If you think your acupuncture practice is in bad shape, you’re in for a real shocker when you see what happened to this practice!
If you’ve been watching the news much at all over the past week, you were sure to hear about the tornado that hit Saint Louis last Friday. While it’s miraculous that no one was killed in the tornado that practically destroyed one of the busiest airports in the USA, the storm did not pass without damage.
Dr. Dennis Baker, Technical Advisor to the AcuGraph project, lives in Bridgeton Missouri, right in the path the tornado took on April 22. The above picture is of the remains of his practice building. Thankfully no one was there when the tornado touched down. We were equally thankful to hear that his house, right around the corner from his location, was one of the few in the area that did not lose the roof.
Here are a few more pictures:
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Just as the storm cloud, this story also has a silver lining. Dr. Baker has good insurance coverage, including business interruption, and he has all of his AcuGraph data backed up with AcuGraph Secure Backup. The claims adjuster has already visited the building, and to no surprise, deemed it a total loss. They will finish the job the tornado started, and be rebuilding the structure entirely from the ground up. And with this rebuild, Dr. Dennis is going to finally get the teaching classroom he has always wanted.
As for his practice? Well, most if not all of his tools are gone, but those can all be replaced. He’s looking forward to using this experience as an opportunity to reinvent himself and his practice. He looks at it as a clean slate. He can use all of his experience to build both the building and the practice he really wants.
When I heard that, it really made me think, what would I do if I was in his position? What would I change if I had the opportunity to start over completely?
I’d like to pose the questions to you. If you were in his position, what would you do differently this time? What would you cut-out from your practice, and what would you add?
Please post in the comments below to let me know!
Hi, Cameron.
After hurricane Wilma danced through my South Florida condo to the tune of $28,000.00 in 2007, I moved to Colorado Springs. I refused to continue doing all the things I disliked about my Florida practice. I found a small office with overhead lower than if I was practicing out of my home. No employees. No insurance. No credit cards. Only cash or checks. No land line. Only my cell phone and my laptop (with, of course, my AcuGraph.) No advertising. Promotion by referral, personal contact, or networking. I decided to do my part to bring down the high cost of health care by providing the most service, in the least amount of time out of a patients schedule, for the lowest fee I am willing to accept. My treatments are 20 to 30 minutes for 1/2 the going rate for similar services in town. (See my web site http://www.jamesjmaguire.com for more details.) I give additional discounts and barter. I strongly disagree with the movement toward “boutique” or cosmetic practices. We should be doing our best to exist outside a failing insurance reimbursement system to better serve our communities. My work is so much easier and I am far less stressed and happier.
James Maguire, L.Ac.
Thanks for the comment and the back story. I love hearing stories like this that literally change hundreds of lives for the better in an instant. I’m sorry for your losses in Florida, and the surely difficult times you went through. It sounds like it was a bump in the road of life, and has ultimately had a positive outcome for you and your new practice in Colorado. Best of luck for continued success and prosperity!