Red Deer Wellness + Olds Wellness

Where We Came From

Starting a business focused on treating and rehabilitating athletes in a sports-driven region like Red Deer was a natural fit for founder Melanie Tuck.

As an experienced Athletic Therapist, Melanie spent 1995-96 as Head Therapist for the Calgary Hitmen before moving to Red Deer to teach Kinesiology and serve as Head Athletic Therapist at Red Deer College (RDC) for 15 years. Throughout her career, Melanie embraced the collaborative, interdisciplinary approach of working with teams of therapists and physicians. These experiences solidified the philosophy for Collegiate Sports Medicine – where a team of professionals with a common philosophy would work under one roof to serve a community so they can be treated the way a professional athlete is.

In 2003 this model was realized when Collegiate Sports Medicine opened its first clinic in downtown Red Deer with a small team of physiotherapists, athletic therapists, massage therapists & a sports physician. The services Collegiate provided to Central Alberta were very successful & after a few years of working in the Red Deer clinic Rebecca Henderson (Certified Athletic Therapist) expanded Collegiate, opening a clinic in Olds in 2010.

When RDC was expanding their facilities for the Canada Winter Games, Collegiate was excited to finally realize its dream of providing services on campus for students, staff & the public. In October 2018, Melanie partnered with long-time Business Manager Jenn Lunn to open Collegiate Sports Medicine (RD Campus).

In June 2024, Melanie passed on her 21-year ownership in the Red Deer clinics to Physiotherapists Aspen Haynes & Ben MacDonald, who had been treating at Collegiate for many years – keeping Collegiate locally-owned, growing and thriving in Central Alberta.

Why ‘Collegiate’?

The word Collegiate means “of, or like a college”. If you’re “Of a college”, you’re part of a learning institution or a group of like-minded learners. If you are “Like a College” you are similar to a learning institution, which means a place to go to share or acquire knowledge.  We looked at the word to try and bring in the idea, not only of excellence but also continual learning and reaching beyond our capabilities for the benefit of you, our client. We want to ensure that when you come into the clinic that you are educated about your injury to allow you to wrap your head around why you have to be out of your sport, or out of your job or profession while you’re getting better.

We love that as we teach you, that we too are being challenged or pushed by you to do our very best because of your need & desire to get back at it. That’s what drives us; working together in a collaborative sense to do the very best we can for not only our clients and our community but also ourselves as learning individuals. This philosophy can be seen in our logo where the person is reaching beyond or past the grid which represents a goal or challenge.

Our vision is to be the very best sports medicine clinic, dedicated to achieving positive results every time—through an interdisciplinary, caring, professional approach. We continue to learn every day to allow you to achieve your goals. By collaborating with you, our client, we act as your advocate to navigate the health care system.