PhysioRehab Group is joined by Mayor for grand opening in Bolton

By Rob Paul

On Monday, PhysioRehab Group—located at 12612 Highway 50 in Bolton—hosted the official grand opening of its new location in Caledon.

Owner Siddharth (Sid) Bhatia and his staff were joined by Mayor Allan Thompson as he welcomed the team to the Town.

“I'd like to say congratulations to PhysioRehab Group on the grand opening. Council and residents would like to formally welcome you to Caledon's business community and we wish you great success for your business as it grows,” Thompson said.

Thompson noted the importance of celebrating and supporting local businesses now more than ever with the pandemic having a devastating impact over the last 18 months.

“It's more important than ever before that we support local businesses here in Caledon. They are the backbone of our local economy and have greatly contributed to our communities in so many ways. They are the businesses you would see on the backs of sports jerseys or as sponsors to local initiatives and charities, and now it's time for us to help them get through these challenging times by shopping locally.”

The pandemic has actually played a role in the PhysioRehab Group having to push the grand opening back. It's been open since May, but given the circumstances, Bhatia wanted to wait until it was safer to host the Mayor and make it official that he and his team are ready to be stalwarts of the business and health community in Bolton.

The business is a GTA based physiotherapy clinic that also has a location in Brampton (6 Foxhollow Road) and provides physiotherapy services to clients in their homes. The goal is to offer a comprehensive assessment of the root cause of client's pain and provide a personalized treatment, centred around an evidence-based treatment approach that is created specifically for the patient.

Having spent more than a decade in physiotherapy Bhatia is experienced in multiple techniques including acupuncture, kinesis taping, concussion rehab, exercise prescription, and spinal manipulation. Prior to starting his own business, he also spent years gaining experience in the world of physio.

“Basically, I've been in physiotherapy for almost 11 years now and I started off my career in Brampton leading a chain of clinics with CBI Health Centre and then I had so much clientele and so many people who knew me in the industry so that was important [in the move to start his own clinic],” Bhatia said. “When you're trying to open a business and you know you've already got clientele waiting for you, that was a big thing that motivated me to take that step with Caledon and Brampton.”

Bhatia's team aims to cover any and all rehab needs and is made up of multiple physiotherapists and massage therapists to ensure anyone who comes into the clinic can receive the exact treatment they're looking for.

“I try to serve the entire multidisciplinary clinic with what we offer,” he said. “Our team covers different areas—one massage therapist works with pre- and post-pregnancy, the other works more with regular patience and as a sports massage therapist as well, we have a physiotherapist who works more with acupuncture, and I've done spinal manipulation and acupuncture as well. We do deal in workplace injuries so we're associated with… the WSIB and we're fiscal license so we're able to take motorcycle accidents as well because they require this particular license for us to help them. Our team tries to cover everything under one umbrella. That's what our goal is.”

Something that Bhatia feels makes his clinic unique is that they can serve a demographic in Caledon that at times might be dissuaded from pursuing physical therapy needs due to a language barrier. 

“I also come from India so especially if I can speak that language it helps,” he said. “A person can explain to me in a better way their problem which allows it to be addressed in a better way. I find it especially in seniors over the last few years that they're hesitant to go if they're experiencing something because they feel that language will be a barrier. For me, that's played an important role because our staff can speak English, but they're fluent in Indian Punjabi, too.”

A key reason that PhysioRehab Group decided to expand to Caledon and set up in Bolton is because of the growth the area is seeing and the expected population boom in the coming years.

“Population plays an important role,” he said. “Every complete physio clinic serves 6,000 people and we're the seventh one in the Bolton and Caledon area and we're over the 50,000-population mark here. Plus, the population here is growing and growing fast, you can see how much commercial and residential is coming into the area—especially sitting on the border of Brampton and Bolton.”

Since opening over four months ago, Bhatia has seen the business slowly begin to ramp up as COVID has less of an impact and he's excited for what the future holds as well as for the opportunity to create relationships with the medical and health community in Caledon.

“We started off the first week of May and then May, June, and July were slow because of COVID, but once people began getting vaccinated and things opened up more in July, we were allowed to open the doors to the public which made me think we should do an official grand opening to let the community know we're here to serve them,” Bhatia said. “I've been talking to family doctors and physicians in the area, and they've been helpful.”

Knowing they've made it through the toughest part of the pandemic and with physiotherapy usually seeing an uptick as the year dwindles down, Bhatia is ready to make a lasting impact in Caledon. 

“It's been good and it's picking up,” he said. “We've been able to meet more of the community and we're trying to do our best marketing. Really, the best thing that can happen is people leaving an honest review online because that helps—if you go to a restaurant, you check online, and I'm sure that's what everybody does even when you're going to see a physical therapist. It's also helped a lot that we've already been situated in the GTA and moving here people already know us. Now it's getting to the busy months for physiotherapy clinics as the year comes to an end and it's helping us pick up the business. If we could survive over the last year, we're excited for things to return to normal.”

To learn more about PhysioRehab Group, visit www.physiorehabgroup.com.