Jennifer “Jenny” Guillen is a physical therapist who has been working at Franciscan Health Crown Point for the past 10 years. Guillen found her passion for physical therapy after she got injured while running track in high school. Before going into any surgery, Guillen went to physical therapy and that is what sparked her love for helping injured athletes.
Guillen has not been a part of any sports since high school, but she still enjoys watching sports and being involved in athletes’ lives. She found her love for sports through her own family. Her grandparents are big Chicago Cubs fans while her parents are Chicago White Sox fans, and she grew up watching baseball and also basketball.
She is very passionate about how much she loves to see the positive change in people's lives after she has helped them.
“I like being able to see where people started and then where they end up. I love seeing them actually believing in themselves and getting to where they want to be or even better than before they were injured. I think every day at my job is rewarding. It's never the same thing every day. It's never boring,” said Guillen.
Guillen also enjoys traveling to different games to work with different athletes, including those at the collegiate level, and see them train and play. Guillen sometimes even sees multiple people who train with her go against each other in games.
“Sasha Stefanovic, who plays basketball for Purdue, trains with us because we have sport performance classes as well. I saw him in Milwaukee. I went to the Elite Eight game in Louisville to see him. I flew out to Maryland and I went to see him and another one of our kids, Trace Ramsey, play each other. This past November, a co-worker and I went to Florida for a tournament. There were four kids in the same tournament that have trained with us in the past. It’s fun to see them all at once in the same game,” said Guillen.
Outside of work and sports, Guillen also started her own beer tasting Instagram called @HalfPintOnTap. She got the idea to start this Instagram from a couple of friends who work at a bar near Wrigley Field.
“They have a ton of craft beers on tap and a lot of them you can only get in that bar. And because I travel a lot, they were like 'you should start a beer Instagram account' and I said 'okay.' I call it my fun job,” said Guillen.
Guillen never fails to make herself busy, not only is she a physical therapist and a beer connoisseur, but she also is an athletic trainer for the cheer team Varsity Spirit. While being an athletic trainer for a cheer team, Guillen gets to travel with the team to competitions.
“I do first aid for the cheerleading camps and it's a really good company to work for. I just do their one day competitions and stuff, obviously because I have a full time job so I can't do the summer stuff anymore. But I do their one day competitions and then I fly to Orlando about six times a year with them,” said Guillen.
No matter if Guillen is traveling, enjoying craft beer, or taking care of athletes she never fails to keep herself busy.