Therapy provider pushes growth

The local company wants to expand into other states.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
CANFIELD -- A new name is a sign of even bigger changes for a rapidly expanding medical services company.
Blue Sky Therapy Management, formerly known as WSB Rehabilitation, has moved from Austintown to Canfield after doubling its business and number of employees in the past year.
Renee Halfhill, founder and president, said her plans call for the company to double in size again within three years.
Blue Sky provides occupational, physical and speech therapists to 12 nursing homes in eastern Ohio, from Ashtabula to St. Clairsville. Facilities served locally include Caprice Health Care Center in North Lima, Community Skilled Health Care Center in Warren and Maplecrest Nursing Home in Struthers.
Blue Sky uses about 150 therapists at different times and has eight employees based in the Canfield office at 510 W. Main St.
Contracts with homes
The therapists work varying hours under contracts with the nursing homes. The company has about 100 therapists on any given payroll, with most of them being full time.
Halfhill, a Chaney High School graduate who founded the company in 1986, said the company's rapid growth followed preparation that included new software for its computer system and new management employees.
Tim Hickman was hired as chief operating officer to oversee daily operations, while Tim Burke was named director of marketing. Halfhill said those moves freed her up to focus on growing the company.
"Before, it was just word-of-mouth and referrals. Now, I can be out there promoting," she said.
She doesn't expect the company's growth to stop. She is looking to add contracts with nursing homes in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is considering acquiring other medical services companies in the western United States.
How it competes
Most of Blue Sky's competitors are national, publicly held companies. Halfhill said Blue Sky can compete by stressing the quality of services its therapists provide and the company's integrity.
The company had been operating in a home on Four Mile Run Road in Austintown. The move to Canfield increased the size of its offices from 1,200 square feet to 6,000 square feet.
The additional space allowed Blue Sky to create a recruiting division to focus on finding therapists. Halfhill said hiring therapists can be difficult, especially in rural areas. She hopes to eventually expand the recruiting division so it can provide services for other companies.
The new office also has a training room, where Blue Sky officials can work with employees and also bring in speakers for continuing education courses for nurses, nursing home administrators and others.
The initials in the company's original name were selected because they were her those of her father, William S. Bucci, who died in 1990.
People had difficulty remembering the name, however, so she decided to rename the company something that would promote a positive image.
shilling@vindy.com