Our Core Values
Hello and welcome to our blog! This month, I wanted to share the core values of the office. Our core values are the principles or guidelines that we follow that set the standard of commitment for everything we do here at Doctor Super’s House Of Health. These values allow us to create the accepting environment we work hard to provide for everyone in our community. I have used these core values in my own practice to help guide my professional growth as a doctor and a person.
Core value 1: Leadership
This one is a staple for any office. Leading by example, inspiring those around us, and believing in what you do are all examples of leadership that we work on emulating. By trying to become the person you know you can be, it shows others that they can also work towards the person that they want to be! The contagious act of being a leader and witnessing someones’ commitment to themselves and their practice is a powerful sight. It just might be the spark someone needs to commit more to themselves and their health and wellness journey. In order to lead, you first need to commit to yourself; to believe in what you are doing and what you have to offer people. In turn, our patients can commit to themselves and follow our example in order to heal and grow into the best version of themselves that they can be!
Leadership is something that I’ve worked hard to feel comfortable doing. I pride myself in my discernment to know when to lead and when to follow. Changing the course of my life from studying psychology to a whole new career path of chiropractic was a scary decision to make. The hardest part of pursuing chiropractic (besides the classes and seemingly endless hours of exams) was having the confidence in myself to be able to lead my future patients. However, when I started adjusting patients in the clinic while in school I realized that my patients are just human beings, and not these mystical creatures I heard about for the past three years. Patients who are looking for guidance through what I have learned so I can help them enhance their lives. As time went on and after I graduated, the more patients I saw, the more opportunities I had to lead by example and help my patients. Having the confidence to know the right answer for my patients when it comes to their healthcare concerns and general questions is something I actively work on every day. By helping them understand the body, suggesting different perspectives when it comes to self-talk, and the importance of having positive self-talk, we all can learn together! What we are able to do here for our patients at DSHOH is a privilege and an honor that is reflected in our work and our treatment towards our patients!
Core value 2: Chiropractic Can Heal
Are you surprised we have this one as a core value? Naturally, this is a very important one that we believe in! We want to make an impact on the healthcare community and make a difference in how people heal. Our mission is to get “80% of our patient population” receiving wellness chiropractic care to create a healthier community. How we spread the word of what chiropractic can do is share our stories. We have many success stories among our patients that we share with others who are experiencing the same situation; to encourage those who feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Letting people know that they aren’t alone in their pain and situation helps build that community aspect of healing and not feeling like an anomaly. I have had patients shocked after they are describing something “weird” they’re experiencing and they haven’t been able to find anyone who knows what they’re talking about or google any satisfying answers. I tell them “Oh, what you are experiencing is this ___, this is why it happens, and this is what I’m going to do to treat it.”
An important thing to remember is that chiropractic CAN heal, but it needs the proper time TO heal. I have learned to start giving patients realistic expectations of when they can expect to start feeling better because some have come back after one visit asking why they still feel their back pain. I explain to them that the body is adaptable but it needs the time to be adaptable. If someone has been dealing with low back pain or knee pain for 8 years, realistically, it will take about as many months to be healed or at a point where they don’t notice the pain as much. What we do in this office is important, but it’s equally important for our patients to believe that they can heal. We can’t have what we don’t believe in, so believe that you are capable of healing!
Core value 3: Passion
Passion must be at the center of all these core values and guides “why” we do what we do! Passion for bodywork. Passion for chiropractic healing. Passion for massage, reiki, lymphatic care, etc. Passion for finding the right service for the right person so they can feel well and do good. Passion for patients - to see everyone well. We can’t see too many patients and we can’t be too busy. We are on a mission. People feel your passion and they fill up with it. That then spills out into the community. Let your passion flow everywhere you go!
Our passion is a lifestyle choice we have to make, and to be the difference we want to be. As I began practicing at Dr. Super’s HOH, I realized that all the passion I had when I was going through school and freshly graduated was nowhere to be found. At my previous job, I had no room and no time to be passionate because it simply wasn’t that kind of practice. It took me reading chiropractic philosophy literature, looking through old notes from school, educating myself on different topics that I wanted to know more about to really start to get my passion back. I am 11 months into working at this office and I’m noticing a huge difference in how I show up for my teammates and patients because I worked/am working so hard to get the passion back and keep that passion burning. If your practitioner is passionate about your care and health and wellness journey, you start to become passionate about it too.
Core value 4: “Wow” Service
Many doctor’s offices are the same. There is no imagination, and no personality. We want to think outside the box! We want to dare to be different from the rest. We have worked hard to create an environment that feels like “home”. We strive to go above and beyond for our patients by remembering things about their lives, making connections, building trust, and going above and beyond with our communication, consent, comfort, and patient education. Our office can be an exciting, personal, and fun (laughter is the best medicine) environment for patients, while still being professional.
During school, I always fantasized about the kind of practice I wanted to be a part of when I would get out into the field, and it was one where you walk through the door and immediately feel at ease! Doctors' offices have a common theme of feeling “sterile”, uninviting, and anxiety producing. I would dream of ways that I could build an atmosphere that could put people at ease and be professional. We have worked hard to make our office space feel like an extension of peoples homes and create an atmosphere that tells you all walks of life are welcome here.
Core value 5: Responsibility
Our office wants to make an impact on the health of our community. It is our responsibility to make a difference. To do that, we need to impact our patients and leave a positive mark on their lives! It is our responsibility to show our patients that we care about them every time they come in, that we care about their families, and friends. It is our responsibility to get them to refer their family and friends to us for quality chiropractic care. Families that get adjusted together, stay well together! A responsible office leaves no room for excuses. We find solutions. We advocate for our patients. We advocate for ourselves. We encourage everyone to express their wants, needs, and expectations so that we can rise to meet them.
One of my favorite things about the work I do is that I am able to encourage my patients to listen to their bodies and their own limitations in such a way that doesn’t invite shame into the equation. When healing, it is so easy to fall into the narrative of “I should be better by now” or “this is never going to go away” but I like to remind my patients that the human body is a complicated specimen and you are taking all the right steps to be better. As frustrating as it is, healing takes time and healing is not linear. After I had to have knee surgery twice, I never thought I’d be able to walk normally again or run and I definitely didn’t think I would be able to play rugby again without fear of blowing out my knee a second time. If I didn’t have the physical therapists and the chiropractors (plural because I was still in chiropractic school) to help on my journey and advocate for me and help me change my self talk to be encouraging instead of shameful, I wouldn’t be playing rugby today. Caring for our patients and encouraging them to advocate for themselves and their health is a responsibility that we gladly take on every single day. Nothing is more important than your health and no one knows your body better than you do. Also, taking the responsibility of your healthcare into your own hands! Making the switch from passive involvement (taking a pain pill) to active involvement (getting adjustments) in your own health and life can be the thing that changes your quality of life! It’s as simple and as complicated as that.
We hope you are able to read about our core values and how much love and consideration we have with each of our patients, and in each of their appointments. It’s never “just an adjustment”. It’s showing compassion through the art that is our practice and teaching patients about their bodies in a way that doesn’t invite shame or belittlement. We are committed to passionately leading the way to a healthier community. We realize that it is our responsibility to spread the word about the healing power within your own body and how you can achieve your health goals with excellent chiropractic care.
Feel Well and Do Good,
ADIO
Dr. Flaim