Under normal circumstances, I really hate moving. Several years spent in the United States Navy, and I can honestly say that I've had more than my fair share of packing boxes and bubble wrap. However, I am extremely excited about this next move - fortunately, it's just down the street and not several time zones away.
Our current location, 210 Sabattus Street, has been a dental office for many years, and a big portion of our current patients came to see Dr. Bizier as children and are now bringing their own families in. Our new location is just 2 minutes down the street from our current location.
Serving Up Smiles
We will be relocating our office to 471 Sabattus Street. For those who tend to navigate by landmarks, this means we are in the former Friendly's restaurant building, just down from the CVS pharmacy and directly across the road from the Verizon Wireless store.
Space and parking have always been a challenge where we are, particularly during the winter months, so we are excited that parking bans and climbing across snow banks will no longer be an obstacle in getting to your appointments. We are also fully handicap accessible, so the current wheelchair ramp (which can feel a bit like a toboggan luge track) will be a welcome change to both our patients and the UPS delivery guy! There is also a designated treatment room specifically for individuals with mobility issues.
Change Can Be A Challenge
We had one patient ask if we were still going to have a "cozy" dental office, it's one of the things that she likes about the current location.
Don't worry; there will still be all of the same familiar faces to greet you, the same voices on the other end of the phone (nagging you about your appointments), and as far as the decor, my wife describes it as "cozy modern."
Why the Change?
The whole goal of our relocation is to provide better service, care and accessibility to our patients. We needed to step it up to provide easy parking and better access and to give ourselves a bit more elbow room. We're all about providing the best possible service in the most comfortable setting and this new office will help us do just that.
We'll also be expanding our hours to accommodate work schedules (have you ever noticed how there are never enough 4 o'clock appointments in the day?), and eventually adding some new, skilled, and energetic dental service providers.
It Takes A Village To Keep One Idiot On Track
It has been quite a long, and utterly big undertaking to convert a restaurant into a dental office!
We did a lot of the work ourselves, but we also needed a LOT of help. Fortunately, we were able to stimulate all sectors of the local economy by working with a lot of the small businesses in and around Lewiston.
If I may take a moment to give my Oscar speech and do a bit of name dropping, I'd like to give many thanks to the following businesses who have helped us make our redesign a reality:
- Chip's Home Improvement
William (Chip) Henry's honesty, integrity and even more obsessive-compulsive attention to detail renders me nearly speechless. I really cannot say enough good stuff about Chip. Call him, he really can do it all. 207.689.5139 - Stephan Dulac Plumbing and Heating
Stephan Dulac is very easy to work with, "does things nice," and has got a laugh that will make you chuckle. - Mountain View Electric
John Valencia is a super easy-going, professional, chill guy, which is exactly what you want in an electrician (ie, the person playing with your electricals). - E.J. Drywall
Eric Smith does not mess around. He runs a project like a military operation. - Lebel's Heating & Cooling
Dustin Roy was awesome to work with. Duct work is more of an art form than dentistry. - Royal Flooring
The flooring crew did one heck of a makeover on those 'caked-in grease, spills and who knows what else' restaurant floors that we started out with. - Nason Mechanical Systems
These people are so easy to work with and, even more importantly, get a hold of. - A-1 Masonry
Gerry Morrisette is responsible for the lovely, gentle slope of the beautiful wheelchair entryway on our new place. - Creative Glass
The folks at Creative Glass got everything finished ahead of our scheduled deadline. I cannot express just how happy that made me. I'm still smiling. - Family Care Landscaping & Plowing
Rachel Jalbert-Palian is a machine! She plowed us out all winter long (could it have been any longer?!) so that the contractors could get in and do their thing. Then she came back and tamed all the weeds after the big snow melt. - Bailey & Sons Roofing
Jon does more than just roofing. He helped us out with some masonry work AND he does hot tubs, so if I can just figure out a hot tub/dental office angle... - Lewiston Paint & Wallpaper
Mike St. Pierre kept us well stocked with painting supplies. We were calling in orders for cans of paint like they were pizzas! - Northern Signs
Mark is more of a workaholic than me. No matter how busy his schedule, that guy makes things happen. - Studio 219
Amber Waterman is the creative, photographic genius behind our ads, art work, and many of our website images (including all of these fun "Friendly's" ice cream photos, not to mention my wedding photos). - Theriault & Co. LLC.
Pete is a true craftsman and artist. Forget dental offices, you should see what he can do to a kitchen. - SRL Architects
Stephanie was such a joy to work with. It was like working with the "Easy Button" of architects. - Surf CT
These tech gurus overhauled and simplified our IT operations. I can't even begin to describe the way they simplified everything. - The Cote Corporation
This company is super reliable and is exactly what you need when you have super-duper heavy lifting needs (so heavy it requires a crane). - Almighty Waste
Their dumpsters kept us clutter-free. Between the old restaurant equipment and furniture, as well as the mess we made once the contractors got into the building, we sure kept those guys busy. - Blanchette Moving & Storage
Moving expensive dental chairs and fragile x-ray equipment is not to be taken lightly. The Blanchette crew treated us, and all of our stuff, with care. They've earned my trust. - Serve Pro
Thanks to these guys, the building no longer smells like a deep fat fryer or ice cream parlor. They did an amazing job. - JRA Sealmasters
The sealmasters at JRA gave our parking lot (an actual, designated place for our patients to park) a sweet, new blacktop. - Mechanics Savings Bank
Jeff Gosselin kept me on track with the budget. Enough said. - And of course my office manager/wife (and her mother)
They painted walls, assembled furniture, tracked the bills, figured out advertising, played interference with everyone, helped me carry many extremely heavy boxes from my truck into the building on weekends, sorted out new clinical uniforms, painted art work for the walls, recruited our new hygienist, and listened to me cry/vent/gnash teeth/laugh maniacally throughout this entire process.
*If I have forgotten to mention someone, or gotten some information wrong, please let me know in the comments below!
My sincerest appreciation goes out to all of you who helped make our new office possible and my warmest welcome goes out to all of our patients who will be visiting us at our new location.
We're certain you'll adore the new digs just as much as we do.
We'll be seeing you soon at 471 Sabattus Street in Lewiston!
The phone number's still the same, (207) 782-5308.
