Care Rehab and Orthopaedic Products Inc.
(Small Business Success Story of the Year - Northern Virginia Finalist)
Manufacturer is poised for continued growth

by Joan Hennessy
for Virginia Business
February 2006

Young and ambitious, Christian Hunt had worked at his sales job with a medical-device manufacturer for only one year when he was terminated. When he got the unexpected pink slip, “I looked at my fiancée — now my wife — and said, ‘Well, I guess I’ll start my own business,’ ” he recalls.

That was in 1992. To raise funds, the then 24-year-old sold his prize: a 1972 Cutlass Supreme convertible he had been restoring. “It was basically the only possession I had that was worth anything.”
From those humble beginnings, Hunt has built Care Rehab and Orthopaedic Products Inc. in McLean into an industry leader. The manufacturer of physical therapy, sports medicine and rehabilitation products racked up $38 million in revenues in 2005 — a 21–fold increase from sales of $1.8 million in 2000. The company operates in swank headquarters once occupied by Boeing and employs 97 workers. It expanded two years ago, opening a $3 million facility in economically depressed Keysville with the help of state economic development funds.

Hunt’s company is poised for more growth. The average age of customers is 56. While some are athletes, many belong to an exploding demographic: senior citizens. As each year passes, Care Rehab’s products — including biofeedback, electrotherapy and traction devices — will be more in demand.

Not a bad outlook for a company that Hunt started with one employee, himself. But Care Rehab is not the first business Hunt, 37, founded. The youngest of three sons raised by a single mother, Hunt grew up with dreams of becoming a doctor. But he knew he’d have to pay for his education. So at 15, he started Brush and Bucket, a paint contracting business. A year later, when he started installing decks, he changed the name to Hunt Construction.

Ultimately, the time and money needed for medical school deterred him. He majored in finance at Villanova University. But it wasn’t until after school that he learned the tough lessons of business — including his job termination. He had been paid on commission, he recalls. The company decided to save money by replacing him with a salaried employee.

So Hunt went out on his own, investing money in an electrotherapy device used for pain management. “Once I sold that, I bought more medical devices and sold those, too. It was really bootstrap.” By 1994, the company was incorporated. And by 2001 it was producing new products. “There were few manufacturers out there, and I didn’t think that they were filling the needs of the customer,” says Hunt.

His competitors, he says, find success because of market demand. As a result, “There isn’t a lot of research and development that goes into what I would call staple products.” Hunt’s edge may be that he doesn’t take customers for granted. For example, Hunt noticed that customers wanted updated devices. “All our devices are digital,” he says. The company also makes readouts on various electrotherapy devices bigger, notes Carol Hunt, Hunt’s wife, who works with the firm as a consultant. “Elderly patients have trouble seeing,” she explains. The buttons are bigger for patients with compromised dexterity. In addition, the firm works on design, she adds, “so it doesn’t look like an ugly medical device.”

When designing a traction device for back-pain sufferers, the firm sought the help of physical therapists and physicians. Designing means dealing with the Food and Drug Administration. FDA approval “takes three months if you do it right the first time,” Hunt says, so he has employed people with a record for doing that.

One of them is Lee Deneault, who works for Care Rehab as FDA compliance officer. A big agency like the FDA demands “a lot of regulatory documents that have to be in order and in place and working,” he says.

Design isn’t the firm’s only challenge, however. With its investment in 2003, the firm established an assembly and distribution facility in a Charlotte County industrial park shell building. Care Rehab received a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and $250,000 in funds from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.

It also became eligible for state tax credits because it located in an enterprise zone. “I think they were pleasantly surprised to find we’ve got a good employee base,” says Stephanie Heintzleman, assistant Charlotte County administrator. “We had a textiles firm close in March. The folks that were there, some have been able to apply [at Care Rehab]. Certainly it’s helped those folks.”

Still, as the company grows, Hunt recognizes that risks are always on the horizon. “Business is scary,” he observes. Looking over at his wife, he adds, “We’ve sacrificed and risked everything for the past 14 years. We just invested everything back into the company.”