It’s all about family and community for the Bergin family.
That is something Peter, Juliana,, Alex, Sybille, Katja and Bob Bergin are striving to bring to Bergin Motion, a newly opened family-owned and operated physiotherapy clinic on Bayview Drive in Barrie’s south end.
The more than 9,000-square-foot clinic features seven private treatment rooms, a large open treatment area with a walking/running track, a cardio area, and an open area for treatment tables.
“It all started with my wife who has been working in physiotherapy for (nearly 40) years. She inspired the next generation to take up physiotherapy and we started to think about coming together as a family,” said Bob, who, along with his son Peter, will run the business side of things.
“Our plan is to grow once COVID leaves us," Bob told BarrieToday. "We’re excited because it’s been a long time time coming and we are anxious to get going.”
Their goal is to bring to their clients the values of their large family and how they live their daily lives.
“Obviously, it’s hard right now because we haven’t been around our extended family for the past year, but we are all very close. We like to laugh and have fun," Peter said. "We are serious about what we do, but we like being together. We like to bring people together and enjoy each other’s company... while working together toward similar goals.”
Bergin Motion officially opened the doors last week. The goal, says Juliana, is to develop a true sense of community with their clients, and that is one of the main reasons they created their unique space.
“This kind of open concept, where everyone is working together but for specific and different personal goals, will help create that,” she said. “We also want to create a waiting room eventually where patients can come in and recognize each other and have that community feel.
"We are a family here and we want it to feel like one big family," Juliana added.
Their new space, added Peter, steps away from the traditional physiotherapy clinic and instead focuses on incorporating more traditional physiotherapy with other methods to assist movement.
“We wanted options for everything so that anybody could come in here and there’d be something for them," he said. "We can have people in here doing exercises in the open gym, while someone else could be receiving a private treatment.”
Juliana specializes in sports rehab, working with a range of athletes from the elite to the average weekend warriors, he said, while his mother, Sybille, specializes in the treatment of acquired brain injuries, stroke recovery, as well as other related ailments. His sister, Katja, is specialized in pelvic health physiotherapy and cousin Alex specializes in neurological and orthopedic rehabilitation.
“We are bridging the gap between neuro and sport and pelvic, so this is a place that everybody can come to.”
Another aspect of what they do that sets them apart, according to Bob, is they are able to see clients from start to finish.
“A client might have their first physio done in their home before being discharged to a clinic setting," he said. "Once they’re moving along the pathway to recovery, they might then get discharged to a personal trainer. We do home care all the way to personal training and our facility can handle everything, plus we are still seeing clients in their own home which is a benefit.
“We want to blur the lines between physio and training, because we don’t see a difference. It’s all about movement and we want to enhance people’s movements.”
Bergin Motion is located at 680 Bayview Dr., Unit 8.
