Courtesy / Everything In Between
An occupational therapy practice is moving into the first floor of this Springvale office building to meet the area’s pressing need.
March 7, 2021
Larger Springvale occupational therapy practice to fill big need
Courtesy / Everything In Between
Everything In Between owner Valerie Grondin started her business after 13 years at Southern Maine Health Care.
Renovation of an office building in the York County village of Springvale is expected to provide much-needed space to meet pressing demand seen by a growing occupational therapy practice.
Valerie Grondin bought 25 Butler St. from Denlaw Realty LLC for $290,000. Springvale is part of the city of Sanford.
Suzanne M. McKechnie of Investcomm Commercial Group brokered the deal, which closed Jan. 4.
Renovations are almost done and the plan is to open March 15, said Grondin.
Grondin was 5 when her family moved to Sanford from Massachusetts in 1990.
“I knew I wanted to be an occupational therapist since I was 11 years old,” she wrote on her website. “My younger sister received OT services and I loved watching her play as a way to grow and develop. “
She did a career day at a University of New England occupational therapy clinic in fifth grade and never veered off the path. A 2008 graduate of the University of New England master of science program in occupational therapy, she got her first job in Sanford, at Goodall Hospital, which later merged with Southern Maine Health Care.
For almost 13 years, she worked in acute inpatient, acute rehab, skilled nursing and primarily outpatient services.
Business start-up
By December 2019, she had paid off her student loans, which provided the financial freedom to start up her own business. She met with a team from SCORE, a nonprofit network of volunteer business mentors, to get guidance on starting a business. Almost exactly a year ago, on March 1, 2020, she left Southern Maine Heath Care, leased an office at 1068 Main St. in Sanford and called the business Everything In Between, offering clinic, home and community based services for all ages. Common diagnoses include autism, sensory processing, developmental delays, upper extremity injuries and brain injury.
“My drive to open my own practice has come from the desire to help people thrive within the community, within their homes, and to offer clinic based services to master the skills they need for day-to-day living,” she wrote.
But she soon outgrew the space. So last fall, she reached out to McKechnie and started looking for something bigger.
“I wanted to stay in Sanford and Springvale because the need for therapy in this area is huge, primarily in pediatrics,” she said.
Courtesy / Everything In Between
The need for pediatric OT is acute, said licensed therapist Valerie Grondin.
The nearest pediatric clinics are in Saco and York, she said.
“When I left the hospital, I was the only provider in this area seeing kids,” she said.
She looked at prospects both for rental and purchase. It turned out that rental prices in the area were just as high as monthly mortgage payments for the buildings available.
Grondin and her husband, James, had driven around the Butler Street building and deemed the location, size and parking lot perfect.
The big plus was the square footage that provided room for growth. The 2,000-square-foot first floor of the two-story building is far larger than Grondin’s previous lease of 160 square feet plus shared use of other rooms.
Moving the deal quickly
To move the deal along quickly, James’s parents, Ron and Anna Grondin, who own an electronics company in Sanford called Marja Corp., bought the property.
“I’m blessed by amazing in-laws,” Valerie Grondin said. “They purchased this property personally and James and I will purchase it from them in June. We have an agreement for that.”
Grondin and her husband did the demolition of the downstairs, a former dental office, and contracted a friend for the renovation, including the installation of 2,000 square feet of new flooring, sheetrock and paint, and creating a separate closed-door treatment room and two 10-foot by 16-foot areas for gross motor skill development, including equipment such as a climbing structure, therapy balls and matted flooring.
Renovations were expected to cost $20,000 plus another $8,000 for equipment, financed through a commercial loan.
Courtesy / Everything In Between
Demolition began shortly after the deal closed Jan. 4.
An upstairs tenant will remain in place for a year.
The beginning of the pandemic slowed her business. But with the start of remote schooling in September, she said, it became clear that some children in need of services were falling through the cracks, either because services were dropped due to the pandemic or because children were being asked to do therapy virtually, which wasn’t realistic.
Grondin has been able to provide in-person services that follow COVID-19 guidance. An upswing in referrals began around September.
“We were averaging two to three referrals per week,” she said.
Courtesy / Everything In Between
Newly renovated space at Everything In Between.
In October, she hired a second therapist.
But at the smaller space, the practice was limited to 35 to 40 visits per week. In the new space, she said, she’ll be able to offer about 70 visits per week.
Grondin said she expects to hire more therapists once she’s in the new space, including one for in-home services for older adults and an additional pediatric therapist, likely this summer.
The need for pediatric OT is acute, she said. At the hospital, she said, she always had a waiting list of about 10 people.
“Our schools are overwhelmed, and the kids don’t always qualify to have in-school OT services,” she said. “If they do, that does nothing for their at-home needs.”
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Anonymous
March 9, 2021
I am so proud of you Val! You have seen your dream come true. You will do amazing things for the community.
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