When it was time to open her own practice, Dr. Ackeilia Heatrice had a clear vision. “I knew how I wanted to treat kids … the experience I wanted to provide these children – and the only way for me to do it was to create my own space so I can be my own boss and make the rules.”
Her commitment to that child-centered experience is apparent the moment you walk into Bloomy’s Pediatric Dentistry. Color and whimsy are everywhere, immediately putting kids at ease. They even have their own bright yellow, child-sized door to enter the treatment area. The open-air hygiene space features chairs in different bright colors, and each treatment room has its own color palette. Everywhere they go at Bloomy’s, kids can tell it was built just for them.
Dr. Heatrice first became acquainted with her Patterson representative, Phil Catanzaro, while working at an inner-city clinic focused on providing healthcare to people who are uninsured and underserved. She pulled him aside one day to let him know she was building her own practice.
She had been working with a management company that seeks to simplify the building process by giving doctors just one point of contact from beginning to end. Dr. Heatrice wasn’t sold on a few of their suggestions, so she sought a second opinion from Phil, whom she had come to know and trust.
“I’ve never done this before. It’s like somebody not knowing how to swim and then you just push them in the water,” she recalls feeling. Her floor plan had already been submitted, but at a lunch meeting with Phil and equipment specialist Chris White, she was wide open to their thoughts.
Chris immediately felt like there was a gap between her vision and the proposed floor plan. After making a few adjustments right on her iPhone, he handed it back to her. And the rest is history. Chris helped her develop a floor plan and outfit it with equipment that perfectly captures her ideas and helps her give children the positive experience she wants them to have.
CAD/CAM specialist Vince Sciore further assisted in implementing child-friendly technology, allowing Dr. Heatrice to provide pain-free, trauma-free procedures that have people talking. Word of mouth has helped her get very busy, very quickly.
Dr. Heatrice was so delighted with the experience, she referred her husband, who was also building an oral and facial surgery practice in St. Louis, to work with the Patterson team. And Phil referred his daughter to Bloomy’s for his grandchildren. “My daughter just loves Dr. Ackeilia. How could you not?”
Learn more about Dr. Heatrice’s story here.
