A recent jump in demand for physical-rehabilitation specialists has given a boost to a Spokane Valley company that provides such workers temporarily.


As a result of the increased activity, the company, Northwest Therapy Resources PS, is looking to expand its reach, says Donelle Odren, founder and owner of the 10-year-old concern.


Weve been a fairly small staffing service up until now, she says. Were ready now to compete on a larger level.


Northwest Therapy specializes in placing rehabilitation therapists, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists, in temporary assignments. Such short-term assignments range from four hours to one week, at outpatient clinics, hospitals, and home-health agencies in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. The company also offers traveling therapists for longer-term temporary assignments, from three months to six months.


On average, Northwest Therapy places 45 workers a week, she says.


The company has about 30 therapists who work as employees and another about 20 professionals on its on-call list, Odren says. About 70 percent of the therapists are physical therapists.


In addition to its temporary-help work, Northwest Therapy works under contract to provide rehabilitation-therapy services at skilled-nursing facilities. Drawing from the same pool of professionals who provide temporary help, the company currently is working with eight skilled-nursing facilities, including six in the Spokane area and one each in Tekoa and Pomeroy, Wash.


The contract work, Odren says, provides some consistency in the companys revenues, which ebb and flow as demand for its temporary-help services fluctuate.


While the temporary-help work still makes up the majority of Northwest Therapys business, the contract work with skilled-nursing facilities has grown to where it accounts for roughly 45 percent of the companys overall revenue, Odren says.


Currently, however, the growing skilled-nursing work is coupled with a peak in temporary-help activity.


Right now, Ive got more demand that I have supply (of temporary workers), she says.


Consequently, she says, the company is on pace to increase its revenue by 12 percent this year. Its annual revenue currently falls between $500,000 and $1 million.


In addition to its staff therapists and on-call professionals, the company employs three administrative workers in 1,200 square feet of leased space at the Park Place Retirement Community, at 601 S. Park.


Odren says the company moved into that space seven years ago, when an administrator invited it to take the space and provide rehabilitation services for the facilitys residents. Northwest Therapy still provides such services for Park Place, but Odren says it makes up a small part of the companys workload.


To help Northwest Therapy expand into other markets, it plans to hire an administrative manager early next year to take on some of the additional administrative duties expected to come with such growth, Odren says.


The company is considering opening satellite offices in Seattle, Boise, and Missoula, Mont. She says it has had requests for its services in those areas in the past.


Odren estimates that such an expansion would triple the companys revenue and employee base within two years.


Also, Northwest Therapy is hoping to offer traveling therapists for longer-term temporary services in additional states, including Montana, Oregon, and Utah. Odren says the company plans either to help some of its traveling therapists to become certified in other states or recruit therapists already certified there.


Such traveling therapist positions are more difficult to fill than other temporary posts, Odren says, so therapists taking such jobs typically draw a higher hourly wage. She says physical therapists in the Spokane market usually make between $18 and $26 an hour, while the professionals who work for Northwest Therapy typically are paid between $21 and $28 an hour.


Their living expenses while theyre on the road also are covered.


Odren herself is a physical therapist who still works in the field. She became a physical therapist 11 years ago after working as an athletic trainer in an outpatient clinic setting for seven years.


She estimates that she spends about 70 percent of her workweek as a physical therapist and the balance of her time working in the office.


Ive hired really good office people to manage the business so I can do what I love to do, she says. Being a physical therapist gets me out of bed in the morning.