Support affordable therapy for everyone

I was born and raised in Rochester and graduated from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas with a degree in Finance and Economics in 2019. I was hired by Sterling State Bank upon graduation and recently began a career at Mayo Clinic in their Treasury Department. live in Stewartville with my wife Samantha, who’s an RN at St. Mary’s Hospital. I have been an EA board member since November 2020 and although I’m relatively new to the professional world, I strive every day to make the world around me a better place through hard work and kindness to others. I believe that the best way to help the Rochester community, and the greater state of Minnesota as a whole, become healthier, happier and more independent is to treat every individual with the dignity and respect they deserve. I serve as the Board Treasurer and chair of the Finance and Investment Committees.

Peggy O’Toole-Martin was the Early Childhood Family Services Program Manager for Rochester Public Schools and retired in 2018 after working for 35 years as a parent educator, staff supervisor and program manager.  She received her B.A. from the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota and her M.S. in Family Life Education/Family Studies from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Peggy has given presentations on a variety of parenting, early childhood, disability awareness, supervision and management topics.  She has published materials about supporting families with children with special needs and the positive impacts of parent education classes on child behavior.  She has served on the Board of Directors for Minnesota’s Association for Family and Early Education (MNAFEE), Rochester Public Schools Student Support Services and Parent/Family Involvement Councils, Rochester Interagency Early Intervention Committee, the Board of Directors for PossAbilities of Southern MN, The Arc Minnesota and Olmsted Medical Center’s Patient and Family Advisory Council.

She has been active on issues related to disability awareness, education, inclusion, and public policy advocacy. She has been married for 45 years and has three adult children, one with a cognitive disability. In her retirement she remains an active disability advocate.

“My philosophy of working with families is pretty simple. It is about understanding the diverse perspectives and needs of children and families, and supporting them so that they experience equity, good health, stability and happiness”.

Dr. Melanie is our Founder, CEO and Executive Director. She attained her Masters in Physical Therapy with honors in February, 1998 and her Doctor of PT in 2008, both from the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, MN. She has 20+ years experience working in a variety of fields including 11 years in spinal cord injury and brain injury acute rehabilitation while at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She is a member of the board of directors as a non-voting ex-officio staff position.

Her passion is embodied in her founding of ExercisAbilities, Inc, now Doing Business As EA Therapeutic Health. Dr. Melanie is dedicated to improving access to rehabilitation and specialized fitness to all people who desire to continue to improve their abilities beyond our traditional medical and insurance models. Her practice specialties include anything neurologic in adults. Special certifications include activity based training from the Christopher and Dana Reeves Foundation NeuroRecovery Network, NDT (neuro-development technique) based rehab for stroke recovery, Neufit Neubie, Frequency Specific Microcurrent, and aquatic therapy. Although these days Dr Melanie spends much of her time in meetings and in her office doing business work for EA, she loves to get out on the gym floor and mentor others in these areas of practice.

At home, Melanie is busy with 2 grown daughters plus one busy daughter still at home and in every school activity possible. She enjoys traveling to far off places which include South Africa, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand.

I was born and raised in Rochester, MN, along with my two brothers and one sister.  Upon high school graduation, I attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, and truly believed I would never return to live in Rochester, as I thought it was too small.  Never say never because after graduating college and living in other mid-west cities over the next ten years, family and business brought me back to this great community.  My wife is Registered Nurse at Mayo Clinic.  We have four children and greatly appreciate being able to raise them in a safe, growing and vibrant community.

I joined the Board of Directors in 2021.  However, I’ve known of ExercisAbilities for many years through my brother. He received physical therapy treatment from them for a long time for his many special needs. As a family member, they truly made a difference for him by caring for and addressing his specific situation. Now as a Board member, I am able to see that they do the same for all of their clientele and follow their mission every day, ‘make healthy, happy and independent possible for everyone’. I look forward to being a productive member of the ExercisAbilities community and contributing to their mission and continual growth.

I have been a Board member since Sept of 2020.  I have been involved in helping people with Special Needs for many years in a variety of ways, such as Special Olympics, running Community Education classes and volunteering at Miracle League.   I am also a member and current President of Civitan which is a Service Club that raises money and does community service projects to enhance the lives of people with disabilities.  In the past I worked for Cardinal of Minnesota for 25 years.  I retired in May 2020.  I am currently working part time for Elder Network.   I feel that all of the above experiences listed helped me to be a strong advocate for the needs and rights of people who are in need of the types of services that EA provides. I have one daughter and three grandchildren.

Professionally, for the past 38 years, I have worked in the field of special education. After graduating from John Marshall High School in 1979, I attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout and pursued the field of education. I received my Bachelor of Science Degree in Early Childhood Education in 1983 and began my teaching career in Plainview, MN. At the time of my graduation teaching jobs were difficult to find, so when a position in special education opened up in Plainview, I applied and was hired. Although I did not hold the proper certification, the position proved to be a perfect fit for me. That next summer I attended Mankato State University and obtained licensure in the area of Early Childhood Special Education. I taught in Plainview for three years and then accepted a similar position for the Rochester Public Schools. During this time, I enrolled at the University of Minnesota and obtained my Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and licensure as a Special Education Director and Elementary School Principal.

During my tenure in Rochester Public Schools, I held numerous positions both as an educator and administrator. In the field of special education administration, my roles allowed me to experience all age groups and the continuum of services for students with special needs. In addition to special education, I was afforded the opportunity to work as the Early Childhood Family Education Program Manager in Community Education, Coordinator of the Graduate Induction Program, Director of Title Programs, and Supervisor of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. For the past 11 years, I served on the Superintendent’s Cabinet in the position of Executive Director of Student Services. In this role, I was responsible for supervision of all areas of special education, related services, health services, Students In Transition (homeless), Title Programs, mental health, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). As the Executive Director, I gained extensive knowledge in the areas of finance and budgeting, human resources, grant writing, School Board Policy, and educational law.

I recently retired from Rochester Public Schools and am excited to have the time to serve the community in other ways. The opportunity to be a member of the EA Board is of great interest to me, and I hope to join all of you in continuing this very important work.

Heather Donovan has worked at Sterling State Bank for 16 years; 8 years as a credit analyst and loan processor and 8 years as a Commercial lender, currently serving as VP in Commercial Lending. She has her bachelor’s degree in Accounting Management from Arizona State University.

Volunteer Experience:

Current positions: RCTC Foundation board member, Rochester Chamber board member, Jeremiah Program Development committee, EA Therapeutics event committee

Past positions: Byron Community Foundation Board, Crisis line counselor Victim Services Olmsted County, Bolder Options Rochester Advisory Board, Minnesota Children’s Museum event committee

Heather lives in Byron with her husband and two daughters, 9 and 11. She enjoys golfing, hiking, and traveling to warm places.

John Hollman, PT, PhD, FAPTA, graduated from Luther College in 1992, from the Physical Therapy Program at the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in 1994, and from Washington University in St. Louis in 2000 with his PhD in Biomechanics. He is a Professor of Physical Therapy at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and serves as Physical Therapy Program Director (2003-present) and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences (2022-present)

Dr. Hollman has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers in scientific and professional journals and serves as an editorial board member with the Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Gait & Posture. He is a member of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), including the association's academies of geriatrics, orthopedics, research, and education; the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine; the American Society of Biomechanics; and the International Society of Posture & Gait Research. He was honored in 2024 with a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the APTA designation, or FAPTA, the association’s highest honor among its membership categories recognizing professional excellence.