Meet Jason Winkelmann | Naturopathic Doctor and Chiropractor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Winkelmann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
I think it has been not treating my healthcare business as a healthcare business. I never wanted to be a doctor; not just because conventional medicine never worked for my issues, but because I hated the way I felt at the doctor’s office. I don’t think I’m alone there either. Doctor’s offices tend to be an aesthetically unpleasing place as well as a mentally unsettling one. You are supposed to feel cared for but that was seldom the way I felt waiting forever and then being herded in and out of the treatment room in minutes flat. So when I opened my clinic I envisioned it as a hospitality business, not a medical clinic. Every decision I made from the comfort of the waiting room seating to the light fixtures was made with the patient experience in mind. This needed to be a place people looked forward to coming to. My patients need to feel cared for before they even walk into their appointment. Then, and only then, could we focus on going above and beyond for each individual’s treatment experience. This simple mentality has made the experience more enjoyable for our patients as well as our staff. Return visit percentage and referrals are higher than they have ever been.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I graduated in the thick of Covid. I was finishing up school in Florida and intended to stay but could not find a job to save my life. So I moved back home to Illinois and started my own practice, renting a room from a colleague I went to school with. I was really thrown in the deep end but there was no other option, especially if I wanted to work in the fields I just spent all that time and money going to school for. The business did decently well actually, but I was tapped out in Illinois. A little over a year later I moved to Denver and the last thing I wanted to do was start another practice. I wanted to work for someone else so that I could have a more steady income and I would only have to worry about patient care, not the business side of things. That was short lived because even though running your own business / practice is stressful at times and a lot of work, the freedoms it allows is worth it. Running my own practice allows me to practice the way I want to and gives me the work-life balance I desire.

While running my first practice I wanted to treat every condition and patient demographic. I was hungry for knowledge and wanted to show it off. But the more I learned the more I realized how much I didn’t know, and that it would be impossible to be great at everything. So with the creation of my latest practice I learned from all my mistakes and I decided to specialize in what I know best, chronic pain. Specializing was advantageous for patient care and was also a good business move. Now I have the ability to be an expert in my field which draws more patients to my practice.

When you are trying to start a new business, or solve a problem, I think it is pretty common nature to start with “what is everyone else doing wrong,” and go from there. In the chronic pain world, we are trying to solve a problem that is physical, biochemical, and emotional. In conventional medicine that is often with a single fix: a pharmaceutical pain killer. Complex problems require complex solutions.

At True Health Natural Pain Center we stand apart from all the other chronic pain management clinics because we look at the problem of chronic pain very differently and we treat it very differently. We never treat diagnoses, we treat people. Across most industries, when someone has a problem they need an individualized solution. Medicine is no exception to this, and in my opinion, is the industry where this is most true. Fibromyalgia, for example, looks completely different sufferer to sufferer when you start digging and get past the surface level symtoms. How people got into pain and what it takes to get them out of it are unique experiences and their medical treatment needs to reflect that.

In my years of practice, trial and erroring different approaches, I came up with the program model I utilize today. By locking people into a long term treatment plan and pre-screening all of our program applicants, our patients see greater results and we have more success as a business. Something that is unconventional in conventional medicine but makes all the difference to set us apart.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Restaurants:
Temaki Den
Super Mega Bien

Drinks:
The Family Jones

Activities:
A Red Rocks show
A rockies game because you can go to a game cheaper than you can park at Wrigley Field in Chicago
Hiking. I like Indian Peaks Wilderness for a quicker day trip

But honestly, I only spend about two days in Denver with visitors, then I take them to the mountains no matter what time of year it is. Let’s climb some mountains, go skiing, enjoy a mountain town, go off roading… whatever your little heart desires

The best part of Denver is having the big city amenities with the proximity to endless adventure off I-70

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My Mom of course. She was never satisfied with the care my doctor’s gave me and was tenacious about finding me someone who could help me, even if it laid outside of conventional medicine. Without these experiences I never would have considered a career in naturopathic or chiropractic medicine.

Website: https://mytruehealthcenters.com

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