Main Street Wellness

Main Street Wellness is a Hamilton-based office specializing in chiropractic, massage therapy and acupuncture services.

“Our clinic does quite a bit of spinal corrective care,” says Dr. Sam Johnson, who owns the Main Street Wellness clinic.

Chiropractic focuses on disorders of the musculoskeletal and nervous system. It is used most often to treat pain of the back, neck, and arm or leg joints, as well as to ease suffering from headaches.

An adjustment of the spine is one of the most common chiropractic techniques. It involves applying a specific controlled force into vertebral joints that have become restricted in movement due to mis-alignments, which in turn causes inflammation, pain, and diminished function. By adjusting the affected joint or vertebra, mobility is restored, thereby alleviating pain and muscle tightness, and allowing tissues to heal.

Main Street Wellness provides other services, including acupuncture, whereby small needles are inserted into specific points on the body to relieve pain.

“We also offer laser therapy, which uses infrared light that works at the cellular level to speed the healing process,” adds Dr. Johnson. “This works especially well for acute injury.”

Dr. Johnson is a registered chiropractor that has worked in the field for the past ten years.

“I used to own a small practice near Lake Erie but once my daughter was born I no longer wanted to make the hour commute,” he explains. “So then I went to work as an independent chiropractor at another clinic.”

This past June, Dr. Johnson returned to running his own clinic when he took over Main Street Wellness, which has been in operation for three years.

During those first few stressful months of taking over the business, Dr. Johnson was busy dealing with the administrative tasks that came with the switch in ownership, as well as treating his patients. He also had numerous headaches of his own, as a result of difficulties with his telecommunications provider.

“The service was supposed to be switched from the previous owner into my name, but even after I called three times they never faxed me the paperwork to get this done,” explains Dr. Johnson. “The call display name was also incorrect and I called numerous times about this issue but it wasn’t fixed. I just couldn’t get these problems resolved. I was becoming more and more dissatisfied.”

When a flyer arrived in the mail from Allstream Small Business, Dr. Johnson decided it was time to give the provider a call.

Allstream Small Business recognizes that small business owners are busy people so their services are designed to take the hassle out of business communications by providing simple, cost-effective and flexible solutions. They offer a choice of four different bundles of services, so customers can choose a package that reflects their business needs. If they require a specific tool that isn’t included in the bundle, they can customize the package by purchasing individual features from a long list of add-ons.

Allstream Small Business also ensures that switching over from a previous provider to their service is simple. New customers can even keep their current phone number. And to simplify accounting, clients receive one monthly bill for all their phone, Internet and long distance services.

“Right off the bat, I found out that by switching to Allstream Small Business I would save $20 a month on my bill,” says Dr. Johnson, who chose the Phone 500 bundle that includes two lines with two calling features of his choice, plus 500 free U.S. and Canadian long distance minutes.

It’s a basic service, but the clinic isn’t being penalized for purchasing a small number of products, points out Dr. Johnson.

“Some providers make you pay extra money for less services because they say they have to do the work of customizing the package especially for your smaller company,” he explains. “That doesn’t happen with Allstream Small Business. Their bundles are designed to work for smaller firms.”

The extras included in the package, such as the long distance minutes, is another bonus.

“That is great extra value,” says Dr. Johnson. “With my previous provider I got a discounted long distance rate, but free minutes is even better.”

And another key advantage of Allstream Small Business is that customers are not forced to sign a long-term contract. This isn’t the case with other providers. For example, while Dr. Johnson would like to switch his Internet over to Allstream Small Business, but he is stuck finishing off a year-long contract with another provider.

“Once my Internet contract is completed, I will bundle it into my Allstream Small Business package,” says Dr. Johnson.

He also notes a big difference in service.

”The customer service is night and day when compared to my previous provider,” he says.

In fact, an Allstream Small Business representative went out of their way to help him out. During the line switchover, the clinic’s Internet provider had to be called and the line would be down for a day. However, a mistake was made and the Internet provider failed to reconnect the line and it remained down for several days.

“The provider kept dropping the ball in terms of getting the Internet fixed and I was getting frustrated,” says Dr. Johnson. “I told Allstream Small Business what was happening and they offered to call the provider to get the problem fixed. That wasn’t even part of their job as they don’t provide me with Internet service. But they helped out anyway.”

Dr. Johnson says he recommends Allstream Small Business to other companies -- and to his patients.

“Just the other day one of my clients was having issues with their phones so I told them about the service,” he says.