function,” Johnny says. “Others who have had hip and knee replacement surgeries come in for rehabilitation for two or three weeks, then go home.

“When a patient is down but has a strong desire to get better, it’s exciting when you work with that patient every day and see him finally be able to stand up and maneuver on his own,” he adds. “It’s great when they progress really well, achieve goals, and are able to go back home.”

After completing prerequisite classes at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Harlan, Johnny began working in 2004 on his own goal to get into the University of Kentucky’s (UK) physical therapy program. To stay closer to home, he chose to enroll in the program at the UK Center for Rural Health in Hazard.

Johnny gained acceptance into the program, but soon had to face the reality of a daily, round-trip commute of more than 100 miles from his home in Harlan to the Hazard campus and back. Add to that schedule regular bi-weekly trips to the Lexington campus, and his college costs quickly escalated.

“I was stressing about how I was going to be able to pay for my gas, tuition, books, and cover all the other costs,” Johnny says. “You look at all of that money, and it’s kind of overwhelming.”

A chance encounter with Luther Blanton, WIA career adviser with the Harlan County Community Action Agency (CAA), was Johnny’s introduction to WIA and how the program could help alleviate some of the financial pressure he was facing.

“Luther told me about how the program would help me with gas, tuition, and book costs, and that took a lot of stress off of me right there,” Johnny says. “Luther was excellent to me, and he was there to help me the entire way through. He was there to stand by me and encourage me.”

The Harlan County CAA delivers WIA programs under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP). The Harlan County CAA offices in downtown Harlan and at the Harlan and Cumberland campuses of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College are also access points for the JobSight network, a collaborative partnership of workforce and training agencies administered by EKCEP.

Johnny says the WIA supportive services he received were key in helping him pick up the slack after his financial aid expired halfway through the two-year-plus physical therapy program.

“PT school is stressful enough because it’s a very rigorous academic program,” he says. “If I would have had to be on my own financially, that would have doubled my stress, and would have made it tougher for me to make it through the program while worrying about how I was going to afford just getting to campus.”

Even as he neared the end of his training, Johnny says the Harlan County CAA WIA staff continued to assist him by helping him evaluate career options and create a resume he used to apply for jobs.

Now, as he continues to excel in his new job, Johnny says he feels WIA was the catalyst that helped him make the final push toward achieving his goal of a career in physical therapy.

“Students should use every tool they can to help get through school, because it is expensive,” Johnny says. “WIA was there to support me financially, and to encourage me to do well. If you’ve got the motivation, WIA can help you accomplish your goals.”