The EPE Story
“We love being physiotherapists. We want to get you off to a good start, so you can enjoy this profession as much as we do.”
We at EPE are passionate physiotherapists who are always looking for new ways to serve our colleagues and our profession. EPE was established in 2015 to create an education platform with the purpose of assisting our future colleagues to successfully challenge the physiotherapy national competency exams. Physiotherapy students and residents have an immense challenge in covering a substantial amount of material in a short time. Exam preparation can cause a lot of anxiety and uncertainty.
We decided that a way to give back to our profession was to create a new and innovative (CANADIAN) study guide that is designed for today‘s students. The study needs of the modern student have evolved and we felt that it was time that a comprehensive resource evolved with them!
Our Roots
Our company literally began on the back of a cocktail napkin. As many of our more memorable meetings go, two of our founders were enjoying a pint and brainstorming ways to make their lives, and the lives of physiotherapists everywhere, simpler. As with all regulated professions, physiotherapy has mandatory requirements and standards for practice. They thought “wouldn’t it be nice to have one common entity to make those essentials easier to navigate and maintain?” It wasn’t until the next day, when the cobwebs cleared, they looked at their cocktail napkin full of ideas and realized they were onto something. And so it was with that cocktail napkin, Sinequanon was born.
Sine qua non, meaning “absolutely indispensable or essential”, embodies the companies purpose and puts into words our goal to become an essential part of physiotherapists’ professional growth.
Our Vision
Entry to Practice Essentials – a subset of Sinequanon – was created to get physiotherapists completing their competency exams successfully, and starting their careers in a positive direction. When we took our competency exams, no study tools existed, which made it quite difficult to prepare. EPE is designed to help organize your thoughts, sort through the material, and apply your knowledge to practical scenarios. After three years, multiple versions, countless late nights, several beers, the odd scotch, and help from so many of our brilliant colleagues and friends, we are proud of what EPE is today.
Our Values
We love being physiotherapists and we know you will too. It’s a fulfilling profession that not only gives you a lot, but makes it easy to want to give back. This is why we build EPE. It’s also why you can find all of us actively volunteering, speaking at conferences, sitting on executive boards, mentoring students and helping evolve and promote the profession. We believe in the importance of the physiotherapy profession and really strive to ensure that physiotherapy remains an integral part of both Canadian and world health care. Part of ensuring that future starts with our students and soon-to-be colleagues.
Dan Pietens
Registered Physiotherapist, PT
Dan strives to do things right the first time, which is why he is our web design expert. Not only is he a practicing physiotherapist, but he is trained in graphic design, web development and various technologies the rest of us know little about. This makes him a perfect fit with EPE, where he can create his vision of a competency exam study tool tailored to the exam experience. When Dan isn’t doing upgrades, you can find him coaching and playing volleyball and unsurprisingly for a tech guy, gaming.
Erik Schmidt
PT, FCAMPT
Erik lives by the mantra “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” which is clearly reflected in his diverse resume. A little over a decade into his career, Erik has sat on three executives, teaches in three different curriculums, owned six businesses, helped develop two courses, consults in business management and is one of the founders of Sinequanon. Erik is also responsible for brewing most of the beer that supplies our face-to-face meetings.
Darryl Yardley
PT, FCAMPT
Darryl is driven by a "pay it forward" philosophy - exponentially increasing the number of patients served by coaching and supporting other physio's. Through mentorship and speaking opportunities, he challenges physiotherapists to push the status quo and redefine physiotherapy, positioning themselves for hyper success. His ambition and selfless “give more than you take” attitude sets an excellent example for his two young children.
Amy Fahlman
PT, FCAMPT
Amy is a strong believer that true success is finding an adequate balance of personal and professional satisfaction. Though over the past decade she has spent countless hours volunteering within the physiotherapy community, she spent the reminder of her time exploring the world’s great sites, both above and under water. She also prides herself in being able to snatch more weight than any of the other founding members.