The West Texas Rehabilitation Center offers a wide range of physical, speech and occupational therapies for people suffering from a variety of conditions, including cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a condition that most often affects motility and communication skills.

Since its inception in 1953, the center has grown from a small classroom at Bonham Elementary School in Abilene to a successful non-profit with facilities in San Angelo and Ozona as well. The organization has an $18.4 million yearly budget.

Shelley Smith, the center’s first physical therapist, set up at the school with 17 patients. He hoped to eventually expand his practice, while working to eliminate or ease disorders and disabilities.
Now, the West Texas Rehabilitation center aims to help patients achieve their maximum potential and live a “self-sufficient and fulfilling life,” according to their website.

Smith explains that he worked with polio patients during his training.  “I noticed that only the wealthy for first-rate service and treatment,” he said. “The middle- and lower income people would end up in hock for the rest of their lives.” “We’re everyone’s Rehab,” he said of WTRC.