On October 1, Terveystalo signed a contract on acquiring the operations of the Rela companies (Rela-hierojat Oy, Hierojakoulu Relaxi Oy, and Rela-Group Oy). In six years, Rela-Hierojat, which provides massage services, has expanded into the only nationwide chain operating in the field with 31 units and 4 franchising units. Rela’s professionals are trained masseurs in accordance with National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health Valvira’s protected occupational title. Rela-Group’s central organization employs eight employees and 140 individual masseurs and, in 2017, the revenue of the chain was EUR 3.3 million. The chain has in all 14,000 private customers and approximately 100 corporate customers.
“Well-being is a megatrend. People are interested in their well-being from different perspectives, and also the number of well-being programs of pioneer companies has increased. Terveystalo already employs approximately 1,000 experts in the fields of mental well-being, sleep and recovery, nutrition, exercise, or activity. We are just used to naming them as experts: as physiotherapists, psychologists, psychotherapists, or dieticians. In the future, we want the Terveystalo expert to be an individual or organization’s choice to support their health and well-being. We stand apart from the diverse field of well-being coaching by having experts who are health care professionals, among other things. In addition to activities maintaining well-being, this enables timely referral to care according to actual needs.
High-quality massage therapist services are a natural and complementary part to the care chain in treating pain, maintaining the well-being of active athletes as well as in the rehabilitation of accidents and operations. The threshold for seeking the services of a massage therapist is low, and the customers themselves often identify the need for the service. The demand for these kinds of well-being services is on the increase also among organizational customers: employees identify suitable services for their situation that could support their well-being or health,” says Unto Palonen, Senior Physician at Terveystalo.
“Rela has succeeded in creating agile and customer-oriented operating models, for instance in providing fixed-price services for loyal customers. In addition to professional expertise, Rela has paid special attention to customer service. Through the merger, Terveystalo’s both private and organizational customers will benefit from the opportunity to use high-quality massage therapist services flexibly either in customer premises or at a Rela location. Through Terveystalo Sport, sports associations have the support of professional masseurs in leisure and professional sports. In addition, physiotherapists will have a natural link for the customers to massage therapist services as a service complementing physiotherapy,” says Hanna Puhakka who is charge of Terveystalo’s well-being operations.
“Rela-Group’s business operations will become part of the nationwide Terveystalo where we will provide massage therapist services under the Rela brand and concept as part of the comprehensive health care pathway. As part of Terveystalo, we can also grow nationally among organizational customers. Top care quality is important in all our operations to both us and Terveystalo,” says Mika Hallikainen, CEO at Rela-Group.
The companies’ employees are transferred to Terveystalo as old employees and the operations will continue on the same premises as before.
For further information, please contact:
Terveystalo, Director, Well-being Services, Hanna Puhakka, tel. +358 30 633 1614
Rela-Group, CEO Mika Hallikainen +358 41 430 9313
Terveystalo in brief
Terveystalo is a listed company on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. Terveystalo is the largest healthcare service company in Finland with net sales and network. The company offers versatile primary and secondary health care services for corporate and private customers and the public sector. The nationwide network covers 180 locations across Finland, complemented by 24/7 digital services.
In 2017, the Company had approximately 1.2 million individual customers and approximately 3.3 million doctor visits. Nearly 9,000 healthcare professionals work in Terveystalo, about half of whom are private practitioners. Terveystalo’s services carry the Key Flag symbol and the company is a member of the Association for Finnish Work. www.terveystalo.com
