From the pool to patient care: How movement shaped Eugenio’s path
By: Simon Campbell, Specialist, Communications
SUDBURY, Ont. — Long before he was guiding patients through recovery plans across Northern Ontario, Eugenio de Las Heras was measuring progress in split seconds and pool lengths.
As a competitive swimmer in Mexico, he competed nationally in high school before continuing with the U Sport program at the University of British Columbia, training alongside athletes on Canada’s Olympic track. His event, the 200-metre freestyle, demanded endurance, precision and discipline — qualities that would later shape his career in health care.
But injuries redirected that path.
“Those injuries were really the initial motivation,” de Las Heras said. “That’s what led me to physiotherapy.”
Today, he brings those same principles to his work as a physiotherapist with Bayshore Therapy & Rehab Division, supporting patients in Sudbury and across Northern Ontario, often far from a traditional clinical setting. Much of that care begins in patients’ homes.
Referrals arrive through hospital partnerships and insurance programs, including motor vehicle accident cases. From there, de Las Heras reviews medical histories, conducts assessments and develops treatment plans, often in coordination with rehabilitation assistants and interdisciplinary teams.
“This role is about helping patients, and a big part of the help is coordination,” he said. “You assess, set the plan and then stay connected with the team to make sure everything is progressing as it should.”
For many of his patients, particularly seniors managing chronic conditions, the objective is often about preserving independence: preventing falls, maintaining mobility and helping people remain safely at home.
Others are younger patients recovering from severe injuries, where the aim may be a return to work, sport or previous levels of function.
“If someone is in their thirties and working full time before an injury, their goal is to get back to that level,” he said. “With seniors, it’s often about maintaining function and quality of life. The expectations, and the treatment plans are very different.”
That distinction underscores the complexity of rehabilitation, where progress can be uneven and outcomes are often measured in smaller milestones.
For patients with spinal cord trauma or catastrophic injuries, recovery extends beyond physical rehabilitation.
“You go from full independence to needing help with basic activities,” de Las Heras said. “The physical side is just one part. The psychological aspect is huge.”
In those cases, success may begin not with walking, but with more modest gains — transferring safely, using utensils independently or completing daily tasks with less assistance.
“It may not be walking right away,” he said. “It could be transferring with assistance or being able to hold a spoon. Those are big accomplishments and I try to reinforce that with my patients.”
Recognizing those milestones, he said, can be as important as the therapy itself.
When de Las Heras takes on complex cases, he aims for a steady, methodical approach to care — something he attributes to curiosity.
“I like challenges,” he said. “With new or difficult cases, I use all the resources available and keep learning.”
There is a through-line between athlete and clinician, even if he does not dwell on it. Competitive swimming taught him that progress is built through repetition, discipline and persistence — lessons that now shape how he approaches recovery.
Recovery, like training, rarely follows a straight line. There are setbacks, plateaus and moments when motivation falters. Part of the job, he said, is helping patients see beyond those moments.
“You have to remind them why they’re doing it,” he said. “Give them a path they can see, step by step.”
Movement — whether in a swimming lane or a patient’s living room — is still about progress.