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Healing and happiness is physical therapist's goal

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Opening up a business in her hometown was a dream come true for Leigh-Ann Edison, the co-owner of Paramount Physical Therapy in Valley Stream.

Dozens of elected officials, community leaders, friends and family came out to her Sunrise Plaza office for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 13 to welcome the newest addition to Valley Stream’s business community and the Chamber of Commerce. Edison owns the business with Michael Settanni, who also has had a physical therapy practice in Bellmore for the past decade.

Edison has worked for Settanni for the past four years, but they are equal partners at Paramount, a name chosen to represent the premier coverage they strive to give patients. “I’m looking forward to bringing the care that we’ve been providing in Bellmore to a new area,” Edison said.

Plans to open the Valley Stream location have been in the works for about a year. Edison said she found the location on Sunrise Plaza, just east of the Valley Stream train station, last summer and the lease was officially signed in February. For the last two months, she and Settanni have been getting the place ready. “We basically just had four walls,” she said, noting that painting needed to be done, carpeting installed and equipment purchased.

Edison, who attended Holy Name of Mary School and graduated from Central High, holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Adelphi University and a doctorate in physical therapy from Stony Brook University. When studying for her degrees, she had to take business management classes and was glad she did. Even back then, Edison said she knew she wanted her own practice someday.

When she was growing up, Edison danced with a studio and said she needed physical therapy herself because of the wear and tear on her body. That gave her some answers as she was thinking about her future. “I always wanted to do something in the medical field,” she said.

At Paramount, Edison and Settanni work with patients one-on-one using state-of-the-art equipment and treat people of all ages. They help post-surgery patients, people with sports, dance or work-related injuries, adults with balance and neurological issues and children with developmental issues and disabilities.

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