Doig Optometry is proud to celebrate 5 years of providing Calgarians with quality ophthalmology!
We would like to extend our thanks with our 5th Anniversary Sale!
5 years ago, Doig Optometry opened its doors for the first time - 20 years after Doctor Doig graduated from Optometry School.
“My third child was born six months after my graduation from the University of Waterloo. I needed to put shoes on my feet and food on the table right away. I decided to partner with other doctors in established practices because growing a new optometry practice takes patience,” he reflects.
The story of Doig Optometry
After 15 years, one of Doctor Doig’s partnerships ended and the other transitioned and became one of the founding practices in a Canada-wide eyecare partnership.
“Working in partnerships is rewarding and collaboration with colleagues has obvious advantages. Still, as circumstances change, partnerships change too.”
As part of these partnership changes, Doctor Doig saw that the time was right to revisit the idea of opening his own optometry practice. “Opening my own optometry practice and building it from the ground up has been one of my greatest dreams since my career began. In 2015, the children were grown or nearly grown, and the timing was right for me to start this chapter of my career. In early 2016, I signed the lease and we went to work on designing the office”.
Doctor Doig and Doctor Chorel are husband and wife, and though they are both optometrists, they have never practiced together. Of course, their plans included building an office where they could eventually practice together.
Creating a beautiful space
“(Doctor Shauna Chorel) has a love and a gift for designing beautiful spaces. She was highly involved in the design and layout of Doig Optometry.” Doctor Chorel drew out the concept for the beautiful eyeglass displays in our eyeglass dispensary. She designed the layout of the rooms. She made the selections of colours and finishes.
“It was fun watching Doctor Chorel draw out the various options on parchment paper from the kitchen. She would then lay the various options one over the other and ask what I thought.”
Doctor Chorel and Doctor Doig would meet with the designer or the contractors many times in the 7-8 months the office was under construction.
“Those original sketches would come out in many instances. The contractors and designers would sometimes look at them and have an ‘Ah-ha’ moment. Whenever any patient comments on how beautiful the office is, which happens frequently, I think back on those fun moments with fondness. Doctor Chorel gets all the credit for the beautiful way the office turned out.”
Doctor Chorel began seeing patients at Doig Optometry on a regular basis this month. (October 2021) “She is now accepting new patients and connecting with old patients at Doig Optometry on Wednesdays. We are so happy that this has become possible exactly at the 5th anniversary of Doig Optometry.”
The kind and caring staff
10 permanent staff have worked at Doig Optometry - all have made important contributions of caring and kindness to the patients of Doig Optometry. 3 have moved away from Alberta and 3 have moved on to other opportunities in and around Calgary.
“Doig Optometry has always been blessed with wonderful staff. I believe the character of an organization takes on the personality of the people in that organization. The kindness and caring of our staff make our office what it is.”
The success of Doig Optometry
We asked Doctor Doig to tell us about his greatest satisfaction after 5 years at Doig Optometry, to which says:
“The entire reason for the decision to open Doig Optometry was to create a place where our vision care team could practice optometry with patient care as our priority. That has become my greatest satisfaction with Doig Optometry. It has allowed me to be the best vision care advocate I can be for my patients. It has allowed me to make the decisions that bring about the best outcomes for my patients. That’s the reason such a great investment made sense for me, and that’s the reason I’m so happy with the decision to open Doig Optometry.”
All about Doig’s mascot - the optometrist dog!
We asked Doctor Doig to tell us about Doig Optometry’s Mascot.
“When I was a boy, my Grandfather Doig told all of us grandchildren that if you want to help people remember how to spell our name, just tell them to think of a dog with one eye. He then pointed out that adding one letter ‘i’ to the word ‘dog’ makes our name ‘D-O-I-G’. When we were planning to open Doig Optometry, our children told us “Dad, You HAVE TO use the Dog with One Eye!” So the cartoon optometrist dog with one eye was born.”
The dog with one eye has become an important part of the character and personality of Doig Optometry, along with Doig Optometry’s two trademarks: “See Sharp, Look Sharp, Love Your Glasses®”
“It reminds our team and our patients that our first priority is to help you see your best, look your best, and love your glasses. Our trademarked “Patient Care Priority®” reminds our team that they have Doctor Doig’s permission and support in each decision they make that helps them provide the best vision outcomes for our patients”.
A few final comments from Doctor Doig
“There are many things to be thankful for as we celebrate the 5th anniversary of Doig Optometry. The most important thing is the relationship we have with our patients.
To celebrate, we are holding a 5th Anniversary Sale. Every eyeglass frame in our office is on sale. Riverside Optical Lab has partnered with us to provide their premium Persona Single Vision and Progressive lenses to our patients at 50% off during our 5th Anniversary Sale.
Bausch and Lomb have partnered with us to provide single-use BioTrue Contact Lenses to our patients at the usual price of their re-usable contact lenses during our 5th Anniversary Sale.
We hope these wonderful promotions help our patients know just how thankful we are for their support and how much we want to celebrate with them. And yes, this sale is open to new patients of Doig Optometry. We only ask that you allow us to be the eye doctors who perform your eye exam. These promotional prices are so low that we must ensure that the prescription is correct before we proceed.
But please, tell your friends and family that we would love to be your eye care provider!”
Wishing you all the best in the next 5 years, and beyond,
Doctor Russell W. Doig and Dr. Shauna Chorel