November 1st, 2017 will mark the 10 year anniversary of the day I took over the Cosmetic Surgery Clinic from the great Dr. Peter Wyshynski.
My goal since that day has been to continue to provide the outstanding service and excellent care that Dr. Wyshynski always provided his patients.
The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic has been blessed with great success and rapid growth over these last 10 years. The diversity of services we offer is vastly greater than ever before. The number of staff we employ at the clinic is much greater than ever before. I have been blessed with the addition of Dr. Amy Chesney and Dr. Stephanie Ma, the most wonderful surgical colleagues a person could ask for. As a result of all of this change, the total number of very happy patients we have treated over the last 10 years far exceeds any scenario I could have anticipated back on November 1st 2007.
But, as many of you are now discovering, along with all of this great success has come an unanticipated problem. Our patients are now experiencing much longer waiting times than they have in the past. This is particularly problematic for our non-surgical services with our Beauty Nurse team.
For those of you who are existing patients, I know there is frustration about how long you need to wait for follow-up visits or repeat treatments. For new patients, who are excited to join us at the Cosmetic Surgery Clinic, I know it is disappointing to call the clinic only to find out that you can’t get in for an appointment for several weeks or months.
I promise you, we are not ignoring these issues.
Over the last year, I have made it my highest priority to try to grow our team. The goal is to hire not just someone who is appropriately trained for the job, but someone who fits in with our family concept at the Cosmetic Surgery Clinic.
We have reviewed hundreds of resumes. We have interviewed dozens of potential candidates. We have even trialled a few people on a probationary period. However, we haven’t quite found the right person yet. The search has proven to be more difficult than anticipated. However, the search continues!
So, while my team and I continue to search for our next Cosmetic Surgery Clinic team member, what can you do in the meantime?
The most effective way to avoid frustration with the schedule is to arrange several follow-up appointments at once. When you have your initial treatment, for whatever it is, schedule both your routine follow-up, as well as your next several treatment dates. That way, when your Botox starts to wear off, or it’s time for another microlaser peel, or any other treatment, you will already have your next several appointments scheduled. As you come for those next appointments, keep up that routine and you’ll always have appointments scheduled.
We do keep an active cancellation list. Don’t hesitate to ask to be put on it. While cancellations are rare, they do happen, and we will call you.
Keep an open mind, and a sense of humor. The reason the waiting list is long is because the services we provide, and the results we achieve are excellent. As a patient seeking these types of aesthetic services, I would be much more concerned if the clinic I called could accommodate my appointment request for the same day or the next day, then I would if I found out that there was a waiting list. Simply put, our waitlist is long because we’re great at what we do.
And finally, if you know of any nurse who’s interested in working in the aesthetic industry, please tell them to send us a cover letter and a resume!
Thank you for being so patient with us. We are working very hard to expand our capacity. We will always do our best to provide the best possible care and service to all of you. And in the meantime, sorry for the wait…
Dr. Robert Shenker MD FRCSC Medical Director, The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic
