Published: 2009-12-01 16:34:37
Author: CHRIS FREEMAN | Northwest Herald | November 17, 2009
WOODSTOCK – In a short amount of time, Chiro One Wellness Centers have sprung up around McHenry County.
The county boasts four centers now, with sites in Crystal Lake, Huntley, Johnsburg, and its latest opening in Woodstock.
Chief Marketing Officer Brett Penager said it was not a coincidence that McHenry County has seen growth from its wellness centers.
“It’s a very growing and thriving community, it has our target market – which is greater Chicago – and that wraps up the north side of greater Chicago for us,” Penager said. “It’s a phenomenal area. ... We look at areas we wanted to be in, and McHenry County was standing there. We wanted to be in it.”
Chiro One puts all its potential clinic directors through a training program of six months to a year, Penager said.
“They’re trained extensively in every area as it pertains to service and how to operate a wellness center, staff management procedures and protocols as a clinic director, and how to communicate the vision and mission,” he said. “It really starts with people who are attracted to this and have the heart of a servant, but never knew how to apply it and be successful.”
The director of the Woodstock clinic, Brett St. Aubin, came to the chiropractic field through personal experience. He was working as a carpenter when he began having recurring numbness in his arm. A chiropractor at his fitness center helped correct the problem that his doctor could not fix.
“It was really at that moment that I looked at this and said it was something I could do,” he said.
So St. Aubin left his job as a carpenter and went to Palmer College in Iowa to earn his chiropractic degree, then opened a practice in Michigan.
“I had my own clinic in Ann Arbor, Mich., but I was by myself, not knowing anything about running a clinic,” he said. “The great thing about Chiro One is I’ve got not only 36 other clinic directors who have that experience, but also our executive team, and the billing department handles all the billing for us, so it lets me spend more quality patient time instead of being on the phone speaking to insurance companies.”