By Sandra Thames / Community Columnist

“Some of the things I remember from Alabaster as a child…running around the ballpark while brothers Heath and Hunter played baseball, tracing my whole body in Mrs. Waugh’s kindergarten, an old-time Christmas party with Mrs. Carden in first grade, trick or treating in Navajo Hills where we lived back then, a trip to Birmingham Zoo when Earl Pike dropped his snow cone on the dirt,” Heather Ray said. “He picked it up and remarked that God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt. What a great childhood and family surrounded me with love.”

After graduating from Thompson High School and then Troy University with a Bachelor’s degree in biology and in 2007 with a doctorate in physical therapy from UAB, her first job was at Bibb Medical Center, where she gained experience in a hospital, nursing home and outpatient setting. The fit was not quite right for Ray, which led her to interview at Impact Rehab and Sports Medicine.

It was apparently a good fit.

“I originally chose Physical Therapy because it is a hands-on job where I can see the results of my work. Impact allows me to spend time with each patient, making a specific plan to reach their goals of mobility, strength and function,” she said. “The fun conversations I have with my patients are the best part of my job.”

Ray’s job includes evaluating patients for movement disorders, planning their care, implementing that plan through exercise, manual therapy, functional activities and pain relief modalities as well as scheduling, answering the phone, laundry and cleaning mats.

“The most important goal in my life is to raise my children to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior,” she said. There are many goals in Ray’s life, but her most important is to serve Christ. Married to Daryl Ray, a Calera fireman, her family attends Westwood Baptist where Bible study for her 10th grade Girls Discipleship Group is a favorite. Being VBS director, coordinator of the Angel Tree Ministry and a member of the Next Steps team are all a part of her ministry.

“Keeping up with Parker’s (age 5) baseball games and chasing Elizabeth (age 3) complete my busy life with God guiding every step” said Ray.