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Style Magazine

Get to Know...Katie Thorne

Mar 31, 2010 05:27AM ● By Wendy Sipple

Photo by Dante Fontana

Following a horse accident when she was a high school senior, Katie Thorne became inspired to go into physical therapy.

“I am not really sure what happened,” she says. “I was just walking the horse and the next thing I knew I was kicked in the head and had a broken jaw and a messed up neck.” Hence, physical therapy became a part of her daily life. “I always knew that I wanted to help people. I thought about being a doctor…but soon realized that I did not want to go that direction after having a personal experience with physical therapy.”

Being a physical therapist is not the only way that Thorne helps people. She is a member of the El Dorado County Search and Rescue (SAR), an all-volunteer arm of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department. The efforts of SAR in the backcountry sometimes necessitate Thorne to work on horseback, and she has not let the incident in high school keep her off the breed she adores. “I try to push myself, and some of the other people in Search and Rescue like to help me too!” she laughs.

Last year, to push herself further, Thorne earned her EMT certificate, and the year before, she trained with the Cliff Team, learning to repel and to rescue injured parties from precarious situations. “The team does their best to keep me busy,” she says. Her philosophy? “Do what you can do for others, and if you can work your passion into it, all the better.”


For more about Katie Thorne, and other local happenings and information, be sure to pick up this month's copy of Style – El Dorado County Foothills edition. Click on the Get Your Copy link on this Web site for some of our newsstand locations; click on the Subscribe link on this Web site to become a regular subscriber, or to order a copy of this issue or one of our back issues, please email  [email protected], or call 916-988-9888.