First time’s a charm for dynamic South Hill duo
Rainier Family Physical Therapy, first-time business owners doing well
Neil Pierson
Published: December 4th, 2008 01:23 PM
From The Puyallup Herald
For Kim Bisson and Susan Jankelson, success began over a cup of coffee.
The physical therapists had been working together at a large Puyallup office when they sat down for coffee in February 2007. That simple meeting helped them discover some common interests and goals for how they wanted their careers to evolve.
“I’ve always wanted to do a small business and my husband and I had looked into other opportunities,” Bisson said. “I didn’t want to do it on my own and I didn’t want to do it full time.”
“Unbeknownst to us we were both looking for entrepreneurial things we could do, besides what we were doing,” Jankelson said. “We knew that alone we wouldn’t be able to do a physical therapy clinic, but together we probably could.”
They began to research small-business opportunities in the South Hill area, first and foremost answering the question of whether it could sustain another physical therapy center.
“We knew there was not going to be a problem supporting this,” Bisson said, noting that the Sunrise, Silver Creek and Gem Heights housing developments were all close to their location of choice at 18710 Meridian Ave. E.
Rainier Family Physical Therapy opened in May and celebrated its six-month anniversary last week. The business has been a rousing success, Bisson and Jankelson said, because former patients have followed them there and helped draw in new clientele.
Success has come so quickly, in fact, that they’ve reached 86 percent capacity and are now looking for another full-time clinician.
“I think people really like the atmosphere we’ve created here as a family place to go,” Jankelson said. “We put (family) in our name for a reason. We really do want to be the family physical therapy place.”
Rainier even installed a Nintendo Wii system a few weeks ago, an idea the owners saw in Today in PT magazine. Wii features a number of interactive games that Rainier has used to help patients with balance and stability.
“We can’t take credit for it,” Bisson said. “But it worked out really great. People love it.”
Bisson and Jankelson have been busy marketing the clinic over the past six months, not only through doctors’ offices but through word of mouth in the community. They believe their services will speak for themselves and turn people into long-term clients.
Rainier’s treatment focus includes any musculoskeletal injury, from general backaches and headaches to sprained ankles and strained shoulders. Bisson and Jankelson have seen a variety of injury causes, from sports and motor vehicle accidents to work-related mishaps.
Ironically, Jankelson almost didn’t become a physical therapist. Her first advanced degree is in elementary education, but decided after a few years of teaching that she wanted to do something else.
She enrolled at Pacific University in Oregon in 1997 to work on her physical therapy degree, spending three years apart from her husband. She then worked at two clinics before co-founding Rainier.
The time spent on establishing their business has reminded the owners of a reason why they teamed up in the first place — family. Both women are mothers of young children and enjoy spending time at home, which is why they rarely work more than 24 hours a week.
“When we decided to open this clinic neither of us wanted to give up our part-time status,” Jankelson said. “We didn’t want to mess with that work-family balance.”
“Our biggest thing is being able to maintain a balance between work and home,” Bisson added, “and not have the business of physical therapy be our life.”
Their less-is-more approach has translated to astonishing growth that even they would’ve been hard-pressed to forecast.
“We are at least six months ahead of schedule of where we thought we’d be,” Bisson said.
Reach Reporter Neil Pierson at 253-841-2481 ext. 313 or by e-mail at neil.pierson@puyallupherald.com
