The owners Dr's Vasu and Karuna Atluri have been in Wanganui for nearly 10 years now and have owned Dentist on Glasgow for 8 years and felt the time was right to expand, upgrade and improve the Practice.
They have added on two new surgeries, increasing the number available from three – four, plus a room for our Clinical Laboratory. To service these rooms they have employed two new Dentists, Taryn Yew and Han Yeang, both of whom are New Zealand trained. This brings the total Dentists available to four and we have our Hygienist Aaron who comes across from Palmerston North two days a week and he has been part of our team for 6 years now.
The inside of the existing building has been remodeled, with a new bright reception area which is now open plan and much more welcoming. All three of the existing surgeries have been remodeled to match in with the brand new ones. The new surgeries have all new equipment and the existing ones also have some upgrades. Big thank you goes to Rachel Brandon and her team for the injection of colour and great ideas.
The staff now have a good private space for lunches and breaks and there are two new offices for Vasu (the owner) and the Practice Manager.
The store room is much more user friendly for staff than the previous arrangement and we are now able to offer better access and toilet facilities to our patients with disabilities.
During the renovations we were able to continue to work. Our wonderful building team were very accommodating and worked around us. The team of contractors they organised were also amazing working around us and our changing requirements, so a BIG thank you to Frank Forlong Builders, working with Marg Robinson Architects and Design, (Daniel Forlong being the onsite builder with associate builder John Channon), their team of contractors, Electrician Giles Conley and his team, and the Laser Plumbing team. Some urgent work needed was done for us by Dan Plumbing and Palmer Plumbers and we really appreciate their help too. Hobday & Lorentzen did all the flooring for us working mostly on weekends and public holidays – great help. The painting was done by the team at Gedye's – coming in early in the mornings to get the Reception area painted while our Patients were not there, and then continuing to paint around us in the other areas during the days. Bullocks have done a great job transferring the outside space into a much tidier useable area. In between all of this our technician Jamie Barrett has had to dismantle and move chairs, suction unit and compressor around us and our building team and still managed to keep us running! Our air conditioning system has been supplied and installed by Matt Channon and the team at Judd Refrigeration.
In addition to this we have had our computer system upgraded and a new telephone system installed by Safemode Ltd, which at times required some good old fashioned Kiwi Ingenuity!
It is great for us that we have been able to use so many local businesses and their support and professionalism has been really wonderful – this would not have happened without them.
Our staff have had to work under what at times were some quite trying circumstances – they often likened it to camping, but with a good team and a sense of humour we have made it through and the wait has been worthwhile.
And of course last but by no means least a HUGE thank you to all our patients for their support, patience and encouragement during the whole messy, noisy process.
Onwards and upwards