After serving the town for nearly 23 years, physical therapist Ken Rude has closed the doors to his Pine Plains practice. His office at 15 Pilch Drive shuttered on June 30.
“I wish the practice could have gone on forever, but I got too old to do it anymore,” said Rude, 71.
Rich Johnson’s family has been coming to Rude for generations. “He took care of my grandparents, my mom, me, my wife, and my son, too,” he said. “Ken dedicates a full 45 minutes with you, unlike most other places where you feel like you’re just part of a herd of cattle. I knew it was going to happen sometime, but I was heartbroken when I heard he was retiring.”
The Brandts have also been Rude’s long-time patients. “My 91-year-old husband John thinks Ken is wonderful; we both love his positive attitude,” Marigo said. “Now we’ll have to travel to Rhinebeck twice a week. It’s not very convenient.”
A Chicago native, Rude moved to the Hudson Valley in 1989 after earning his degree in physical therapy from Temple University in Philadelphia. He and his wife, Allison Hale-Rude, chose to settle in Red Hook, where they’ve remained ever since.
Before launching his own clinic, Rude worked at Columbia-Greene Medical Center, Columbia County Community Health Partners, and Ferncliff Nursing Home. “Those jobs helped me realize that I needed to be my own boss,” he said. “I didn’t want an institution to tell me what to do.”
Rude also wanted to build a practice in a medically underserved town. In September 2002, he bought the building at 2980 East Church Street (most recently occupied by Demeter Home, which vacated the building earlier this month) and, with his wife, opened for business.
The office was bustling within a few months — all through word of mouth— but the challenges of managing property caught up with Rude, so in 2015 he moved his practice to Pilch Drive.
“It was really hard to maintain the [Church Street] building, and too expensive,” he said. “Allison and I realized we would be better as renters, and the new space offered more of what I needed to take care of my patients.”
In 2008, Rude opened a second office in Dover Plains, where he practiced until 2023.
“Those were 70-hour workweeks,” he said.
Rude didn’t always envision a career in physical therapy. He graduated from Wisconsin’s Beloit College with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts, then worked as a photographer. But in 1979, a life-altering bicycle accident changed everything.
“I had just broken up with my girlfriend at the time, and I was full of angst and frustration,” Rude said. “I blew off steam by riding my bicycle, but I wiped out at high speed going down a hill. I blew out a few discs in my back.”
Weeks of PT got him back on his feet — and helped him discover a new path forward.
“That accident was a weird stroke of luck,” Rude said. “I decided I wanted to help people use exercise as a way to get well, and becoming a physical therapist was the way to do that. It was also when I became romantically involved with Allison — we’d already been friends for two and a half years.”
Rude said their friendship was the secret to a successful partnership in marriage and business. “Our roles were well-defined,” Hale-Rude said. “I was 100% administrative.” She never hired an assistant and handled all the scheduling, electronic billing, insurance authorizations, and referrals — but admitted that she loved chatting with patients, too.
“I swear most of my patients came to PT just to hang out with Allison,” Rude joked.
Katlyn Maxwell came from Ancram for help with a severe knee injury. “Ken would often ask me how my spirit was — how I was doing mentally with everything I was going through,” she said. “I never had any physical therapist care about me like that. He’s one in a million. Now I have to wait until August —that’s the soonest I could get a new patient appointment to continue PT.”
Rude said he’d hoped to retire in 2023, but delayed his plans in an effort to find a successor.
“I didn’t want to leave the community without a replacement,” he said. “I finally found someone willing to start in mid-May, but his deal with the landlord fell through. It was devastating.”
On July 1, Rude handed the keys to the Pilch Drive office over to a new tenant, Sarah Hakobian, owner of Heaven’s Light Bakery and Café. “She told us she may set up a day-care center,” Rude said. Hakobian could not be reached for comment.
What’s next for Rude?
“We have to catch up on fixing our house; it’s been neglected for decades,” he said. “I’ll be working on a book for physical therapy professionals, and I also plan on painting, hiking — and biking. I loved interacting with patients, and being able to do something for them that actually helped, but it’s time to get on with my life.”
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