By Jim Cavan
Published in the Exeter Patch http://exeter.patch.com/blog_posts/healing-hands-support-local-business-offer-mothers-day-deals
We all have a pretty good idea of what “think local” means for individual consumers. Eschewing big box stores for family owned storefronts, buying products made in town, state or country – the low hanging fruit, so to speak.
In the world of small business – where stress runs high and the margins can be razor thin – the blueprint might not seem so obvious. Which is what makes the model put forth by the husband and wife team of Dr. Jessica and Brian Caruso so inspiring.
The Carusos, who own and operate Healing Hands Community Chiropractic, have managed to grow their downtown Portsmouth office with a mix of old fashioned hard work, community outreach, and – increasingly – innovative partnerships with other area business owners.
The Carusos’ forthcoming Mother’s Day Special highlights that last point particularly well: Any active Healing Hands patient who is a mother and pays a visit for care on Wednesday, May 8th will receive coupons good for substantial discounts at three additional area businesses, as well as a complimentary gift from a fourth (while supplies last).
One free half-hour massage at Inner Truth Massage; 50% off a manicure at Mei Zen Spa; $25 off an acupuncture treatment from Natural Entities; and one free Gerber Daisy from Flowers by Leslie.
Not a bad return on an already relaxing investment.
Truth told, the Carusos’ strategy of local cross-promotion has been months in the making. Be it through their regular classes and tutorials, active involvement with the Chamber of Commerce, Catapult Seacoast or online avenues like Facebook, they have long made one-on-one engagement an important component to their own business’ foundation.
“The idea is to work together to try and get the other some extra exposure,” Dr. Jess said. “At the same time, it’s a great way to thank our patients by putting them in touch with people we feel they could benefit from working with.”
Caruso says the Mother’s Day promotion is part of a broader effort to incentivize active patients – those who have paid a visit in the last 30 days – to continue treatment. Called “Patient Perks,” the program will include a rotating group of discounts, many of which will coincide with popular holidays.
“We just launched a tab on our website, where patients can view what these extra perks are,” added Caruso.
The Carusos’ plan is to offer these seasonal promotions in addition to select “ongoing perks,” of which Inner Truth Massage is currently the lone cornerstone.
The relationship between the two businesses is an instructive one: Having moved into a space just across the second floor hall from Healing Hands, Tamar Thomas, owner of Inner Truth, found in Caruso a philosophical ally of sorts. The result was a common perspective – and proximity – tailor made for collaboration.
“I was a patient of Dr. Jess’s early on, so I was thrilled to find out that the office across the hall had opened up,” recalled Thomas. “Jess and I both really value the idea of preventive care – that choosing to be healthy shouldn’t be a privilege based on one’s financial situation.”
Similarly fed up with a health care industry that was no longer about the health and well being of patients themselves, Dr. Jess and Brian Caruso opened Healing Hands Community Chiropractic last September – their second location following their flagship Londonderry office, launched in 2006.
Inspired in a large part by a similar program spearheaded by the People’s Organization for Community Acupuncture (POCA), the Carusos chose to offer their services on a sliding scale, becoming the first chiropractic office in New England to institute such a model: $20-$40 per visit, and all without income verification.
Not only does the approach give patients the financial breathing room necessary to achieve improved health and wellness; it also helps establish a bond of patient-doctor trust so often lacking in today’s increasingly depersonalized medical world.
“We want the doctor-patient relationship to be a true partnership,” noted Caruso. “And we feel like that sense of collaboration and community is something they can take back out into the world.”
Now, the Carusos are broadening that commitment to community cooperation to include more business-to-business partnerships. They hope the result will be livelier, more robust Seacoast commerce – one where like-minded businesses and locally oriented consumers are encouraged to foster more genuine long-term relationships.
“I always think of the Mother Teresa quote, ‘I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples,” said Caruso. “That’s what the ‘community’ aspect of Community Chiropractic is all about.”
Not a chiropractic patient yet? Not a problem – you can easily book a new patient appointment by visiting http://www.HealingHandsCC.org.