'Overwhelming' therapy needs bring Wilmington clinic to Leland
When Kim and Nathan purchased their Wilmington clinic in 2018, they named it Coastline Therapy Group, imaging one day they'd grow throughout the east coast.
Just three years in, their dream is quickly becoming a reality.
The couple started with just eight employees in April 2018, and by the end of the year already opened a second location, in Burgaw. Now they have four clinics with more on the way.
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Kim Bageant said when she first convinced her husband to go into business together, they had no idea how much need there was for occupational, physical and speech therapy, describing the demand as "overwhelming."
"We're constantly hiring, we're always interviewing," Kim Bageant said. According to her, they sometimes even hire therapists before there are cases for them, knowing their caseload will soon fill up.
The clinics grew so quickly they had to move into larger locations in Burgaw and Wilmington.
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Last year they opened a second clinic in Wilmington, in addition to their North Chase and Burgaw locations, hoping to alleviate the traffic jams in their parking lot. Even though their 16th Street clinic focuses solely on speech and occupational therapy, business is still booming.
Now the Bageants will open a two-story, 5,000-square foot clinic in Leland, hoping to slow down the rush in Wilmington, as about one-third of their clients there come from Leland.
"We had a fair amount of traffic coming from that side of the bridge, south of Wilmington," Nathan Bageant said. "So if we put that building in there, we could divert traffic over to our new location there and take on additional caseload here, the Wrightsville clinic."
The new clinic will be located in the Waterford Commercial Village, 1007 Olde Waterford Way, and is expected to open next year. Nathan said a new clinic in Burgaw is in the works this year as well.
"We are excited to be able to bring what we offer to Leland," Nathan Bageant said.
"We're among the only ones that offers all three, physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, and not only do we offer all three, but we do it for anywhere from pediatrics all the way up through Medicare age so we are able to serve as a very broad spectrum of people."
Reporter John Orona can be reached at 910-343-2327 or jorona@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Kim and Nathan Bageant set to open Wilmington therapy group in 2023
