*Disclaimer* In this blog post I discuss my optometry practice in Yakima WA and why it closed and the great loss that is for me. If you would rather just look at the photographs you can skip to the end and view the gallery. 🙂
One of the many things I was looking forward to with moving to Alaska was the outdoor and photography opportunities it would afford. The removal of running my own business and the immense stress involved with running a struggling business has also helped increase my free time.
When you are as busy as you possibly can be and still struggling to make ends meet, adding your own personal money and those of your family to the business, it is time to step back and reevaluate.
It’s amazing what a little fall color will do to the scenery. Here is a photography that I doubt I would have taken in the summer. But with the fall colors it was beautiful. Not that the green isn’t beautiful, I think it is the changing of color that makes it great to photograph and view. I believe that if the color scheme was reversed we would go out just as eagerly to photograph the tree leaves turning from yellow to green. The contrast and the signaling of the season change is the draw.
The above image is a lot of photos combined. It is about 28000 x 8000 pixels in size and 265 mb. You could print this image at 8′ by 2′ at a resolution of 300 dpi. Amazing detail as you zoom in to the full image.
This hike though only .8 of a mile long to the top, has some significantly steep sections. For a me being overweight and out of shape it was a moderate to hard hike.
I truly miss my practice in Yakima. Owning Apple Valley Eye Center was a lifelong dream of mine. I always wanted to own my own practice and thought I would be a good boss and business owner. I never dreamed in 2017 when I left Colorado to pursue my own business that I would 8 short years later be forced to close it. I assumed this purchase would be where I retired. Unfortunately, we struggled financially from the beginning, then COVID hit and closed us down for 2 months and limited our schedule for another 6 months.
Our income for the year was 1/3rd what is usually was for a year. I needed to take out 2 PPP loans and 2 additional small business loans to keep the practice open for the next year and a half. Costs as you all know skyrocketed over the coming 3 years with practice insurance for employees doubling the amount a month, and the average pay for employees increased significantly and the costs of goods went up a significant amount. But reimbursements from insurance companies remained stable or declined.
If you look at my photography endeavors over the 8 years I was in Yakima, they were severely limited. Not because there wasn’t awesome areas to go and photograph, but when you are in survival mode it is difficult to look around you and be creative. So many people in our society are in this survival mode. Just trying to make it day to day through the struggles of life.
As I was driving home I decided to take the opposite way out than when I drove in. This was an amazing view of the Kenai river. Because I only had my 70-200mm lens with me this is also a “panoramic”. The great thing about that is the increase in detail the full image file provides.
Many people were and are disappointed I closed Apple Valley Eye Center. The LaBissionere’s having built the practice were especially disappointed to see it close. I am deeply sorry and also mourn its closing. Yes mourn, I feel regret for things not done and for things I did that I could have done better. I mourn the loss of the relationships I had formed and for the people I employed. It has been a huge loss in my life and makes it difficult to address.
After my hike and not in any real hurry to head back home I turned east and drove to Cooper Landing. I was curious to see how the fall foliage was around Kenai lake. Unfortunately I was a couple weeks past the prime foliage and a photograph was not warranted.
I’m not sure why this blog post turned to my practice in Yakima. As I created this post I thought of the contrast of the last 8 years with the last 2 months. It made me reflective on the closure of a part of my life and I wanted to express my feelings. I know many people did not understand why we closed seemingly as busy as we were. I think that was the final nail in the coffin as we say. I knew we had been struggling for 8 years, I was seeing as many patients as I thought possible and to still give the care I wanted to provide. I knew costs were going to continue to increase and reimbursements were going to remain static. As I evaluated my life and my family situation it no longer made sense to struggle for the next 15+ years to turn the practice around and try and make it successful.
Many people wonder why I didn’t sell the practice instead of closing it? Well I did try and do just that. But with the debt load the practice had and the state of its finances it wasn’t an attractive practice to purchase. I spoke to several doctors about acquiring the practice, but it wasn’t feasible for them or for me.
The Kenai Peninsula has some truly amazing landscape. They tell me it also has some great wildlife photography opportunities as well….I’ve seen a couple moose briefly on the side of the road and some bald eagles, but my most commonly seen and photographed wildlife so far has been squirrels lol. Hopefully over the coming months I’ll have some great shots to share.
If you made it this far, thank you. Below is the gallery of the shots from that day.
