Storie: 0:17

Welcome back to Market it with Atma, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. Share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. I'm your host, Dori, and today we have on the show founder and president of Healing Hands Wound Clinic, mr Ron Billipose. Welcome, ron.

Ron: 0:38

Dori, thank you so much for having me here. It's an absolute pleasure and an opportunity for me to come here and meet you and to introduce our clinic to you and our viewers.

Storie: 0:43

Awesome. Well, I'm so glad to have you because I know a lot of people out there, especially in the healthcare industry. Wound care is kind of a niche, wouldn't you say? Yes, it is so can you tell us how you got into this and what encouraged you to be an entrepreneur and branch out on your own?

Ron: 1:03

So wound care absolutely is a unique and specialized field to get into. When the opportunity initially came up, I decided against it. I wasn't wanting to do wound care. That was not something I had ever done in my nursing career. I had no experience in doing.

Storie: 1:20

Was it just unfamiliar?

Ron: 1:21

It was unfamiliar. Yeah, it was something that we did not do in nursing, had no experience doing. However, my wife encouraged me to pursue wound care, and so it was her encouragement that led me to take my first wound care position. Okay, and within about three or four days of doing it, I was like wow, this is, this is awesome, this is what I want to continue to do. Really and that's how I got into wound care yeah.

Storie: 1:46

That is really cool. So you have your own practice or I don't know if I would call it practice a brick and mortar of your own. You're an entrepreneur and open Healing Hands Wound Clinic.

Ron: 1:55

That's correct.

Storie: 1:57

From what you've told me, kind of before the show, you really wanted to help your community. You and your wife wanted to go out and help. How are you helping your community through Healing Hands?

Ron: 2:06

Yeah. So the reason for starting Healing Hands Wound Clinic was wanting to do something more than just a job. Having been in wound care for so long, having had that experience, we wanted to do something for the community, to be able to repay the community, to serve our community better, and so that's why we decided about a year ago to start Healing Hands Wound Clinic, and it is a brick-and-mortar clinic located in Mansfield, and through it we're able to serve patients with chronic wounds, surgical wounds, I mean. We see every kind of wound.

Storie: 2:43

Wow, yeah, so kind of walk me through that. What are your clientele, your patients, looking for when they come to a wound clinic?

Ron: 2:51

A lot of the patients are frustrated because they've had these wounds for several months or several years, and so we've had patients come with wounds. One particular patient she had had the wound for about four and a half years.

Storie: 3:05

Oh my gosh.

Ron: 3:06

And had gone to three or four different providers, with different treatments, expensive products that were utilized, which just wasn't resulting in her being healed.

Storie: 3:17

Right.

Ron: 3:17

And so she came, and so we were able to see her and get her healed in about I would say, probably about a month.

Storie: 3:25

So was her wound like from a surgery or from an injury?

Ron: 3:29

It was so wound care for her. It was due to multiple factors. It wasn't from a surgery, I think. Initially it developed as a result of pressure friction, something that caused a rubbing injury injury, but there were certain comorbidities that we were able to uncover and educate the patient on okay, so there's certain things, like if you're a smoker, if you're a diabetic, there are things that hinder wound healing ah, and she wasn't privy to those things and she wasn't, and so being able to educate patients is one of the best things that I enjoy about wound care because, that truly makes an impact.

Storie: 4:09

Yeah, Is that kind of what separates you from cause? I know there's wound care after you get out of surgery at a hospital, um, or I haven't really heard of a lot of wound care clinics that offer and do what you guys do. So kind of what sets you apart from the other.

Ron: 4:24

It is truly that specialized care plan, if you will, or the treatment plan that we tailor to each patient that sets us apart, so it's looking at the patient's comorbidities. Are they a diabetic? Are they prone to pressure or injuries? What is causing this wound?

Storie: 4:43

Right.

Ron: 4:43

And it's providing the patient with those tools and education materials so that they can, you know, make those changes to help them heal.

Storie: 4:53

So is it kind of one of those things that the feedback you get from your patients is more than when you worked for another industry or not industry, but another business or company worked for another industry not industry, but another business or company. You being an employee there, you weren't able to extend your healing branch, I'd say, as far as you can now with your own, absolutely.

Ron: 5:15

Yeah, I mean, you know, an example was I went to vote and one of my patients was actually there, so I got to meet her and talk to her and introduce her to my wife, and this was after her healing. So that's the um, the differential or the difference, I guess, with being in practice for myself and my own community, because I'm able to see these patients afterwards and see the results and see the healing and um, a lot of times, meet their families, they introduce me to them, um, how has that gone?

Storie: 5:46

that gone it was in the past year, I mean, because working under someone and managing patients is one thing, but having to manage from the time they enter the door until they're completely done is a whole different story. How are you managing that and is it working well for you? Are you seeing any major hurdles that you wish you'd known about before?

Ron: 6:08

um honestly, um I handle all aspects of the clinic wow and so you know, from the time the patient walks in to registration, to wound care, to education, um, you know, applying the products on, I do all of that. So that's actually been really neat because I get to experience all aspects of their care. And so I feel it's positive for the patient because that's the feedback I've gotten, because the patient feels like they're being seen, they're being heard and they're being valued and we're true partners in tackling this wound.

Storie: 6:47

It's almost like a whole relationship along the way. They don't ever feel like just another person.

Ron: 6:53

Absolutely yeah, they're actually being seen and heard and you know, we have set up communication where the patient's able to text me or call me, basically 24 seven. So whatever questions or concerns they have, they're able to get ahold of me and get a response within, you know, 15, 20 minutes, which in a bigger facility or in a different kind of setting, that doesn't happen.

Storie: 7:18

Yeah, I've never heard of that. Do you take pride in that and enjoy being able to help them.

Ron: 7:23

I do and I tell my patients. Whatever your questions are, your concerns are, even if it's not related to wound care, just go ahead and feel free to call me or shoot me a text and I absolutely enjoy that level of a relationship and that partnership too, and that really makes a difference because, at the end of the day, we are partnering with the patient. It's not here. This is what you need to do. Go do it and come back. It's how can we do this together?

Storie: 7:47

Absolutely. Yeah, there's some things you just can't. In this digital world we're in now, there's some things you just can't automate or put that warm touch on, and I feel like this is one of those things you really need to to make sure your patients, or even clients or customers, know that you care Absolutely.

Ron: 8:05

And I think that's what differentiates us from the other clinics that are out there. Just the availability and our relationship and the feedback that we've gotten has been awesome and the response has been great and that's why my plan with this clinic is to continue operating in this type of a way.

Storie: 8:25

That's awesome. So what are some of the challenges your patients are facing? When wounds don't heal properly, how do they know when to come to you? Are they just kind of at their last resort?

Ron: 8:39

Yeah, and that's a great question. Again, as I mentioned earlier, there are patients that have gone to numerous clinics without seeing any results and a lot of times it's just education, it's just you know us letting them know, hey, you're not healing because maybe you're smoking or maybe your blood sugars are elevated, you're not controlling your diabetes?

Ron: 9:00

um, sometimes it's pressure. Sometimes it's just as easy as telling them you, you know, you need a different pair of shoes, um, you know, tighter shoes, and some friction and pressure along those, those joints, will cause those wounds. So I think the number one challenge is just um, especially in today's um healthcare, um industry, I guess, um, you know, the know, the push to see patients and get them out the door is so fast, like there's such a demand to get them in, quickly, get them out, that there's not a lot of time that providers are able to spend with the patients and provide education, right, and so I think that's what really has impacted us in our, our um.

Storie: 9:46

I feel like in nursing and in medicine that's kind of what you get into it for, right, so you can actually help people. But when it's just cycle in, cycle out, it's the quality of care to some people is more important than just being seen quickly and getting out the door. It is for me anyway.

Ron: 10:02

Yeah, absolutely Same here. I mean, if I go see a provider, I'd like to feel that they've addressed every concern that I have and provided me with the necessary tools and equip me that I can so that I can continue to prevent, or you know.

Storie: 10:19

Deter them from experiencing the same thing right that they experience with you. Know everybody else, you take a lot of pride in what you do.

Ron: 10:27

it seems like I do, I love it and this is one of the best decisions I've made to to be able to open this clinic and serve our patients.

Storie: 10:35

That's what I was going to ask. So we work off of Advent Trinity, works off of a build launch grow scale methodology. Where would you say, your wound care clinic is in that build launch, grow scale phase?

Ron: 10:47

So we are. Obviously this is just our initial stage. You know you mentioned the brick and mortar. We're located in Mansfield. We're seeing patients in the clinic. In addition to that, patients who are homebound all go see in their homes.

Storie: 11:01

Oh, wow.

Ron: 11:01

So that's another level of service that we provide. We go out to the homes within the DFW area and see patients who aren't able to come to the clinic.

Storie: 11:12

That's incredible. And you work with doctors as well? Do you take referrals from doctors?

Ron: 11:17

Yes, we do take referrals from doctors. So a lot of our marketing has just been through just the old school method of just showing up there at the clinics and internal medicine clinics and different clinics and just introducing ourselves and handing out some goodies and materials and brochures and just saying, hey, we're right here at Mansfield, please do refer to us and we'd love to partner with you guys. And so, um, yeah, that's been one of the ways that we market.

Storie: 11:42

So do you think that community and being a part of the community is very important for your marketing Cause? Healthcare marketing is a little different. You have doctors who are trying to just find somebody for their patients to go to, to help them, and then you have patients that don't want to go to their doctors anymore. So how do you balance that? That marketing referral basis, Would you say networking, and eye to eye, hand to hand contact is probably your best route right now. Or do you use some kind of other platform like Google social media website, things like that?

Ron: 12:21

So we do use social media I mean, in today's world I think it's hard not to because everybody's on social media so we do use those platforms. You know Facebook, instagram, all those platforms and putting out podcasts and videos and such. But I think at the end of the day, you know, getting in front of a provider and introducing myself and our business is the best way to get the word out and to market. So that's our go-to method of marketing.

Ron: 12:46

Right Going into the clinics, introducing ourselves to the staff, to the referral coordinators, to the providers, and just letting them know hey, we're here, we're here to partner with you and help the patients in the community.

Storie: 12:58

Okay, so you kind of extend a branch of service that they don't have. That maybe time to focus on. You can give them that quality of care, what entices them to work with you?

Ron: 13:09

The results speak for itself. And then being able to use stories from our clinic use, real life patient experiences and their stories and their reviews and their results, and being able to take that to the provider and say, hey, thank you for referring this patient. This is what became of. This is how we were able to partner with the patient and get the wound to heal.

Storie: 13:37

So it's kind of full circle again.

Ron: 13:38

Yeah, yeah. When you're able to take that story back to the provider and say, hey, this is what we were able to do in partnering with this patient, I think the results are, you know, obviously speak for itself. And when the providers see the results, that usually gets them to continue to refer to us.

Storie: 13:55

That's great, because I mean Google reviews, are everything now right? That's the first thing I go to to see. If someone matters, so you allowing them to just see and hear that patient that they referred had a good experience. That means a lot to people. Sometimes it can make or break a business.

Ron: 14:10

Absolutely, absolutely. And so we love sharing our stories and we have patient videos that we're posting soon, patients that have agreed to share their stories. And if I could share a story with you, we had a patient who came in with her mom and so she had had this wound for about two and a half years. Oh my gosh.

Storie: 14:30

Yeah.

Ron: 14:31

Two and a half years that she had had this wound, had gone to multiple providers, and so she came to us. I mean pretty desperate, and you can hear that in her initial communication with us. You could tell how desperate she was and pretty hopeless at that point as well. And what also complicates things is that she was needing a kidney transplant. Oh, my goodness, and the only way she could get put on the list was if this wound was healed.

Storie: 14:59

So it was almost life altering for her?

Ron: 15:01

Absolutely yeah, it was life threatening, life altering event for her. And so you know, through just those principles that we talked about earlier educating the patient, and the proper wound care and the specialized wound care and the advanced wound care that we were able to provide for her we were able to get her healed in about six, seven months time.

Storie: 15:20

That's incredible.

Ron: 15:21

Yeah, I mean that's a. It's a beautiful story and I share that with you know a lot of my colleagues. She just actually texted me a few weeks ago that she got put on the transplant list.

Storie: 15:30

Oh, that's incredible. Yeah, it's really life changing. People don't realize how much you caring can change so many different things in your community, in your environment. So thank you, thank you for her. So she's doing good now.

Ron: 15:45

She's doing fantastic and her and her mom are like just advocating us and let it spreading the word and letting everybody know that we're there and yeah it's just awesome, as a provider, to share those stories and be a part of their lives and be a part of the transformation that's about to happen with this transplant. Hopefully that she'll get.

Storie: 16:04

That's incredible, absolutely incredible. So how did you go from okay, we got the brick and mortar. How did you kind of strategize your marketing plan? Was it kind of a faith driven quality of service, like you mentioned? Or or did you have a strategy for other entrepreneurs out there wanting to branch out?

Ron: 16:26

Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest thing is, as an entrepreneur, you want to make sure you surround yourself with mentors, and so that was huge for me, since day one, even before the planning of the actual clinic itself, was getting together with mentors, you know, taking their feedback, their thoughts and applying it. And so that was huge for me in coming up with a marketing plan.

Storie: 16:51

So they kind of helped you navigate the path of do's and don'ts. Yes, yeah.

Ron: 16:57

Their experiences, what's worked for them, what hasn't worked for them, and we've been able to use those tools and use that for our clinic.

Storie: 17:05

That's incredible. So what's, what are your plans or future goals for the clinic? What do you have in mind in your three to five year plan At this?

Ron: 17:13

point, our plan is to continue to grow the clinic. What do you have in mind in your three to five year plan? At this point, our plan is to continue to grow the clinic and as we continue to grow there is, I mean, dfw is huge.

Ron: 17:25

Absolutely and the growth that's happening here is just immense. Anywhere you look there's new apartments and new complexes, new homes being built, so I think there is a great need for wound care in the DFW area. So in the next three to five years, I see myself launching multiple locations in the DFW area and being able to provide this level of service to other patients in the DFW area.

Storie: 17:49

That's wonderful. So do you have any criteria? Do you accept patients with insurance, without insurance, all of the above?

Ron: 17:57

I'm so glad you asked that. So we are partnered with a company that does the credentialing for us, and so we take Medicare Medicaid all different types of insurances and we also do cash pay.

Storie: 18:11

Wow.

Ron: 18:11

Yeah, yeah, we do cash pay and because I'm not affiliated with a hospital, I'm able to provide services at a lower cost and sometimes, you know, that means the underinsured or the underprivileged and be able to provide services for them regardless of the cost.

Storie: 18:29

Man, that's incredible. I know a lot of nonprofits around here really want to connect their um, their nonprofit community, with other businesses in the area that are really looking to help people. So I would really like to refer you, because you never know what people are, you know, hiding underneath their clothes they really need help with, Absolutely. So. Have you ever run into a wound? I'm just curious that you couldn't fix a wound I'm just curious that you couldn't fix.

Ron: 19:00

There are some wounds that due to multiple reasons, like we talked about earlier, if it's patient noncompliance that's a huge issue when it comes to wound healing. You know there are those patients that just don't listen, for whatever reason, and they just don't follow the practices and the guidelines that we tell them to do. And then sometimes there are just conditions that just don't close up, or wounds that don't close up due to underlying conditions that we just can't manage.

Ron: 19:24

And so those are the times that, again, we partner with other providers, like plastic surgery or general surgery, and we refer patients to them where they're able to help close up the wound.

Storie: 19:35

So you really really have to know your community and who you can trust in this industry, health care especially.

Ron: 19:43

it seems like yes, yes, and the one thing with wound care is we partner with pretty much every specialty out there. So from internal medicine to endocrinology to manage their diabetes, to nephrology, if they have kidney issues, to plastic surgery or general surgery if they need surgery Basically every specialty out there we're partnering with or working with.

Storie: 20:04

It sounds like you're a connector. You kind of know a little bit of everybody.

Ron: 20:08

Absolutely Get you to where you need to go. Hey, that's important as a doctor.

Storie: 20:11

If you don't have good referrals, I'm a little concerned when I walk out right. Important as a doctor. If you don't have good referrals, I'm a little concerned when I walk out, right. So do you have any advice, recommendations to patients, prospects, prospective patients, or to your practitioners that you'd like to work with or currently work with that you wish you would have known prior to being an entrepreneur Tips, tricks, strategies what you wish you would have known prior to being an entrepreneur Tips, tricks, strategies what you wish you would have done. There's always something I think about. Like my husband coaches basketball and I was like if I had known that managing people was the primary portion of this job, I would have probably approached it a little bit different. So we always like to help our listeners who are business owners like you. I mean, look ahead, if they're just starting out and don't have a brick and mortar, what should they first get in place before they branch out to do those things?

Ron: 21:07

I think for me, one of the biggest things was having people around me mentors, as I mentioned before who are? Able to guide you, Because that was the biggest, I guess, early on, one of the things I realized the importance of connecting with other people.

Storie: 21:28

Right.

Ron: 21:28

Because you never know who somebody else knows or who you're able to network and meet through somebody else and the, the, you know the feedback or the education that they're able to provide you and the guidance that they're able to provide you.

Storie: 21:42

It's so funny I would say 80% of my guests on the show would mention that, like having a mentor that's been through it before is the gateway. Yeah, yeah.

Ron: 21:52

Cause, as a new entrepreneur, there's so many times when you panic and you're like am I doing the right thing? Should I have done this? And having that mentor to just guide you through and say, no, it's okay. This is what I went through as well, and I think that's huge in continuing to stay the course.

Storie: 22:08

Absolutely A sense of reassurance almost so to our listeners out there who maybe are interested in your services or want to just learn more about what you do how can they reach you?

Ron: 22:21

They can reach us multiple ways. As I mentioned, we're on social media. They can look up Healing Hands Wound Clinic on their social media to find us. And then we have a website, which is the address is wwwhhwoundcliniccom. That's another way to look us up and all our services that we provide are listed there. And, of course, through phone they can reach us through telephone. They can give us a call at 817-380-3201. And we are excited to meet patients and if there's providers out there that want to meet and partner with us, we're looking for partnership there as well.

Ron: 23:02

They can reach out to the same number, same site and everything, same number, same site, and they can find us and reach out to us and I think you have made it the easiest for anyone to reach out to and really understand.

Storie: 23:14

Thank you so much for explaining all of that. I'm so much more aware of what I should and shouldn't look for. Don't just go to any doctor. Know your doctor Absolutely.

Ron: 23:24

Thank you so much, ron, thank you so much. I appreciate the time and appreciate this opportunity and very nice meeting you.

Storie: 23:30

Oh, I'm sure we'll see you again soon and for all of our listeners out there, we'll see you next time on Market it with Atma.